Shillong: Turquoise Hues And The Tragic Love Story

If you go ask the people residing in Guwahati the best destination to reset after a long and exhausting weekend, the answer would undoubtedly be Shillong. Shillong is the perfect place to relax for a day in the lap of white cottony clouds. I had been hearing about the place from many of my friends since my school days. So when I had the opportunity to visit the place, I could not stop but plan a small trip with my friend. I told him about the idea of Shillong about seven days before a scheduled public holiday in our busy University routine. Later he told me that he had been there a zillion times; so yes it would be fun to explore the place with somebody who already knew each and every corner of it.

We had planned the trip during the monsoons. Therefore we had to add a few commodities to our backpacks, which we had learnt from our Sivsagar trip. We went shopping and bought raincoats, bag coats and some chappals. Rain is beautiful to watch but not comfortable to roam around, trust me! Our list of must visit places was ready. We were very tight on our budget but had the target to make the most out of the trip. My friend's scooty was the third member in our trip- it was there when nobody was (violin playing in the background)!

On Sunday morning, we had started our journey at 7 a.m. sharp. I had left an application on our hostel warden's desk and my friend was there waiting with his scooty. The roads were being cleaned by the hard-working cleaners, the birds were chirping as loud as they could and the white and pink bougainvillea were decorating the entire way. Tea sellers were ready with their hot steaming glass tumblers of tea and freshly prepared pithas on their stalls. The sun was getting brighter but not scorching. On the way, we had parathas and tea and also had some petrol refill for the vehicle. We were talking and singing all the way. We reached Umiam Lake Viewpoint. It was about 11 o'clock. The view was splendid. It gave us a sense of relief that we were nearer to our destination. We rested at the viewpoint for a bit and enjoyed the beautiful mini-peninsula covered in different hues of turquoise.

It was the reproductive season for the mother nature. The trees were in full bloom. The water was clear and steady. It reflected the hard work of those who created it. Yes, this wonder was created artificially while damming the Umiam River in the 1960s. The lake is an art and art is only created with love, we were convinced.

Skill is love and love is a skill.

After spending a few minutes of mindful bliss, we had to move forward. After all for the proper execution of our plans, we had to reach the hotel we had booked by 12:30 p.m. We somehow got under the roof before 12. It was a homestay named Manna Inspira. I was astonished when I saw the sceneries around. While waiting for our room to get prepared, we strolled around the porch to have a look of all the greenery our eyes had been offered to. The picture below is not enough to make you visualize what I had experienced at that moment. But this is all I could capture!

My friend, at that point, had become nostalgic. He said that the visuals were similar to the valleys of Pahalgam. He had a trip with his family and they went up the valley on horses. The trees stood up in our honor and so did we. They had danced along with the wind to welcome us.

Suddenly the trees seemed to get happier. They had started wearing heavy white costumes. There was some silver thunder and lightening in the skies. The fusion of the white and silver came together like traditional catholic bridal gowns. They looked like fairies and were waiting for their soon-to-be-husbands to come and take them away to the palaces of heaven. After a few minutes, their grooms had arrived in the form of raindrops. They had been happily married. The grooms could not take them home as the two worlds could never meet- the mortal and the immortal. But the hearts of brides were never broken. Their husbands surely had left them, but with the promise to nourish them and their children forever. They also had a vow that they would meet on certain seasons, and only in bridal gowns.

We had experienced a whole wedding happening in nature. At least the lovers are not so unlucky as the sun and the moon - they too love each other but can never meet. The beautiful roses were weeping, watching the beautiful-but-tragic love story of the trees and the rain. This heartbreaking romance has a special place in my heart.

After a while, we had got our room ready to check into. We got freshened up and were ready for the day. Shillong has been successful to retain its natural integrity ever since we got our independence. This is the reason for its evergreen and everchanging sceneries. So we climbed up the scooty and started our exploration. On the way we saw something wonderful. The abode of clouds had the picture-perfect demonstration for us to unveil the secrets of the name of the state of Meghalaya. The first encounter to the play of clouds had blown our minds. They say that every snap of Meghalaya is wallpaper-worthy. I completely agree with them. We could not help but click some pictures of our faces along with the bright white background.

The fellow tourists were very helpful - from clicking pictures to guiding the ways - everybody had everybody's back in there. My friend had forgotten the roads of Shillong as he had visited the place years ago. So it was kind of a new experience for both of us. The first destination on our checklist were The Elephant falls. The internet was not working very great there, so we could not track the Google Maps directions properly. But every tourist there had the similar checklists and first item would most probably be same as ours. So we had to follow taxis rented by the tourists to reach the waterfalls. After literally chasing a tourist-rented taxi, the roads seemed similar to my friend. At that point he was sure that we were heading towards the right direction. We wanted to go experience the famous ML05 Café which stands on the left side of the way to the water body, but could not do so as we were already late.

After a long ride, we had finally entered the premises of the three step waterfall. While entering the main gate, we could see a silent beautiful brook flowing beside, loving its peace and showing love to the unappreciated as it could feel the same every single moment when it had first learnt to flow. As the time had passed by, it had gradually started to love its own existence. The brook now flows for itself and nobody else.

Our turn to buy the tickets had come. One ticket for adults costed 100 rupees. It was most probably lesser for the children, but I do not remember the prices exactly. We entered the premises of the first step of the waterfall. It was majestic. It was rumbling and trumpeting like a huge white elephant. My friend had told me that we could have seen some elephant-like patterns if we had visited during any other season when the water would have been a little lesser. We took pictures and videos for you and moved to the second step of the waterfall.

The steps were steep and slippery. We had to be very careful while getting down to the next step. It was like that middle child about whom nobody is much interested. The people were not showing as much love as they had done for the other two steps. The reason behind it must be the fact that there was no enough lighting for clicking photos. The second step was more of getting the vibe rather than instagramming. If you are wandering in search of some peace you could simply stop at the step for a while, close your eyes, feel the song the middle child is singing and calm your mind. Me and my friend were doing the same and did not want to go anywhere from there.

After a while, we had to move to the third step of the waterfall as we were getting late. As we were stepping down the stairs, the roaring of the waters got louder and louder. Every person was enjoying the breathtakingly beautiful sight of the milky white waters. The water was hitting the rocks harder than ever. Vloggers, photographers and other professionals were also getting their equipment ready for some of the best shots of their lives. We also had Mattilang Park on our checklist. Later on we had come to know that it was the same park which was situated opposite to the waterfall. People do visit the park to have a different view of The Elephant falls. We did not have the time to visit the park but at least we had seen the waterfalls from a much closer distance which was satisfying enough.

We had clicked some photos and finally came up to the small market near the parking lot. The market was loaded with locally prepared ethnic materials. The items there were made up of the handpicked cones, naturally shed wooden logs and bamboo strips. They had beautiful keychains, handbags, showpieces, hats, ethnic wear and baskets. The handicrafts could not be more appropriate for gifting your near and dear ones. We had our lunch there and exited the waterfall premises with the hope to visit it again sometime.