Umngot River... on the way to dawki

  

faces of meghalaya. east khasi hills

goa to meghalaya

the journey started with an unexpected flight. Second train journey cancelled. no 3 day train travel to kolkatta and then guwahati. I cut it short and for good reason. Nana turned 90 on the 23rd of dec and I changed my mind and I wanted to be there. So leaving all other plans aside, the stay in Goa was unexpectedly extended. So I land in Shillong on Christmas eve with nothing more than a plan to have some delicious food. The plan was to be out of the city but every place was booked out...had nowhere to go and the only beds available were in the youth hostel! Spent Christmas week in the city...more like town; binge eating chinese food, pork momos for breakfast, pork chow for lunch and slow roast pork with fried rice for dinner. Met some really nice people in the city, spent new years getting hammered you may not believe it but all it took were 2 over filled glasses of Irish Cream(after more than a couple of glasses of rum) Live music at every BBQ more spirits more happy people.

From exploring the city, moving into the interiors was really an experience to take home. I seem to have left a big part of me behind when i came home this week. I want to be back there...not there or any place in particular but somewhere like this where people you meet everyday fascinate you and the overwhelming beauty in the nature inspires you.... that's the high I want to live on. Those are the memories you wake up to in the morning that make you want to pack your bags again.

It's funny that sleeping in a bed to me is new. I had 2 restless nights in the warmth, no sleeping bag, room to roll around and the ceiling no longer within arms reach. So we pitched a tent most places we went, and i loved every day of it. Early mornings with jadoh(rice and meat) or maggi and lal cha (black/red tea) with pop (biscuits) treks out to nearby waterfalls or ravines, jadoh for lunch at local tea stalls, back by sun down to the warmth of the bon fire and steamy hot food for the wretched souls. I was famished almost every evening I got back and even a plate of plain boiled rice was the best sight.

I moved from village to village seemingly in search of beauty in the nature we wanted to surround ourselves by, but what I found was beauty in the simplicity of the people we met. I lived with a few families on my journey and found generosity in the poorest of homes. We were invited to share roofs and meals with them and they showed us with extravagance what nature really had to offer. Vegetables and spices grown in the back yard, fish from the river, poultry from the pen, fruit from the trees in the yard. It was a dream. This was the first layer.

Town to village were long walks down the valley, climbing down a set of probably a thousand steps. See, every village has been set up in valleys where the soil is fertile, so the walk to and around is quite a treat. So, if you visit in the winter like i did, you walk down a narrow stone laden path through the woods with trees bearing oranges, lemons and star fruit adorned like christmas buntings and light bulbs in shades of orange and yellow.

The Musical Village: What's in a name? A long drive into the interiors, i'm sure there's just about a handful of us who've been here outside of those who actually live there. 5am rooster call. 5:30am sounds of birds chirping rather loud..in repetitive succession..i wake up..peel myself out of my sleeping bag and walk into the kitchen as the singing gets louder, to find deng(sister- one of the girls in the house) singing a tune out of the window so i sit myself down in silence so not to disturb her. i'm a little lost for words and then she turns around and giggles when she sees me. But the calls get louder and everyone in the village seems to be awake by now, calling out to each other as deng explains to me how this works. It was just like Ba Alan said, they don't call each other by name, they have a tune for everyone there. So, when they call out to each other, they sing out the tune"

And just like every other one, this village has tiny people. My being all of 5'4" seems to be towering a head over every woman in the village. I keep my shoes out in the sun to warm up while i go to kitchen to return with a cup of cha(tea). I peep outside the door and there's a huddle around my shoe. I watch as one after the other put their feet along side my shoe to check for size. Giggles follow as they call one of the men from the village. So i stepped out to join in the fun; but before you know it, the crowd's dispersed with the laughter and they could not understand that even the guy with the biggest feet in the village had feet smaller than mine!

The first trek down to the valley was in Sohra. The breathtaking walk down the countless steps along some of the edges was exciting. The walk to Nongriat was enchanting. The first living root bridge before Nongriat going over a little flurry of a stream that trickled under those life like gigantic boulders transported you to another world. The more you walk along the steps the more you end up focusing on your foot steps. Its only the chirping of birds around you that make you stop and look up and away from your feet. The first thing you experience is being light headed. Theres a rush of oxygen that goes straight to your head. It can be real fun running down the steps provided you don't have a camera or a heavy bag to keep slow you down. Before we know it we're down in the valley and again we fail to look around. There's a long wire bridge right in front of us. We look to the other end wondering how the bridge is going to hold, so we're deciding to go one by one. But voices come from down below and what do you know it's a few locals enjoying a really nice picnic. At one of the most beautiful picnic spots...those beautiful wallpapers you see...with the beautiful waterfall right in front of you. It is so beautiful, you melt at the sight of that blue. If I have ever experienced the effect of colour. It was on this  day. I found myself a nice rock to sit on, with a spot just right for me to dip my feet into the chilly water. And of course the picnickers were nice enough to share some fresh soh le (fruit salad- oranges and lemons with salt and finely chopped hen chilli) with us.

The transition was pretty smooth- the food, the people, the stay. I would have had a very different experience had I not injured my fingers. But then again, I think it kept me in check. It kept me humble. It made me feel fragile and it made me careful....very unlike my reckless self.


......to be updated.

Local Ja doh stall. You find these almost everywhere..along every highway and town. 

No matter what time of day, there's always tea brewing in the pot and a hot meal of steamed rice and meats.

Wild cat..the little ones they hunt for meat (they say they kill them before they attack the children in the village and then you see a glint in their eyes that tells you just how much they enjoyed the meal)

Wire bridge at Nongriat...the first one. 

The view from under the bridge. The picnic spot at sun down!

Local village cemetery. The tiniest graves i've seen.

Traditional Khasi house- made off the forest...except for this one that chose a steel roof. There's few of these left

This is what the newer houses look like. They're prettier of course. But there's 2 reasons this is happening. One- it's more profitable for them to send bamboo and bamboo products and wood to the city for export and use that money to build cement houses which increases employment. But the down side is, there's soon not going to be much left in the forest. Greed seems to be eating into the reserves including the abused year round water supply. The money they can now afford to buy detergent with is going into the water...the rivers, the streams, obviously where they have a bath and wash their clothes. 

Rural development going wrong. 

sri lanka to goa

I'm sitting on my couch back in Bombay right now with sheets of paper with so many notes I can barely read what i've written. I've spent much of my time writing with pen and paper cos I lost access to the Internet and I guess I stopped searching for it after some time. So after leaving Negombo...I packed my bags and headed along the west coast to the beaches all the way down south around Galle. I tried the bus journey while going...long stuffy sticky noisy musical and so much fun. Reggae music to bob your head to and folding seats that someone manage to seat the entire traffic of ants that keep getting onto the bus. I hopped onto a train on the way back- very pleasant experience...the view of the coast is much better up here. The locals love to chat, give genuine advice and information on absolutely anything you ask them and if you get lucky like i did...they even buy you your train ticket while you stand and wait on the platform for the connecting train. I am amazed at how nice everyone i've interacted with has been.

I spent a few days down at Hikkaduwa tried to take some surfing lessons which I initially set out to do. 2 days of good weather and me getting used to the strong waves pushing my ass around I finally set my hands on a surf board. I managed to get on my feet a couple of times but it was seconds before I was down under. It's quite an effort dragging it all the way back and waiting to hit the next wave only to get washed ashore. I enjoyed the sun for a few days before we were hit with bad weather and very rough sea. I sat and watched while 4 people were rescued within 2 hours..there was quite a bad under current and before I knew it, the beach was full of red flags. We had heavy showers that night but we still walked around searching for some beer till we stumbled upon a bar that had to shift indoors where they struggled with plastic sheets as shutters to keep the rain away. With a few bottles of alcohol that they managed to bring in from the bar outside, strong winds that constantly battled with the plastic to bring some of the rain inside, we were left with board games and limited alcohol. About ten of the local boys running the bar/resort started to put a make shift band together with makeshift instruments and sang in acapela. People passing by joined in when they heard the music outside, took shelter with us and shared some spirits. Rain was forecasted for a few days so I figured there was no point sticking around the beach side any more and I left for Kandy only to get more rain. There's a pretty little lake in the hill town and if you stumble upon a guest house preferably one of those quaint heritage homes it's quite an experience...they make you feel right at home. Trust my luck to fall sick but it all came with a bang. I managed to get a really bad cold when i took a walk in the rain which developed into a ear infection and I had some under cooked beef at the railway station which gave me a stomach infection. Word of caution- if you happen to fall sick and you think you need antibiotics- see a bloody doctor wherever you are- Avoid self medication. It can almost... well chances are you'll make things worse than they already are.

I did some exploring on the days I managed to keep my tummy empty. One bottle of salts to keep me hydrated, my ipod to soothe my wandering mind and a beautiful scenery to keep my heart inspired. I made it to Sigiriya and saw the reclining Buddha too. Got to verigama saw the fishing village, saw some amazing catch come in at the docks..scoped out the entire west coast searching for stick fisherman but none of them showed up. Other than that my body was just too tired to hit the road. I was in bed for a couple of days cos I couldn't move at all, so I stayed indoors and spent time with the owner of the guest house chatting with her while she made sure I took my tablets and I ate only kanji (red rice with salts & the boiled water). My better judgement would have dragged my ass to a hospital but I guess after a couple of days I just wanted to be home. So I made some changes in my travel dates and headed back.

Of all the time I spent in Sri Lanka, my best memories there have been with the people I met on the way. A girl selling coconuts outside my beach house invited me home for a special home made meal made by her mother... after chatting with her for 5 minutes. It was the first day the fruit stall was opened and I was their first customer. The food...it was a spread of Sri lankan delicacies. Fish in 3 different preparations, some veggies and of course Red rice. The hospitality......amazing.

The place i stayed at...mother and daughter running the place made me sit and have breakfast with them every morning talking about life and love and everything in between. The conversations were funny I laughed through most of my breakfasts. I picked up some chocolates for them when i stopped by the supermarket and in return they cooked me a sea food platter for lunch with a fresh catch of prawns and grilled crab. For the few good meals I had it was worth the days I was sick and starving.

      

For all the anticipation of being back home, I must have spent all of 3 hours in the city which got me to my doctor-1 prescription- a whole bunch of 500mg tablets that looked like horse tranquilizers- a one way ticket to goa- a super light bag on my back- and a cab ride to the airport.

   

Bakery on the go! You know they're coming when you hear this loud nasaly tune playing on a little loud speaker..since this was a month before christmas..we heard carols on almost every one of these.

So a handful of local women wore a sari...a little like the Indian Sari but prettier. The rest wore tshirts with long skirts...much like her!

 

bombay to sri lanka

I've been more excited about my journey than actually getting anywhere in particular. My hearts beating out of my chest, nervous, excited, anxious, expectant. My first day of travel and I have a bag full of too many clothes but it will take me a week to realise that infact they are too many. hahhahah...i must tell you how not to travel to Sri lanka so you understand how you can. I had a train journey planned to chennai and then cancelled. I had a little delay so to catch up on time decided to fly to chennai and then take my onward flight to sri lanka. Mistake no 1- don't get too excited, think before you book a ticket specially if you plan to travel for long...plan around your budget or you'll be running out of money only because you've spent it all on senseless air tickets. I had a layover at chennai airport for the night. I could have booked a ticket straight to sri lanka.

Mistake no 2.- don't go through chennai. I believe there are a million other options...like flying there directly. Oh and one more thing. Try not to venture out into the city. A good friend of mine, who is very well travelled specifically referred to chennai as the asshole of india but i thought hey it can't be that bad....NOT!! There was a gathering of muslims - family and extended family waiting to receive people outside the airport ...and they kept waiting...all night...... And i sat amongst the mosquitoes and flies from 11pm to 4am fighting sleep and the feet that couldn't help but trample all over mine. I started to read Napoleon... about 40 pages in installments, but the world of flies wouldn't leave me. Mistake no 3.- too much sambar. Oh yes I do believe I had an overdose of Sambar, I ate all night to keep myself awake--and when all the food had run out, this was all that was left. Note to self - it tastes great..but like everything else, too much of anything can't be good for you. The pulses have a gas trigger no one warned you about...and you'll be trying not to fall off to sleep just incase one of those noisy ones decide to sneak out.

More to come. I'm in sri lanka now.. at Negombo..very happy.. it's a quite little beach town that shuts shop by 10pm but i'll go with what i got.... the streets are not busy, the beach is secluded, serene i just watched the sun set with a few fishing boats in the distance. Too lazy to take any pics but i will take the camera out of the bag tomorrow. I believe it's collected a good deal of cobwebs by now.

.....there I have an update already...I've come back to the computer at no extra cost while i sit and wait. 2 really nice locals running this cyber cafe (one of them who speaks hindi) have helped me get me a local sim, given me advice for my travel to Galle and after ..................and most importantly...wait for it.... are arranging for some amazing local specials -home made food- that none of you tourists will get your hands on!!

much ado bout nothing

What happens when change is forlorn and the bitterness you feel becomes as much a part of you as you'd like to disagree. 

You can close your eyes to the things you don't want to see, but you can't stop your heart from feeling what it does.

Fear this flightless bird regards more teetering on the precipice than diving off of it headlong

Fear becomes you.

matheran...still pretty much is

rapture

But to feel the overbearing rapture

Your shallow yet profound need seems to lack in the spirit of it all.

Today you want. Today you know it's enough. And yet fearfully you sit there wondering.

Those shallow pools of opacity sit before you. Mocking you by it's mere presence.

You lower yourself down to your knees yet slightly off the ground but just enough to dip your face in that puddle of nothingness

You stay there a while with your eyes wide shut absorbing everything you see for the sheer pleasure of it.

You pull yourself away. Only for a moment. And you forget. The moment's gone. You are lost. You are blinded. 

Through all this blindness you could or maybe you let yourself see, 

There's something in that inconsistency that defines the simplicity of it all, but you shy away.

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) - official video

No Doubt - Settle Down

Bob Marley - Don't worry be Happy :)))))) happy days are here

martin stavars ...seeing stars

For those who still choose to argue the redundant burst of color in all the city has to offer over the stoic b/w..... I am inspired. And if you haven't seen any of it yet....try this on for size. Nothing less than a magnificent play of light in all of the city's splendor in the night. Living in a shitty city like Mumbai has left a bad impression for everything city. It's something i'm far from exploring yet, so till then, all I can do is sit and admire.

I keep stumbling upon work that inspires me and it never fails to make me feel I should have started sooner or I should spend more time exploring every opportunity...so much for my ever lacking patience. One day!

time to pack my bags :)

I quit my job yesterday. I was too excited to write about it though. Seven years have gone by with a million hiccups. I've decided to take a break from the routine and travel. Some might call it the 7 year itch, maybe it is, but the break has been long overdue and well deserved. Let me not go on to justify it but you need to understand the excitement. I have no idea how this is going to unfold so i plan to not plan too much :)

I have a list of places i've been dying to explore maybe starting with the north east of india, so come november i'll be somewhere in the fields of punjab or trekking down the zanskar river or being in garo hills and i'll definitely be celebrating christmas around shillong :). I'm upgrading my camera equipment before I leave so i'll have better shots to come back with.

testing the waters

This is what happens when you try to take pics of waterfalls when you travel light with a cheap lens 

..........and without a tripod...

.....i like the pics anyway, so here goes!

dahi handi

To be honest, I'm not big on festivals, especially when it comes to getting out of the house the day someone's celebrating. But being in Mumbai you can't always run away from what's sitting right in front of your face. So I tagged along with a press photographer just because I had a friend convince me it would be worth a day off from work.

Apart from watching the human pyramids come crashing down every big street we stopped by, I obviously started to get bored after spending the better part of my day riding around on the bike seeing exactly the same thing happen over and over again, the same blaring commercial music, the same glaring sun.. only with new faces rising up. So the about 5 feet tall big man gets a call, SOS to panvel, I know this sounds dramatic but when you're jumping on and off the back seat of a bike when you don't know what the plan is, it's quite exciting. As we ride towards our destination to see a team of girls form the human pyramid, we had to get off the bike cos the street was shut..human barricade.  I sat on the bike in shock... trust me I was lost for words. So i get pulled by the arm towards the crowd while he shouts..get the camera started! There was a small circle about 8 men strong, the crowd gathered in silence covering every inch of the 7 foot wide street, people pouring out of their windows verandahs and doors with eyes fixed on the 2 men standing inside the circle. One in a total and complete trance with fingers interlocked elbows bent resting the tips of his fingers on his head every few seconds in between chants. The other had an oddly shaped imitation of a sword made of intertwined rope. So i'm assuming this is a little skit. Out of nowhere the guy with the "talwar" (sword) takes a long swing back and starts to violently swing the talwar only stopping to pull his arm back after the recoil on the other man's body. After some 5 big swings, he stops and the man taking the beating starts to shake violently back and forth.

After 2 more men took centre stage and took the beating, the crowd broke up walked down the street and turned around the bend and into a building. We followed the crowd while some lined the entrance and the others rushed in. We stood on the side lines for about ten minutes shuffling around trying to find a way in which after begging and requesting, someone allowed us in. We had to enter into this building that had a central courtyard with a verandah lining the first floor with people pouring over like rats looking down in silence. This being a very private community, wasn't very excited at the site of us but let us in anyway and allowed us to photograph the event. In the courtyard in one corner stood a wooden rack with about a dozen mud pots filled with the traditional 'malai' (coconut milk) Soon the drums started to beat, the men outside chanting and pacing in a trance waited for the call. We stood in the verandah watching, waiting with abated breath. while the crowd in the courtyard gathered. All of a sudden like bulls came a whole bunch of them charging with their heads aimed at the mud pots. Sausage fest I called it jokingly, but really; I was nervous watching this entire event unfold. After the pot breaking stopped, a majority of them held their hands over their heads fingers intertwined chanting. The crowd broke up in patches as men walked in with the talwars. I watched with the same awe as I did when I saw it ten minutes before in the streets. I managed to get a little video clip keeping my nerves in check, most of the photographs are blurry cos I couldn't keep a very steady hand with the crowds around heeding no attention to me with my camera. i was a little ant there squeezing through the wood work. little did i realise when i walked out the building we are the flip end. I walked around the building through an alley in muck and sewage only to look at my feet when i found my slippers. It's amazing sometimes how situations and experience can change your reality