By Anshul Akhoury
New places fascinate you with their interesting customs. Before entering Meghalaya, I had never imagined that it would get dark by 6 in the evening and I’ll find myself walking under a blanket of stars, often worried that a wolf or a leopard might attack.
People shut down their shops by 5 and in half an hour it gets dark as if it is 10 pm in Delhi. Had it not been for the stars shining above your head, it would have been a perfect setting for a horror movie. Thankfully, the trip was nowhere close to horrific.
What fascinated me the most about Meghalaya was the low price of food, and especially for someone from the mainland the price was unbelievable.
While backpacking, I follow a rule of ‘eat where the locals eat’. It takes time but the results are worth it. Hard to believe but I paid a mere sum of Rs 55 for a plate of rice, two pieces of chicken and two dimsums. When I arrived in Cherrapunjee, my homestay owner prepared a nice meal of fish curry and rice for dinner and charged only Rs 60. If this was anywhere around my hometown, this treat would have blown a hole in my wallet. Next morning I bid goodbye to the kind lady and her son who hosted me to find a place to stay in Lower Sohra.
I was way too fascinated by the star trails I experienced the night before. I had to find a place from where I could click better pictures of the Milky Way and Lower Sohra sounded the best idea. This area is more open than the upper part and one can experience a clearer sky.
Meghalaya doesn’t follow the same rules of night photography the way Himalayan destinations do. The stars come out at 6 and the moonrise happens after 9. Unlike Spiti and Ladakh, where one needs to wait till 11 to get the finest shots, here the shoot is needed to be completed by 8, because 1) It gets too dark and 2) The moon is so bright that it starts interfering with the lighting.
I also felt that Meghalaya has not been a popular destination for night photography because most of the regions are covered in clouds and it rains during the tourist seasons. I probably got lucky in the month of December when the clouds were at the lowest and skies were clearer than ever.
A visit to Cherrapunjee is incomplete without a trip to Nohkalikai Falls.
Named after the mother who killed herself after jumping off the cliff, Nohkalikai is the tallest plunge waterfall in India. I asked around and realised that the taxi charges are way too high.
The problem of travel touts trying to make some extra bucks is common all across India. I didn’t give much emphasis on it and decided to walk the distance of 3 km across a road in okayish condition. It took some 35 minutes to reach the waterfall gate. On a bright day, the farms of Bangladesh are visible from the edge of the waterfall.
Nohkalikai Waterfall is itself a majestic piece of beauty. The roaring water is far from the view point and yet you can hear the sound of water gushing down and tumbling over boulders. I would return to the waterfall again for some evening pictures. It was time to explore the mouth of Nohkalikai. From the point you enter the ticket counter, a road diverges into a grassy pavement. This slowly descends into a forest and soon a rough trek starts going downwards. This small trek of an hour will take you to the point from where Nohkalikai originates. Unlike the main waterfall point, this area sooths your soul with a pleasant breeze and chirping birds. According to the local folklores, a spirit goddess wanders in this area. I didn’t take my chances and decided to return to my hotel.
After some sunset photos from various vantage points, I realised that it was already getting dark. I quickly hitchhiked my way to my home-stay and adjusted my camera in the best setting that could click the star photographs. Soon it got dark and stars appeared over Sohra’s skyline. Despite so many star trails, I had never seen such an intense phenomenon. Stars are so close that it feels like you are inside an observatory.
When the night gets darker, the stars get brighter but it also gets colder. I had to pack my equipment and return to my room with a satisfaction that I was able to make the best out of it.
My next destination was Nongriat, a destination made famous because of its double-decker living root bridges. After waking up early in the morning and hoping to reach the village as early as possible, my hopes were almost shattered. I was told that there were no shared cabs for Nongriat and since it was a Sunday, the chances of finding a private taxi were also low.
How I reached Nongriat and made my way up to the root bridges deserve a separate story. But while I was able to see nature’s wonders, the night spent between the stars in Sohra remained etched in my heart during my entire journey.
(The author is a solo traveller and a backpacker. Hailing from Patna, Bihar, he frequently collaborates with magazines and newspapers for travel articles.
The photographs are by the author. For more information log on to
www.dailypassengerr.com)
