Shillong: Meghalaya has become the destination of choice for aficionados of water sports who land here from across the world. The book Meghalaya Rivers authored by Joe Rea-Dickens, Dan Rea-Dickens and Zorba Laloo and ably assisted by copywriter K Mark Swer and host of contributors was launched on Wednesday at The Evening Club, Shillong.
The book is a primer for those with a penchant for water sports. The book maps out the rivers of the Khasi-Jaintia Hills and grades each one of them on three levels (a) Difficulties (b) Consequence and (c) Exposure.
To the uninitiated, white water rafting, kayaking, paddling and canoeing might appear similar. The book is a guide to what each sport entails and the dangers that lurk behind each one and also the pleasures that each sport affords. Joe and Dan, two brothers have been coming to Meghalaya.
For Zorba Laloo who is also part of Campfire Trails the fascination for water sports started in 2009 when he was part of the Ribexpedition crew led by Andy Leeman and Apal Singh did a complete descent of the Ganga from its source right down to where it meets the sea. Bitten by the river bug, Zorba returned to Shillong and with a friend Shane Hu invested in packcrafts and started paddling the local rivers.
What they did well was to share media with the worldwide river fraternity. At the time packrafting was mainly a sport of the US and Australia and a few paddlers in Europe.
In Asia, Zorba and Shane popularised this sport and shared their experiences over the internet. That’s how several passionate paddlers began to seek out Meghalaya and landed up here, since 2010, spending months together testing out the waters and enjoying each expedition they undertook.
Key events in this aquatic sport are Whitewater Safety and Rescue Clinics the first whitewater race in North East India and a steady increase in the number of paddlers from across the globe and a gradual increase in the number of local crew who would venture beyond their state to take part in paddling in difficult waters.
Today there is a proliferation of boats owned by locals and groups. Campfire Trails was in fact all about promoting this extreme sport besides other adventure sports. Meghalaya Rivers has seen the light of day after almost five years of hard work which included documenting every experience by people wedded to the sport.
Supported by the Government of Meghalaya the book is published by Penguin. Present at the book release function was Rebecca Suchiang, Principal Secretary, Tourism who Zorba Laloo defined as the “pillar of support” throughout. She kept track of activities and was strict about adhering to timelines.
Speaking to this correspondent, Suchiang said it took a lot of time to bring out the book because of the maps which border foreign countries and needed several clearances from Delhi.
“I have faith in young tour operators particularly those promoting adventure sports in a professional manner because Meghalaya has huge potential for this. The youth who promote such sports know what they are doing and I am all for enabling them to scale up their activities,” Suchiang said.
Earlier, the brothers Joe and Dan Rea-Dickens and Zorba Laloo made a fascinating presentation to the audience to sum up what the book actually narrates in great detail. In one of the videos a paddler in the Lukha river of Jaintia Hills which was completely acidic because of the acid mine drainage, with rock all covered with a yellow rust, rued the fact that mining has killed this river.
He wonders if people of Meghalaya would give this river a chance to heal itself.
Zorba Laloo thanked his father Late Robin Laloo who he said inspired him considerably in the entire journey of writing the book. “It is sad that my father who has always supported me in this endeavour is not here today to witness this eventful journey,” an emotionally charged Zorba said.
Priced at Rs 1299, Meghalaya Rivers is the first coffee table book that’s worthwhile as a keepsake said a member of the audience as she browsed through the pages.
“It shows that a great deal of work has gone into producing this masterpiece,” she said. Several copies of the book were sold out on Wednesday.
