The rain prophets
In Shillong, predicting the rain is an art. Some rely on weather apps, others depend on the news report, but the real experts are who don’t need any of that. They read the skies like an open book, watch the birds, feel the wind, and somehow just tend to when a downpour is coming. And the wildest part? They’re often right.
This Shillong Jottings member had the pleasure of crossing paths with one such prophet on a bright, sunny day. The good soul casually advised me to carry an umbrella. I chuckled, nodded, and went on my way, only to thank him later when I found myself caught in an unexpected downpour.
When I asked how he managed to predict it, he simply shrugged and shared what seemed like second nature to him. He said he figured it out when ants started marching in a single-file line near his parking spot, and that means heavy rain is on its way.
Sure, science might scoff at these traditional forecasting methods, but how many times has your weather app assured you it’s ‘partly cloudy,’ only for you to end up drenched?
Exactly.
The unfinished dreams
A walk through Shillong’s neighborhoods, and one will spot them, half-built houses, standing still in time. Some have walls but no roof, others have rusted iron rods jutting out. They are everywhere, scattered across the city like unfinished sentences, and a story of dreams put on hold.
Why so many? The reasons are different for each. Some families ran out of money mid-construction, hoping to pick up where they left off when things got better. Others are stuck in endless legal battles over land disputes, waiting for a resolution that may never come. Then there are those built by people who left and moved to bigger cities, maybe intending to return one day and complete what they started.
But in their quiet way, they mirror the city itself, always in transition, always evolving, yet still holding on to the dreams of those who built them.
Shining bright!
How do they keep them sparkled like that?
The sparkling utensils placed perfectly on the shelves of this food stall in Kynshi will catch the attention of every customer who enters it.
As we sat down to eat, the only conversation we had was about the shining utensils and how they keep them spotless and gleaming in a place where hundreds of people enter and is located just next to the national highway with vehicles passing through emanating dust the entire day.
A clean place is what one looks for when eating outside, and seeing a well-maintained eatery with a variety of foods displayed hygienically plus the sparkling utensils on the shelves, customer are sure to have a good time.