If you doug- doug- doug around 80 km from Shillong along the best road of Meghalaya, NH 44E towards West Khasi Hill’s quaint town of Nongstoin, and dare to walk to gain around 250 m altitude astride the Pamphyrnai lake, you land up on the magical mystery tour of a lesser known edge of the Dzuko Valley, where you can actually see the two ridgelines of the Mawlankhar and the Umlankhar ranges.
There, time stands still… and VCs and Noting Sheets and Adm Approvals cease to have any meaning, where the only thought remains… am I an intruder into this ancient, virgin landscape. Torn between cutting the peace with the acrid petrol fume, or the guilt of clicking pics to share… one finally manages to turn homeward bound. A quick pitstop in a local village, an animated conversation with an old Khasi lady with no common language ground… where we finally understood each other with just two common words “pork-rice” and “fifty rupees”, and had a satisfactory end for both.
Home… a beer, setting Uniforms, polishing boots; the wild and the mystical of the Dzuko Valley lives within me… forever.
U Lum Sophetbenang; Portal between Heaven and Earth
Riding Through History: A Trip to Nartiang Monoliths, Meghalaya
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