The week ended, finally; with realpolitik in Delhi, a meaning-ful discourse followed by some delicious dhokla; its time to ride again and create some Meghalaya memories.
On the most common route of Guwahati – Shillong, just before entering the underpass on the fork to Umroi; on the left is a huge stone gate with a statuette of a rooster on top. Most would have seen the stone gate; few would have tried to find… “what’s beyond”?? You may be surprised to know, that around 8 km beyond that gate on peak of the hill, is the Portal between heaven and earth… known a U Lum Sophetbenang. The road is blacktop, narrow and winding, climb is manageable taking us to a mysteriously holy place for the Khasi people.
The Khasi people believe that during creation, there were nine huts (races) in heaven and seven huts on earth. As we die, our people pass on the heavenly huts and become ancestors to the people. Heaven and Earth (ie the sixteen huts) were physically connected by a Golden bridge of vine, and this bridge touched the earth at this very peak of Lum Sophetbenang (literally meaning the umbilical chord – between heaven and earth); the sixteen families could meet each other, anytime. However, as greed and jealousy increased in Earth, the golden bridge vanished permanently separating the sixteen families forever. Earth prayed hard and as a result, God granted that the bridge would reappear only once a year (generally around the second Sunday of February) and ancestors could be met. Such is the existing portal.
Once you reach the top after a desolate and picturesque ride through the pine and conifers, one reaches the site with an external and an internal sanctum. You need to remove your shoes to enter the internal sanctum where the heavenly bridge appears. Small amounts of rice is offered by the Khasi devotees and you can collect a morsel and keep it safely as a blessing from heaven.
I did have long conversations with few Khasi devotees there; what fascinated me most was how beautifully they have overlapped their ancient tribal traditions, beliefs and modern faith of Christianity, and live a life of constant connection with nature and the spirit world. Modernity, as I have learnt while travelling extensively on my motorcycle, comes with eagerness to embrace technology and faith, never forgetting who we originally are. Khublei Shibun; till we ride together again… next Sunday.
Ride to Meghalaya’s Dzuko Valley
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