Place which touched my soul

by HIRAL MAKWANA (India)

A leap into the unknown India

Shares

We all are stuck between ‘I need to save money’ and ‘you only live once’. It is always challenging to plan and execute long distance and duration trip being in full-time employment. Fortunately last year I got a chance to switch my job and in that lagging period, I grabbed an opportunity to explore the North East states of India. Those states are well known for preserved natural resources and tribal culture. Moreover, they are reckoned for heavy rains, and luckily I got to plan a trip in crazy monsoon period. Just like every other trip, starting from seeking family permission, thorough research, cheap and safe bookings, delayed train, heavy floods, curfew, all these teething troubles made my entire experience exhilarating, Trust me I made best out of everything. I traversed places like largest river island of the world (majuli), many waterfalls (thanks to heavy rain), hills, canyon, and caves. What not! But amongst all these, the place Living Root Bridge in Meghalaya imprinted my brain deeply. There are many living root bridges in Meghalaya, the one I visited, was called “double-decker” situated in Nongriat village, Cherrapunji. It covered the single root bridge as well as the double root bridge. Trek comprised of almost 3000 steps, it was physically challenging, so carry your water bottles, energy drink, and bar along. I must say they have looked after making steps non-slippery and slant which don’t clog water, it was really appreciable in such downpour. When I started it was raining heavily, I was totally drenched in the water despite raincoat. Entire trek was literally like walking into the clouds through a jungle in rain. The smell of wet moss, the gust of cold humid wind, the trickling voice of waterfall, shades of green around and no noise of vehicle or crowd satiated my soul by every sense. I walked all alone for some patch of the trek that was the trophy moment of entire trek. I felt like I discovered myself within and achieved meditative happiness. When I reached to single root bridge in that heavy rain, it was quite thrilling as water flow below was massive and resonated every ounce there. I didn’t take pictures but stood there for quite a moment to absorb the scene, serenity and very moment. The strength of the bridge amazed me. There was one developing bridge there too which can practically help you picturize the know ‘how of the making of the root bridge’. These living root bridges were the best exemplar of the wonders happens when man work hand in hand with nature. The tribal people encourages roots (the aerial root of acacia elastica k/a rubber tree) with the help of steel bridges or bamboo or woods to form a bridge over the two ends of hills. So the root bridges above the flowing water were not less than miracles. Then I headed for double root bridge, when I reached there, I forgot about efforts and pain. The miracle was live in front of me, two root bridges made with attainment. It was a totally picturesque place. I crossed both the bridges and reached to the waterfall. I soaked myself and sat there in the water and literally tasted forest water. In other seasons the waterfalls are scanty but you can get your pedicure done in that crystal clear water. There was plenty of homestays, totally at an affordable price, I stayed there overnight after the wettest day mouth-watering hot Maggie and tea made my day more exuberant. And staying overnight there was the best thing to do. You can get enough rest, meeting strangers from different countries, know the local culture and authentic food and get all the perks of traveling. Backtrack in the morning took quite a few hours, I used to pause a little to observe and enjoy the view around and the company of diverse flora and fauna, sky with beautiful colors, choirs of the waterfall, birds, and insects kept my spirit high and made my journey best in many terms. “Place which can heal and help you to find the purpose of your soul should be the destination”. Still, peace and serenity are fresh in my mind.