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High above misty valleys and foaming rivers,
ensconced in swirling clouds and perched on an escarpment, lies this
extraordinary place of breathtaking beauty. A stunning location
which earned Cherrapunji coveted entry long ago into the Guinness
Book of World Records as the wettest place on earth, the place of
heaviest rain where the rainfall can be recorded in feet rather than
in millimetres.
Today, climatic changes
have edged Cherrapunji out of the topmost ‘wet’ slot, but
it still retains its pristine beauty, its unusual facets, the
perpetual clouds, the perpetual mists…. Appropriately,
Cherrapunji lies in the heart of the State of Meghalaya – the
Abode of Clouds.
Today, Cherrapunji is
perhaps the only place in India which has just one season: the
monsoon – but a hundred moods, a hundred faces. The rainfall
varies from heavy to medium to light, but there is no month without
rain. And here Cherrapunji has another surprise in store: it rains
mostly at night. Day to day activity is not really disrupted by the
rain, and this factor, coupled with the altitude (approximately 4500
feet above sea level) and sheer beauty of Cherrapunji probably played
a part when the British decided to establish their administrative
headquarters at the wettest place on earth.
Spacious and elegant,
colonial homes and buildings continue to lend a distinctive touch of
nostalgia to Cherrapunji, a reminder of the glorious, golden days
full of enterprise, full of fun. In 1874, the headquarters were
transferred to Shillong, 58 kilometres from Cherrapunji. And yet
today, more than a century later, Cherrapunji with its reputed
educational institutions is still a bustling centre for people from
each of the states of the North-East.
And as in days gone by,
the faces of Cherrapunji change not with the Cherrapunji change not
with the seasons, but with the pattern of rainfall. The heaviest
downpours span approximately five long months – from May till
September. The clouds then are dark and menacing, full blown with
rain which descends earthwards with the stinging force of a whiplash.
Throughout these months,
Cherrapunji is transformed into a sea of tiny, gushing rivulets when
it rains. The raindrops beat incessantly on rooftops and treetops
creating a compelling tattoo of awesome sounds which cannot be
savoured anywhere else but in the North-Eastern states. These are
also the ‘record-making’ months which contribute to records
such as the stunning 22987 millimetres of rainfall in 1861. The
annual average rainfall of Cherrapunji stands today at 10871
millimetres. Barely 10 kilometres from Cherrapunji stands the
village of Mawsynram which has snatched away the heaviest rainfall
record, with 12163 millimetres of rainfall.
With the passage of
September, the rhythm of the rain – its main force spent –
changes to a gentle patter. And the Khasis and other residents of
Cherrapunji, the flora and the fauna respond to the change in the
Rain God’s mood. Soft pastel shades begin to appear in skies
that were grey al day and rainbows that are a photographer’s
delight begin to make unexpected guest appearances.
Live living beings, the
clouds still hold on to their right of unrestricted entry into homes.
At about three in the afternoon, I was startled to find a cloud
trying to enter through the closed window. Excited, I flung open the
window, and the cloud entered like a wraith, wandered round the room,
and then went out through the door to rejoin a sea of clouds
billowing in the near distance. As the months move on, the smell of
decaying vegetation lessens as the showers become intermittent. New
plants spring to life, and people go about their tasks with renewed
energy.
Strangely – and this
is the first in the series of surprises that Cherrapunji springs –
the hills around do not have the lush green vegetation one normally
associates with wet places. The vegetative cover in the form of
dense woods appear in patches and constitute yet another marvelous
surprise: the richness and variety of the flora in these ‘zones’
has to be seen to be believed. An amazing variety of rare orchids,
ferns and moss convert each pocket into a botanist’s paradise.
The home of enterprising
Khasi clans, Cherrapunji’s place in the Guinness Book of Records
is not its only claim to fame. Along with falls lesser in height but
no less alluring, the spectacular, cascading 1035 feet high Mawsmai
Falls – the fourth highest in India – lie just a few
kilometres beyond Cherrapunji.
Close by is situated a
fascinating labyrinth of underground passages beneath age old caves –
a veritable dream for amateur explorers. Elsewhere around
Cherrapunji, Khasi monoliths (stones in memory of there ancestors)
lie dotted around – a vague reminder of the forests of Bastar.
Cherrapunji’s link
to Central India is actually rooted more in fact rather than
imagination. If you consider the oranges of Nagpur in Central India
the best in the country, you’ll soon revise your opinion after
tasting the oranges of Cherrapunji which are the ancestors of the
famous Nagpur oranges. The pineapples of Cherrapunji’s are of
as good a quality as its oranges.
Amidst all the surprises
of Cherrapunji, perhaps the most abiding is the startling realization
that the wettest place on earth where it rains every month also has
an amazing amount of warm sunshine. The contrasts are so sharp –
and so pleasing. Soft clouds hovering over a stony precipice. When
the clouds drift away, there are a series of memorable views, and one
can see as far as Bangladesh. Orchids blooming a few feet away form
a patch devoid of vegetation. Dense woods interspersed by rocky,
cliffs furrowed by erosion. The Khasis moving gingerly towards
modernity without relinquishing traditions such as ancestor worship
and their skills with the bow and arrows…The vignettes of
Cherrapunji go far beyond its fame as the wettest place on earth.
VISITING CHERRAPUNJI
HOW TO GET THERE
Cherrapunji is 58
kilometres from Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya. A steep
motorable road, almost perpetually bathed in mist as it climbs
upwards on the last lap, leads up to Cherrapunji. Buses and taxis
ply to Cherrapunji from Shillong.
WHERE TO STAY
If you don’t want to
make Shillong your base, Cherrapunji has fairly comfortable private
hotels. Staying at the Circuit House and the Dak Bungalow require
prior permission from the administration.
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