Day 15: Clouds Call

12. Cherrapunjee:

“Megha-alaya. A place so wonderful that even the moving homeless clouds found a home!”......... (Kavithai Mannan) Poet from Bangalore

“Wow”......... Consultant from Bangalore

“Too much”... Oneiro on Cherrapunjee

Morning woke me up to a dream that I was sleeping in a dungeon. Things tumbled back in my mind the moment I saw the water jug that was kept on the dust covered table. I had slept in a dungeon. We rushed to the tourist bus that was to leave to Cherrapunjee. We weren’t exactly overjoyed with the idea of traveling in a tourist bus, like tourists. I mean, we weren’t tourists! We were the people who traveled far and wide out on an adventure trip and didn’t want a guided tour, the locations and starting & ending times decided by the driver of the bus! But then, rarely, my dear friend! Rarely does the thing we want to happen, happens. So, we went. We had the pleasure of the cabin to us. Breath taking view added to the awesome-ness. (In case you’re asking if I thought about her, then, you won’t get an answer here. This is day 15. You ought to have known by now when I think about her and when I won’t. What?) Of the whole lot of places we visited, just like the tourists, we liked mawsynram caves the most. If you happen to visit Cherrapunjee, I urge you to visit one of the most beautiful natural rock formations that one can find in Cherrapunjee. It’s the best.

Lunch was maggi and more chocolate. It was here Sleepyface was faced with the profound question if chocolate and places like Koteshwar, Leh or Cherrapunjee made up the heaven that is promised religiously by all these religions of the world. If this ain’t heaven, then what is? (If you know, let me know in the comments)

Cherrapunjee lived up to its expectations Oneiro and Vishnu carried in the minds – the wettest place on earth. There was a constant drizzle. The fog and the clouds occupy spaces meant for clear air and make visibility less than 2 meters. It is with immense emotion that Sleepyface urges you, if at all he does, to visit Cherrapunjee at the earliest. It’s important that you understand the emotion and not just treat it as a bunch of English alphabets tied together to form words.

Dear reader, I urge you to visit Cherrapunjee at the earliest. (And, if I’m not asking too much, if you could, you know, putting it squarely, let me know the answer to the profound question of which heaven is and which is not)

And so with that note of being amidst clouds and getting wet in the constant drizzle, taking snaps and trying to stay away from the tourists, SF and O returned back to the dungeon and without a word, they start reading. SF starts Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance while O continues Atlas Shrugged into the night and later into sleep as well.