Driving through the hills of East Khasi district in Meghalaya, that also on a typical rainy day, would be a blessing to any person who comes from a concrete jungle, caught in the web of work-home-work.The otherwise beautiful Meghalaya turns into a paradise during rains as the greens get greener and the clouds seem like at an arm’s distance.
The journey to any place is splendid and you would want to spend your entire day just driving through the state marvelling in its natural beauty.
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But, what if the destination turns out to be even more magical and picturesque? That’s Asia’s Cleanest Village-Mawlynnong for you.
An urban junkie would avoid a visit to any typical village during a heavy rain day, fearing muck, potholes, mounds of garbage everywhere.
However, Mawlynnong lives up to its name that it earned in 2003. It is indeed the cleanest village, not in India but in all of Asia. Almost 100 kilometres away from Shillong, the village is hard to miss as it literally looks like a picture on a travel postcard.
And, all credit goes to the residents of this quaint and peaceful place, who without any support from the government, have turned the village into a green haven.
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Own up
“Our forefathers have imbibed this thing in us. The village is like our house, we should keep it clean. Everyone here is responsible for this village’s cleanliness and everyone feels a sense of responsibility towards this cause here,” said Phillip, who runs a tea stall here.
Even before PM Narendra Modi started his famous drive to clean all of India, ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, inhabitants of this village have been sweeping, gathering garbage, and installing dustbins here.
“We teach our children also to keep the village clean. Even if we drop something by mistake and the ground gets dirty, people feel guilty about it,” said Philip.
Roots bridges
The walk through the village is like taking a walk through a jungle-trail. The trails and roots bridges will lead you to stunning views.
The living tree root-bridges will leave you awestruck- made by the locals, who entwined the roots of the rubber trees to pave paths through the thick forest. The roots are woven in such a fashion that they are not slippery and are sturdy.
The locals are perhaps the most humble and helpful, always eager to help people who lose their way in the mammoth forest.
And, if it is pouring heavily and you can’t make your way back to Shillong, you can stay at the locals’ houses.
Another attraction here is the Sky View. It is a 85feet high bamboo tower from which you can see the Bangladesh border.
A drawback too
The only thing which is a little disturbing from the environment point of view is they burn the garbage. “Since there is no government support, we don’t know where to dispose off the garbage, so we have to burn it,” said Philip, adding “We know it’s harmful, but what choice do we have.”
Well, Since Modi was here a few days back, hope he does something for the community.
