Chasing the clouds- II

We reached Chirapunjee. We went inside a huge park.The holiday crowd was in full swing. We had almost come to the end of India and we could spot Bangaladesh plains from various spots in the park. It was misty, so we could only see in the general direction of Bangladesh. I asked one of the girls who had come for a picnic, if there is a road going upto Bangladesh. She said not much of a road, but you can make your way. People from Bangladesh do manage to come across the border into Meghalaya she said. She spoke very good English.Also she was quite stylishly attired. She was no exception.As I observed during our trip, people of Shillong are very comfortable in English and they are very particular about their dress and their aesthetics was very pleasing. We saw the men in the usual western attire, they could be from any part of India.But among women we saw quite a large percentage of them wear their traditional dress. It is a skirt(more like a malayalee mundu) with a long blouse and a loose cloth worn across the chest and tied at the shoulder. The lady in the Purbashree emporium clarified that she is from a different tribe and she wears her dress differently. She was in regular western outfit then and when I asked her, she said she wears traditional dress on special occasions.

Chirapunjee is famous for caves. They have a separate circuit for visitors, called 'cave tourism'. We went into one such cave. It was large and very very narrow in parts. The huge holiday crowd was jostling inside the dark caverns with small kids and elderly men and women packed tight. The caves were lit at regular intervals, but if there was better regulation of the crowd inside, we would have had a more leisurely and less scary experience. Some of us felt claustrophobic. I had visited Aruku valley in Visakhapatnam some years back and the caves there.This is my second experience. These caves aree much longer and more intricate to manoevre than those in Aruku valley.

We got back to Shillong just in time as dew was settling in quite fast. It was peak winter on 25th January. Our hotel room was large with room heaters and had two bathrooms. Can you believe it? One with western closet and the other with an Indian one. Otherwise both of them were fully fitted and plush with all necessary fittings. I was wondering if they would have a special tagline to advertise for this particular room, "It is a room with two bathrooms!"

I went out to do some typical shopping in Shillong. Our driver guide took me to a regular mall there thinking this is where I would like to shop. It had all brands and readymade garments which you can get anywhere. I asked a lady at a shop selling mobiles.She spoke very good English and said I can try the emporiums down the next road for typical Shillong momentoes. Almost all shops are manned by women, not as helpers but as people owning and manning the cash counters. I was told this is a common feature. Bought two cute modas in Purbashree. I also picked up a very bright coloured hand woven shoulder bag for my mother. The meghalaya tourism outlet was closed at 5.30 pm. When I narrated this to my daughter, my son in law said the regular eating joint that he goes to for dinner was closed early on new year eve.When he asked him why, the owner told him. there will be a big crowd today so I am closing early! One would have thought they are in the business to do business and earn money. But apparently not. So it was no surprise that Meghalaya emporium closed shop early, when it was peak tourist season and that day was followed by a long weekend of sunday and republic day.

Night halt at Shillong. It was freezing cold.