Shillong (1)

The capital of Meghalaya state, home to the matriarchal Khasi people and former hill station cum garrison town of the British, Shillong lies on top of the Shillong Plateau. To the north lies the valley floor of the Brahmaputra River and to the south Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. Shillong is at the cross roads of the monsoonal weather system as well as at a crossroads of North East Asian Culture. Add to this the heavy British influence which exists to this day, and you have a very funky town in terms of its natural and human setting. To put it simply, Shillong could well be my favourite part of India in my travels to the North East...

Shillong is a city of churches. One of three Christian majority states in India (the other two being Mizoram and Nagaland, also in the North East), you cannot walk around the city without coming across a church. This also means that Sundays really is shut down day here in Shillong and much of Meghalaya Do not expect much in the way of life, the universe and everything on Sunday shuts down as the town goes to church. Really. Until mass is over, most places will not be open. However, once church is finished, most of the locals head to to the ice cream stalls. Bizarre as this is one of the coldest places that I visited while in Indaia!



One thing that you will find out on your travels in Meghalaya is that Hindi is a useless language to converse in. The locals in Shillong either speak Khasi or Bengali. As they are mutually intelligible, plus the state government's adoptation of English as an official language (a throwback to the importance of the British here) means that getting around Shillong is dead easy for the English speaker. Everyone speaks English and all that Hindi that you might have picked up while traveling in other parts of the country is quickly forgotten.



What surprised me about Shillong is how un-Indian its people are. Not only do they speak English, but they dress western. And more tellingly, they listen to American music. You will not hear the faint sound of Bollywood on the air, but Tupac, the Black Eyed Peas, and even Bob Dylan, on the car stereos of the locals. This is one groovy town, if you are not into Bollywood, and it is also a very musical town. Many people seem to be quite handy with the guitar. Not since Mexico have I witnessed so many musicians.



---

Getting there and away:

Like most places in the North East, Shillong is best reached via Guwahati (frequent buses and shared taxis ride the road) or Bangladesh (frequent shared taxis head to the border). It is also possible to hire a taxi to take you direct to and from Guwahati Airport, and current prices are Rs1200, for the whole taxi, one way.

Staying:

This will be the only other time I recommend a place to stay. At Rs1500 (£20) a night, it is expensive for India, but I absolutely loved this place. The Highwinds Guest House to the south of the city centre (close to the Pine Mount School) is situated by the tiny Crinoline Waterfall and set in an immaculately kept garden. Definitely a favourite of mine and was well worth the splurge! There are plenty of dirt cheap places located in the city centre too.