Tuesday, August 2, 2016

#DreamTrails: A Babyhood Soul in Paradise Unexplored!!






 I’m not exactly a wonderer. Seriously!! Not at all a travel enthusiast who can pack up their stuffs (or they’re always packed up and ready!!) and take up a journey any moment, any place on the earth.

But Wait Wait, that doesn’t mean I don’t like visiting, places. Surely I do. But the thing is

I never believed in “It’s the journey that matters and not the destination”. Come on…how come I really enjoy a journey if I’m not excited about the destination in the beginning its

elf?  To love the travel of a Journey…I must have the destination of my choice…That’s how I feel.

 

But the fact is Travel has always been a constant chum in my life. Right from the childhood I have been travelling to different places at different times. Why???  The reason being my father was a government employee who had frequent tours and occasional transfers.

 

Things have not changed now as well. We keep shifting place to place (courtesy IT professional job demand a place change as well apart from jumping in to different companies…Right) and trip to different places for different reasons. Let me confess…these types of journeys never excite me to the fullest because destinations are somewhat a “compulsion” and not a “choice”. I get few occasions (sadly) where I can decide a destination of my fondness.

So my Travel Bucket List is so crowded with options that it will be difficult to choose some of them. All places in it are close to my heart. And it’s not feasible to write about all of them here…right!! So it’s decided I will pick those that have a special connection to my soul and heart.

Now Imagine… I have a buzzer question. “Which place will you chose to explore first if given a chance to pick??

Its North East India…My answer within no moments…spontaneous!

North East India??? I know, you must be feasting your forehead with that particular gesture murmuring my answer. Stupid girl!! Didn’t she find the some wonderful places in the world!!

Yes...I must admit, sometime I also feel why my heart always go to these landscapes as first preference which is often referred as “Forbidden lands”?? My mind has several times suggested my heart to have something different giving other beautiful options also. But you know…I’m a soul who follows my heart rather than Mind.

 

So decided… First choice for dream destinations to explore will be “North East India”

I don’t exactly know when these landscapes entered into my list and Top the same as my Dream Destinations. Perhaps in the school days I think. Because as a school kid I remember I used to find it very difficult to locate the North East states in India’s Political Map as a part of Map Study in Social study chapters. No wonder why I always used to lose some marks on questions anything related to these states…be it Map study or any bit or long question. Most of the time I used to leave them “unanswered”. 

  

They used to appear as a “Bunch of Grapes” to me. I remember I used to feel “Once I grow up...I will go to these places and find out the answers”. That might have been the point when I felt to visit these lands.

At present I think many are still unaware of the fact about this part of our India. I’m sure some even can’t answer “how many states are there in North-East India” (hey…few years back even I was one of them) …. Let alone the facts about them.


Often termed as “Seven Virgin sisters” and “Paradise Unexplored”…The North East India comprises seven contiguous Sister States such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura including the Himalayan State “Sikkim- called as “The only Brother of these seven sisters”. They are often considered as “Forbidden land” because of their narrow connectivity to the main stream India “both physically and culturally”.

 For me, the Forbidden fruit has always been irresistibly fascinating. I have a bit Nature Loving kida (worm) in me as well. 

The first thing that fascinates me about these places is their biodiversities in terms flora and fauna. Then the dense forest, powerful torrent rivers and rains and thunderstorms sweeping across the hills, valleys and plains during the annual monsoons….

OMG!! What could be more than enough!!

 

These isolated lands are also the meeting point of various cultures, ethnic groups, food, faiths and festivals.  A place renowned for its mysterious magnificence and mystifying miscellany, In North East India One will find everything to satiate the appetite of any kind of escapades and natural desire to roam in the land of Paradise unexplored...Trekking, Rambling or trailing or simply walking and adoring the splendor!
 

Whether it is CHERRAPUNJI in Meghalaya-I know, I know…with the mention of this name you all are taken back into your school days. Hmm… nostalgic!! Remember those days how hard it was to memorize the Place of heaviest Rain Fall, Wettest Place etc- Cherrapunji…right!


 


For me its bit little more nostalgic! I love Rain. As a kid when I learnt that Cherapunji receives maximum rainfall….OMG!! My little innocent mind started dreaming up wandering in this place!!And believe me I was no less than The ALICE in the wonderland!! It’s been a childhood dream place for me. High above the vaporous valleys and ruffling Rivers, majestic water falls, the double Decker Root bridges and ensconced in curling clouds and hovering on an escarpment, Cherrapunji – The Place of my babyhood Dream is situated in the lap of the “Abode of clouds – Meghalaya”. Perhaps it’s the only place that has one season throughout year. Only Rain, Rain and Rain!! 


The Scotland of the East SHILLONG, UNAOKOTI Rock Temples in Tripura, Kachauri Ruins” – the ancient ruins, Tea Gardens in Assam,  Rumtek - the famous monastery (Also the largest monastery in Sikkim situated in Gangtok), the Rhinos of The Kaziranga National Park The Orchids of the “land of the dawn-lit mountains” Arunachal Pradesh …the list would go longer and longer.

North East India offers a hell lot of things to explore. I wish I would have a chance to land on that picturesque landscape on earth.  It will be like in paradise on earth.

Ohh!! That’s enough...Right!! Actually North East States of India are so bountiful in offering of Natural beauty that one life time perhaps not enough to explore it!!I've just explored the Natural beauties. Actually there are many more in Food,Festival and People!! That's why they say...One should Visit North India once in life time!! 






















I am blogging about my dreams and passions for the Club Mahindra #DreamTrails activity at BlogAdda. You can get a Club Mahindra Membership to own your holidays!





3 comments:

  1. very well explained,, tina... :)

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  2. WWO!! Im so Happy Sunitha...U liked it. Thanks a lot :) :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. The fear is always about the political situation

    ReplyDelete