The Memorable Shillong Trip, Part-1

Time seemed to have passed like a rocket, as we were already in our 8th semester. One night, we were simply enjoying our typical  and regular kind of hostel parties and suddenly someone said "Hey! Tunga. Next week is your birthday, so how you are going to treat us?"

Tunga was on a cracking mood that night and he said he would give a damn good party and even promised to treat our entire batch. But he had put forward a condition that he would give a party, only if we guys would have agreed to go to Shillong, for a weekend trip. Tunga was very much interested for the trip that moment and he said "Come on! It’s our final semester, let’s have some fun and make it memorable, as it could be our last trip, while we are in hostel.  I will bear all kind of fluid expenses"

Tunga’s proposal was quite tempting, but the problem was, after few pegs, many of us usually used to discuss similar kind of things and in the very next morning, no one actually used to bother much to discuss on the same topic again. But that time, it was little different, as the guys used to discuss about the Shillong trip for the next few days. Later, one late night, Tunga and some of our friends decided that we would go to Shillong the next morning and would start at 7 AM from hostel. After staying in hostel for almost 4 years, most of us usually used to ignore such decisions taken late night under the influence of the holy fluid.

Next early morning at 6 AM, Arpan knocked our door. As soon as we opened the door, I and Nair were little amused to see Arpan, well dressed along with his backpack. He looked pretty well prepared for the trip and he started to shout at us “WTF man! You guys are still sleeping? We have to move fast”

I and Nair were so delighted to see Arpan’s excitement, but we were under serious doubt whether it's really going to happen? Arpan waited in our room for almost an hour but no one else came, actually our room was just near the hostel main gate. Ultimately Arpan got frustrated and went back to his room and we also went to sleep. I had no idea how it happened but after another couple of hours, a huge gang was just outside our room and everyone was shouting "You idiots, get ready soon"

So, finally it actually happened and we were around 15-20 guys of our batch, ready to conquer Shillong. We left hostel at around 9 AM and we went near Paltan Bazar by our college bus. In order to go to Shillong from Guwahati, one can either go by bus or by cabs and they would usually start from Paltan Bazar, near Railway Station. Shillong is at a distance of 100 KM from Guwahati and it’s a breathtaking drive. Shillong is situated at an average altitude of 4,908 feet above sea level and is damn beautiful. The British used to call it as the Scotland of the East. 

It was peak summer that time and summer in Guwahati is capable enough to irritate anyone quite easily, not only with the temperature but also with the perspiration. As soon as we entered Meghalaya, Tunga brought all our stuffs and we already started to upload them on the spot. Meghalaya Govt is very generous in collecting tax on the heavenly fluids, as compared to other states. As our cab moved up the slope, gradually we felt some kind of relief in temperature and after one hour, as we reached Barapani (Umiam Lake), it was almost like heaven. The temperature dropped instantly and what a lovely sight it was.

Umiam Lake is located on the way to Shillong. It was created by damming the Umiam river in the early 1960s. After going little further,  we noticed the beautiful Pine trees all over the place, which are typical to that part of the region.

It's a 2 hours drive from the Guwahati-Meghalaya border to Shillong and one could practically feel the decrease in temperature after every 10 minutes, specially in peak summer.

Image courtesy: google images


The Memorable Shillong Trip, Part-2