Day 1
Sighting The Cascade
We were heading towards Cherrapunji today. Last evening, we arrived at Shillong. The entire route was filled with abundant greenery. I was thrilled to watch this kind of greenery, while the car winded through the pebbled hilly route. I was visiting this part of North_ East with my family. My son is around one and a half years old. He has just started speaking. Yesterday he enjoyed splashing water in the Elephant fall at Shillong. I had heard that Shillong and Cherrapunji are a must-visit, especially to watch the rain. The Pluviophile soul resting deep within me could not resist this wonderful chance. I watched the rainfall. It first drizzled, then there was some thundering and lightning and then it began to pour.
All through, the weather was quite pleasant. It drizzled and poured all the way. But never did it rain cats and dogs. Anupam had organised this trip because I had told him I want to visit Cherrapunji during the rains. The sight of each of the cascades was breathtaking. I watched with awe as the cascades flowed delightfully spreading the rainbow hues of happiness. It was just incredible.
Later, when we returned to the hotel, I recalled my early memories of rain. My first memories of rain were attached to a small town in Andhra Pradesh where I grew up. The school, where I studied had a huge ground. All of my friends spotted some bright red-hued velvet bugs. We collected them in our pencil boxes and brought them home. It would hardly survive for a couple of days before dying out. Those two days would perhaps be the happiest days for us. We preferred to be left alone admiring our treasured Velvet bugs. This would be followed by snail collection. We would first start with watching the snails on the school lawn before we began to collect their empty shells. We would also go around collecting colourful stones.
Splashing in the rain puddles was such a delightful thing!
Day 2
A Unique Rainy Day In Kolkata
5th September, 1997
Dear diary, today was an unusual day. I will always remember this day just not because it rained heavily in Kolkata but more because upon reaching school, we were informed that Mother Teresa has expired. We were asked to walk down to the church on Park Street where her body was placed in the glass coffin. We walked down all the way including Puja Mukherjee, Deepti Khaitan, and Vandana Agarwal.
When the procession of the eleventh-grade students of our school, reached almost halfway we were drenched thoroughly in the rain. By the time we reached the church, a huge crowd had gathered there to pay their tribute to the noble soul. We all stood in a long queue shivering in wet clothes while the newspaper reporters and cameramen rushed to click our photos.
By the time we reached the room of the church where Mother’s body was placed inside a glass coffin case, I was literally shivering and chattering because already I was drenched and on top of that there were about eight A. C’s were turned on inside that room. We hurriedly moved on after offering our tribute to her deceased soul. When we came out it had stopped raining but did not have the courage to board a bus. Puja, Deepthi, and I shared a taxi and reached home. I was down with fever by evening. But this rainy day was etched in my treasure of memories forever.
Day 3
A Rainy Day Train Ride
Dear diary, my love for rain made me ride the Kirandul Express today. It was one of the most memorable train rides that I have ever taken, I would prefer to put aside those memories of thirty-six hours of long train journeys that we were required to travel each summer, in order to spend our summer vacation in Kolkata.
As we boarded the train from Vishakhapatnam station, during the early hours of the morning the sky appeared clear. Soon, we crossed several fields, houses, and villages before entering the first tunnel(There are around fifty-eight tunnels and eighty-four bridges that one has to cross before they reach the Araku Valley), I must tell you here that I learned some important facts related to the engineering marvel of the Kottavalsa Kirandul line. We crossed the Shimliguda station, which is perched at 997m above sea level, the first highest broad gauge railway station in the country until the construction of Qasigund in Jammu and Kashmir.
The sky was by then overcast with dark clouds when the train reached the million years old Borra Cave. It is located at a height of 800 – 1300m from sea level. It was discovered by the British geologist William baking in 1807. The beauty of the stalactites and stalagmites inside the cave appeared enchanting. The interior of the cave was flooded with a thematic lighting scheme. A visit to The Paleolithic cave on this rainy day in August was truly a delight. Later my parents and I gawked at the scenic beauty that was visible from The Galikondalu Viewpoint located at a height of about 3800 ft above sea level. It is the highest point in Anamtagiri Hills famous for its coffee plantation. The entire trip was fascinating as we watched the famous cascades Thatiguda, Vatika, and Chaaprai flowing with their milky streams from the train as we crossed the tunnels.
Upon reaching the Aaraku Valley, we visited the Padmapuram Garden, a botanical garden, and the tribal museum but not before we enjoyed the traditional lunch at the Andhra Tourism Restaurant followed by the rhythmic, enthralling and colourful tribal dance called’ Dhimsa ‘ performed by the PTG (Primitive Tribal Groups) of this region.
Rains have always attracted me. The beauty of nature appears best during the Monsoons. Our country’s best scenic beauty can be viewed best during the Monsoons. The other places that I have loved visiting most during the Monsoon include a visit to Choral, Mandu, and Maheshwar during my stay in Indore, A visit to Wayanad and Coorg and not to forget a trip to Kullu and Manali and Rohtang Pass during August. The apple and pear-laden orchards on the way to Kullu and Manali were simply incredible. So was the sight of clouds entering inside the toy train during the toy train ride of Darjeeling during the rains. If you are a true Pluviophile, visit India and its diverse geographical beauties during the Monsoon. The rains will not fail to delight you.
By Aditi Lahiry
An English and French Language trainer, Aditi is equally passionate about writing poems, short stories, articles and story telling too. Her works have been published in various anthologies and magazines including Airavata 1 published by Ukiyoto publishers , Wide Awake by Ukiyoto publishers and Chrysanthemum Chronicles Anniversary Edition. She can be contacted at aditilahiry.english@gmail.com
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