The Road Home

In highland spirits I trust, and a dreary three day trip across a dust bowl plateau is worth it when the first glimpses of Umiam Lake are seen. Come June or July hopefully, I’ll see the clouds descend and feel the mist that I dream of everyday.

When you travel for three days in a train, it sucks the life out of you. The Bangalore-Guwahati Express has been a third home to me, considering the amount of time I’ve spent on that train. It meanders along an illogical route and real progress is only made once you head north from Chennai and from then it’s just counting down the hours over the next couple of days.

Predatory eunuchs and the likes will be aplenty, so if you’re a young lad like me, it is always safe to be armed with some change. But that’s not what we want to talk about for now; it’s more about the journey uphill from Guwahati to Shillong.

As the mercury dips, the winding roads make you feel at home straight-away. I never wait impatiently for Shillong once I’m on my way; instead I absorb the sites around me as if it were the first time. Whether it is a small hamlet on the side of a green hill or a truck on its side, an inviting line of liquor shops or incoming bezerkers in their sumos, these are the attributes of a trip to Shillong.

I always thought that the “chaos” of Shillong traffic was more “organized” than the rest of India. And I’m still waiting to be proven otherwise. No angry chants here, no stupid over-taking maneuvers and not too many blaring impatient horns, that’s how I sum up the traffic when I compare it to the madness that is Bangalore. We enter Mawlai first, and the first butcher’s shop that I see makes me smile and think about the syrwa I’ll be having for dinner. Besides the best beef and pork in town, Mawlai has a pretty fierce reputation, and not too many want to hang around out there for too long. I have a few friends there, from school. None of them were “fierce”, one was exceptionally clever, one was real fun and the third was John. I hope I run into these guys soon, it’s been ages since I caught up with them.

As we pass Mawlai and enter the central part of Shillong, the sumo stops near the Civil Hospital. Now I would be a little impatient and I board a taxi and check out the changes they’ve made to the place since my last trip. The last walk is down the steps opposite Mildora’s off the main road, past the lower level of the Parking Lot, left I go past that Naga food joint ( One day, P Shome and I will finally go there ) and up to that little red gate with LD on it.

A hot bath is what I need.

I’m thinking about it now.

Fried mustard leaves, beef and soft rice. I guess I’ll have the syrwa the next day.