While our chatty and an absolutely kind gentleman Mr.Kamal was telling us about different tribes of Meghalaya and their practices (which deserves yet another post), he took us to a secret gem, where tourists seldom go, called “Garden of caves”. While we unassumingly bought an entrance ticket of 20 rs, we were gobsmacked by what awaited us. I obviously am not capable of describing what beauty transcended on us, I will try my best to share to the best of my capability. While we entered, we were welcomed with a tiny rapid falling into a cave. It felt like the cave teased us in a “come hither” way, but totally overwhelmed us with what it had in store.
This followed by two more astonishing waterfalls covered in mist and mosses left us gaping at the mouth. The scenes from Avatar? Well, this was better than that. We spent at least 30 min at each of these places. The water was glistening and clear. I had no fear of drinking few (hand) cups of water from it, and to my knowledge, cave water tastes the best.
While we took more than an hour and a half to savor the beauty of all of it, we also observed how environmentally friendly and sustainable living was just a norm in Meghalaya. In most of the places, even garbage bins were made of bamboo baskets.
While going deeper into the garden (actually, it was kind of a forest I would say), we saw a path that lead to “medicinal water”. There at the entrance, awaited a sweet young girl called Tabitha. She welcomed us with a genuine smile, unlike the manufactured smile that the hospitality industry has created.
She cheerfully told us about the medicinal water and faith that local people have in their magical powers. I was curious to see it. Lo and behold, what I saw a small stream of water falling into a stone pitcher. On the side of it, I saw two bamboo lotas (glass) to drink water from it! What an ingenuine idea! As we spoke more to Tabitha, she told us about her village. Her village of 200 people, run and maintain this garden with the revenue generated from the ticketing. Every Saturday, children, young and old people clean the garden as well as the village. It is a ritual they have been following for years.
The income that Tabitha gets here, has helped her educate her two younger brothers and look after her single mother. The naivety and innocence of these villagers. They worshipped nature in the truest sense. Until then, we assumed that this garden belonged to the government. But Tabitha enlightened us with this new information. This village, right here, without the help of govt for income or jobs, has set an example for self-reliance and sustainable living. Villagers, irrespective of their income status, came out together to look after their much-treasured nature. I could not help but feel moved by this gesture. We also look down on villagers for not knowing better, but are they? That day changed the outlook on many aspects of living such as self-reliance that Gandhi always told us about, independence from the government, sustainability and egalitarian society. This is exactly why I travel.