India's Best Kept Secret - The Cleanest Village in Asia

chillibreeze writer — Malavika Bhattacharya

Need an editable PowerPoint map of North East India

A few months ago, I learnt something fantastic about my country, and emerged shame-faced at my lack of knowledge. The largest continent’s cleanest village is situated in a most unlikely location - nestled in one corner of Meghalaya, shrouded within clouds, unknown to most of the world. Maybe that’s why the reputation holds. It’s a two hour drive from Shillong. ‘Welcome to Mawlynnong, the cleanest village in Asia. Please keep our village clean,’ the sign read.

It’s like something out of a fairytale - The Wizard of Oz, perhaps. Narrow cobbled streets bordered with quaint thatched cottages. Riotous colors blooming in neatly manicured lawns. Babbling streams flowing into clear pools of water, fat little chicks clucking along, tiny faces peering out of windows, and a distant rumbling of thunder bringing the promise of rain.

They’re a tiny collection of around 80 families, a completely self-contained unit. They have their own church, own school, and their own way of life. For necessities, they travel two hours to the next town for the weekly market. Transportation options are few and far between. There’s the elusive bus, but most just prefer to walk through forest and rain. Mawlynnong boasts a 100% literacy rate. The society head has made it mandatory for all children to be educated, and there’s an English-medium school that teaches grades one to eight. Life is hard up here in the rainiest part of the Himalayas, but the inhabitants have a permanent smile etched on their faces and a wonderful warmness in their hearts.

They’re an enterprising lot, and have learnt to harvest rain water in the most innovative and eco-friendly ways- in natural stone basins. Every house has a large rock placed outside, with a cavity in its center, to collect rain water. The rain is incessant here! Even the dustbins are eco friendly. They’re made out of cane and placed every few meters so there’s never any litter on the quaint cobbled streets.

Tourism is a major source of income for this community, and they’ve made every effort to make your visit a unique and adventurous experience. Accommodation options are available in the form of bamboo tree-houses, complete with bedrooms, living room and a machan, all up on highest boughs of the forest. It’s all eco-friendly product - bamboo, cane and jute, and the feeling of standing amidst the trees, looking down at the rushing waterfalls, is absolutely ethereal. It’s priced at Rs. 2400/night, for a two bedroom cottage that can house 4 people.

There are guides for detailed tours, and they regale you with stories of the community and the friendly Bangladeshi neighbours. The locals are most polite and are happy to speak to you and let you photograph them as they go about their daily chores, resplendent in their traditional Khasi attire. There’s a rest-house as well, and these folks can cook up a mean pork curry, fried potato, and other Khasi delicacies for those starving souls.

The locals have also taken the initiative to build a Sky View - quite literally the high point of the trip. This consists of bamboo canes tied together to form a bridge, twisting and winding its way up through the trees, until you emerge high above the canopy on a bamboo platform built on the highest branches of the forest. Surreal. The climb itself is a noteworthy experience, moving from branch to branch on the slippery bamboo canes, criss-crossing across five trees at a sharp incline.

Once at the top, the trees part to reveal an absolutely panoramic, 360 degree view. The dense forest borders with Bangladesh and on a clear day, one can see the Bangladeshi district of Sylhet. It’s not every day that one stands atop the tallest tree in the forest, holding onto the branches for safety, as the wind buffets around the bamboo platform beneath your feet, and looks on as the green of the forest merges into the grey skies at the horizon.

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in November, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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—About our writer:

Malavika Bhattacharya works as a pre-sales associate at a multi-national firm. She is a graduate degree in Mathematics and has always dappled in writing and editing. This diverse background has given her exposure to many fields and enables her to write on an array of topics. She loves to travel & experience new cultures, and is presently freelancing as a travel columnist with an online magazine.

India's Best Kept Secret - The Cleanest Village in Asia

chillibreeze writer — Malavika Bhattacharya

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