Churches of Northeast India

Presbyterian Church of India, Arunachal Pradesh, NE India

I am taking you off the Charleston peninsula this evening for a tour of Christian Churches in Northeast India.
The first one was far north in Arunachal Pradesh and in a military encampment area. I nodded, tried to look innocent and showed my camera to the Indian Army soldier guarding the remote border area to let him know I simply wanted a photo of the church.

Meghalaya, India

I am not sure about this one. Any ideas? Certainly a surprising sight on a country road in the hills of India. The wording above the entrance is the latin "Venite ad me omnes" which means "Come to me all". I am guessing it is a Catholic Church.

Meghalaya, India

Meghalaya, India

This is an Anglican Chapel in the old British Cemetery in Shillong. There were relocated tombstones from the years of British occupation here.

Meghalaya, India

I spotted this one perched on the side of a hill on a hike up to the Khasi Sacred Forest.

House of Prayer, Arunachal Pradesh, India

This House of Prayer was in the mountain area far north and on an Indian Army base.

I thought this was in interesting collection and reminded me of many of the village churches I worshiped in as a kid.  No worries - I have albums full of Buddhist Monasteries as well!  You should be able to click on the image to get a higher resolution view.

Baby Elephant Tries to Walk

Sweet! I took this snippet of video at the Kaziranga Sanctuary on my trip to India in November.

A World Apart

Ward's Lake, Shillong, India

Look familiar? At first glance, it looks rather like the white bridge at Magnolia Plantation but it couldn't be further away.  This is a man made lake I recently returned to visit in the town I grew up in in northeast India. I can't tell you how many picnics I enjoyed as a child on these grounds.

Shillong is a hill station and when the British were in India they came north to enjoy the cooler weather. The lake was built by William Ward, Chief Commissioner of Assam. The British were long gone by the time I was there and a family of eight Canadian kids spend many an afternoon rowing the boats around the lake. Happy days.

There are paddle boats on the lake now, but when I was young, there was a fancy swan themed boat with a canopy.  It is known to be such a romantic spot that there are actually warning signs against "obscene acts."

NE India Trip - Hey BRO!

Border Road Organization signs, Arunachal Pradesh, India

We were bouncing on the craziest, dusty rutted road system I could imagine, heading far north into the hills of northeast India when I first smiled at one of the “BRO” signs. Like the old Burma Shave people fondly remember in the US, the BRO signs boasted of the road condition (ghastly), and with a touch of humor urged caution in driving. With quirky typos, grammar and sometimes sexist sayings they encouraged drivers to pay attention, avoid alcohol, gossip and speeding, drive with caution and honk their horns in blind curves. 

I soon realized that Bro wasn't slang but the initials for the Border Road Organization and it tickled me even more that every sign started with the word BRO. I got out a pen and paper but it was hopeless to try to write in the bouncing jeep. My butt was soon numb and as flat as the hard back seat of my brother's '96 Mahindra jeep that we traveled in with three nephews and two little pups we eventually picked up in Tawang. 

The entire state of Arunchal Pradesh seems to be occupied in the business of road construction but there was little evidence of progress. Women dressed in colorful tribal-wear often with babies on their backs and knitting in hand for break time, chipped rocks at the roadside. Occasionally there would be a short stretch of paved road but it was just a tease before clouds of dust poured back in the windows from Army convoys in front of us on the dry dusty road. Indian Army soldiers with rifles waved cheerfully from the back of their trucks at my two year old nephew. Cow, goats and yaks ambled across the road. Diverted highway stretches for roadwork were marked simply – with a boulder in the middle of the closed section. Memorial tributes scattered along the route paid tribute to those who had lost their lives in the construction of the road or who hadn't heeded BRO's wise advice. I mentally designed my memorial stone in case it was needed.

On the mornings that we got an early start we saw the day unfold at the side of the road. People watched us go by as they brushed their teeth, scrubbed and washed clothes at taps and waterfalls. Groups of kids in uniform walked to school and trucks dropped off the road side laborers. Convoys picked up and dropped off soldiers at army bases. Roadside workers enjoyed their picnics and tea breaks. 

The scenery was breathtakingly dramatic. We passed through mountains that reminded me at times of Ireland, the Peruvian Andes, the Rocky mountains and Switzerland as we headed into the foothills of the Himalayas. TATA trucks stormed up the mountains with their professed religious symbols painted on the front. From Christian symbols in Shillong, Hindu in Assam, the trucks heading north soon changed to the Buddhist Om Mani Padma Hum and had solar prayer wheels spinning efficiently on the dash. The back view reminded drivers to honk their horn “HORN DO” and "Use Dipper at Night."

 

You know me, I was in hand-painted sign heaven. Unfortunately most were in spots too dangerous to pull over for photo ops. Some of the others we remembered were:

Don't Gossip. Let him drive. 

Do not rally in the valley. 

For safe arrival, no liquor in driving. 

Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer. 

Life is a journey. Don't let yours end here. 

Check your never on my curve. 

Alert today. Alive tomorrow. 

Kindness is giving the right of way. 

This is not rally or racy; drive with gracy. 

Speed is a knife that cuts life. 

Safety is as simple as ABC. Always Be Careful. 

Wanna enjoy life fully? Drive carefully. 

NE India Trip - Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India

One of the highlights of my recent trip to India was a visit to Kaziranga National Park in the midst of the tea plantations of Assam on the banks of the Brahmaputra river. The park is home of the one horned rhinoceros as well as tigers, elephants, panthers, bears and thousands of birds.

I had done this trip as a kid and my children grew up hearing stories about riding elephants out into the morning fog in grass as high as the elephant's belly. Not much had changed (not even the dreadful bathrooms in the park - yikes folks) but this time I rode the elephants with my own daughter and my nephews Murray and Rydin while their parents slept late.

There were seven or eight elephants in our group and three of them were recent mothers. The baby elephants ambled along behind us eating the grass in their path as we moved along. The babies were so unbelievably adorable that I spent half my time looking behind me and taking pictures of them. The elephants walk right alongside the herds of deer, rhinos, buffalo and it felt like we were in a nature documentary. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be able to experience this again. There was a sudden hush as our guide thought he spotted a tiger in the grass but couldn't be sure. I am claiming it as a sighting since the tigers are much are harder to find.

We followed up with a jeep safari and interrupted a confrontation between a male and female rhino on the trail. The park ranger was ready to fire a warning shot as they started charging towards our jeep. Big excitement!

We stayed at the Wild Grass hotel which was the most upscale hotel of our journey and for the first time on our trip ran into other tourists. There was a Canadian couple, a group of German tourists and many Indian visitors there to worship nature with us.

Northeast India Trip - Garo Hills

Charleston Daily Photo will be on field trip status for a little longer as I share some of the photos from my trip to India. My brother Jim lives there still and was our escort and travel guide. What a relief! He drove the insane road system in his rugged Mahindra jeep and coordinated hotels and meals which made it so much easier than it could have been. The north east is not exactly on the regular tourist route.

My daughter and I flew to Delhi (14 hour flight), and then on to Gawahati. Jim, Val and my three adorable nephews met us and rushed us directly to the Garo Hills to the Wangala Hundred Drum Festival.

We left the plains heading into the lush hills and I was delighted to learn I had landed in India during orange season. The best oranges in the world grow here. I was determined to eat one every day and I did, except for breaks to enjoy local pineapples, kiwi, bananas and coconuts. Jim had friends who had coordinated guest rooms for us over a baby care nursery and there was an immersion heater in a large bucket of water waiting for well needed warm baths.

The next morning we explored the local market, drove, parked the jeep and joined a mass of people walking to the drum festival. Tribes in colorful costumes competed with each other in drumming and dance ending up with all of them on the field together making an awesome thunderous noise. I walked the field with my camera and soon discovered that each group had it's own container of rice wine and were eager to fill the communal gourd in exchange for a look at their picture in the back of my camera.I got slightly tipsy and had my fix of colorful costumes with willing models all in one fell swoop.

I traveled with two great assets - a beautiful daughter and cute nephews. Everywhere we went people wanted to be in pictures with them. Here was my daughter's photo fan club in Tura.

The next day we went on a walk looking for Gibbon monkeys. We didn't find any although we tried to with our best Gibbon noises. We did however encounter another form of wildlife - leeches! One sucker made it all the way up my pants to the skin above my knee and made me want to get back to my room for a full body check. The Garo village was clean and charming. They typically build lookout cottages high in the trees and made mini structures on stilts to protect their grain in the same way.

Slept like a baby last night. Woke up once disoriented and couldn't figure out where I was. I grinned in my bed with the awareness that I was back in the land of porcelain flush toilets. I hope everyone has been well and had a good Thanksgiving while I was away. Thanks for all the kind messages! I've been out of touch - no computer, no newspapers and only Hindi television. It was a real escape. I'll follow up with the rest of the trip in sections  but right now I need to walk down and sniff my ocean.

More photos from this section can be found in this album: Garo Hills.

Going Back Home

Shillong Peak, Shillong, Meghalaya, India

I'm going home. Next month at this time I will be in the hills of north east India. I haven't to Shillong since I graduated from St. Mary's High School in Laitumkrah many years ago. I went back to India once but at that time the hill states were closed to travelers and Darjeeling was as close as I could get. This time my daughter is going with me to see what I've been talking about all these years.  Sorry folks - my Khasi is so very rusty! I'll be embarrassed to open my mouth.

I've  been warned that things have changed - there is more traffic and noisy congestion, the sweet cottages with flower gardens are now buildings made of cement. My old bedroom where four of the eight Perry kids slept in a double bunk bed is now a classroom in the elementary school where my father was headmaster. I've asked to walk to the river where we washed clothes on Saturday mornings, picnicking and playing wild games while our laundry dried on the bushes.

The state's name "Meghalaya" means Abode of the Clouds and the British liked to call it their Scotland of the East. Most years it is the rainiest place in the world.  We are going north to places I've never been and will ride elephants on safari in Kaziranga. As soon as we land we are heading to a village drum festival.

My brother Jim lives there still with his wife and three young sons. I asked what I should bring and he emailed a link to a cookie press. They want to make Christmas cookies. It is the only thing already packed in my suitcase. I stopped at Micheal's today and picked up cookie cutters (still need gingerbread men), piping tips for icing and food coloring. Send me any of your best holiday cookie recipes! This should be interesting!

I don't leave until the second week in November but it is starting to feel like I am going on an adventure. It is all very exciting!