Visit to Mawlynnong- Asia's cleanest Village

During a trip which lasts for more than a week, all the days will not be superb; there are bound to be a day or two, which makes us little down. One such day was when we visited Mawlongbna.

Actually this is a nice place and some good activities are there including Kayakking; however one should go to Mawlongbna only if they stay in the Government Guest house situated there; It is in a different location inside a Forest; if we stay there, they arrange a Guide who will take us to all places around that area and also Kayaking.

Though we could not stay in the Guest house, as no space was there, we spoke to the Caretaker who said he will arrange a Guide and we can come and enjoy the activities. Unfortunately when we went there, we could not reach him over phone, as none of our Phone had signals. (Aircel and BSNL alone have better tower in Megalaya; it is better to get a Chennai sim from these Agency before we leave; Don’t go and try to get a local sim there; it seems it will take a week or so to get activated there)

We could not reach him over phone nor we can meet him; somehow we did Kayaking, which was a different experience. We need to drive our boat. A guide is there to help. But we need to understand how it operates and accordingly do it.

Mawlongbna Guest house contact No: 9615 1700 25

There are couple of places – a cave and a rock which is considered as God near Mowlongna. This cave is not worth a visit. There are 2 better / bigger caves & please visit them only.

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Mawlynnong is recognized & recorded as Asia’s cleanest village and we stayed in a superb location here. Again it was almost like a Forest in the midst of it we have a Guest house. The inside room is not outstanding &average only. There is little bit of mosquito problem here and they had given coil- liquid – Net etc to escape from it. We used Net and it was fine. Food & Hospitality at this place also was very good.

There are many Root bridges in Megalaya which are very famous; ie: the roots of the tree will be so huge and it will act like a Bridge. Near Mawlynnong, there is one such good Root bridge named Riwoi root bridge. Those who cannot go to Double Decker root bridge can atleast visit this. This place attracts lot of tourists

When we went there, every thing seemed normal. So went without umbrella or rain coat; as we went half way through it suddenly started raining. (It is better to take them, whenever we get down from car in Megalaya; otherwise we will have everything in car, but will not be there when we need it) We waited in a shop there, where we were playing with a small kid. The shop owner ladies were kind enough to accommodate us inside their shop during rain.

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We went for walking in the Mawlynnong streets in the evening and next day morning. The road were well laid out with cement and they were clean. Also every house had beautiful garden.

In the place where we stayed, there is a view point – built; If we go up there, we can see Megalaya well and also can see Bangaladesh border

 (As Megalaya is situated closer to Bangaladesh, in many places, the cab drivers keep telling/ showing us that this is Bangaladesh border…) The view point here was very good.

Mawphanlur.. the Heaven on Earth...

Mawphanlur… the mentioning of this word itself brings Goosepumps to me…. Probably anyone who has visited this place will feel similarly…

It is a small village situated on the top of a hill. Just 8 Kilo meter travel in the hill and we reach Maphanlur. In the initial part of 5 KM, the road is very bumpy and bad, but the last 3 Km is well laid out.

It is better to call the local guest people over phone, who will come down to pick you up. They charge Rs. 100 per head to go up to the hill, which is pretty fine. (Better to avoid going by car until the roads are laid out well- their jeep is certainly better)

As we get down and move to our room, we are spell bound by the beauty of this place. We reached at the most appropriate time there: 10 AM…and it was about 18-20 degree out there (That was the maximum temperature for the day !!) The guest house is surrounded by hills, lake & complete greenery. Just cant explain the beauty of this place. It has to be experienced !!

We started roaming around the place till afternoon. We sat near lake and was running behind the goats and hens which were the only living beings to give us Company.

We hardly see people there; Once in an hour or so, few people cross that huge road.. otherwise there is nobody in the vicinity.

We came to guest house again for lunch. The hospitality of the guest people is awesome; so friendly and helpful. They treat you very well. The food was excellent; They give a bowl full of fire continuosly to keep us warm. ( I was laughing at the paradox of coming to a cool place wontedly and then looking for fire out there !!)

This is the only guest house available in Mawphanlur (Run by the local Co-operatives) and they have 2 rooms; they are occupied very rarely; these are opened just about an year back; this place is yet to become popular. Many drivers too don’t know this place !!

Around 1.30 PM, we again started our rounds, as we know that we are going to stay here only for one day and it will become dark in the evening. Again it was such a fun to walk in the greenery, occasionally meeting some cows and goats.

There is a local primary school in Mawphanlur & few houses are situated closer to that; few kids were playing there; As I went near that place, they ran to their house…

As it became dark, we came to the guest house half heartedly, as we would love to spend more time out there.  

We saw the local MLA making a surprise visit to the guest house; he spoke to us & gave his card. He enquired about the place; We told him that every thing is fine except the approach road to the hill. He said that his very purpose of visit is to note it down and repair it soon. Hopefully, the road will become all right in an year.

It started raining a bit by 6 PM; there were some power cuts as well. But we never felt unsafe.

Mist surrounded the place by 7 PM & it was difficult to even go to the place where we normally have dinner.

We had a wonderful sleep. The morning climate had many more surprises. There was a lovely mist, in which we can walk; but in 2 minutes the mist goes off and the sun comes out; within next few minutes, it start raining a bit… but only for few minutes; Again mist- then sun, followed by small rain; It was quite funny.

But we were told that the climate of Mawphanlur is like this all through the 365 days !! But the best time to roam around the village is 10 AM to 5 PM.. When you go to Mawphanlur, remember to spend this time outside… in the lake, green hills, etc.

We started back to Mawlynnong – Asia’s cleanest village around 9 AM; As we were crossing the lake and greenery, I was looking back at them with love..We started asking ourself…” Will we ever come back to this Heaven once again???”…..

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Mawphanlur Guest house contact Phone No: 9615 043 847

Mawphalang- Maple pine Farm house.. A Must stay place !!

Sharing a series of articles on our recent Megalaya trip... The first one is about the place where we stayed for the first 2 days...
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Mawphalang… A small village in Megalaya. Its about 25 KM from Shillong. While visiting Megalaya, it is better to stay in such villages than staying in Shillong city. The city does not offer much attraction, while the villages like these are extra ordinary, right from their location, climate, scenery, etc.

Scenic beauty of Mawphanlur village

We stayed at Maple Pine farm run by  Mr. James. It has 3 beautiful cottages. The location in which the village and the Stay is located is awesome. Surrounded by a river (in fact the car or jeep needs to literally run through the small river to reach his place; else it has to stand in other shore !!)

The car needs to drive through & cross this small river .. its not deep.. !!

Each cottage is made of wood; there is a Play house kind of upper part (similar to train’s – upper berth) available; this upper part is best for sleeping as it is very warm. Kids will enjoy this Play house/ upper berth concept very much.

Maple pine Farm house

Out of the 3 cottages, Cottage No: 2 is the best; Upto 6 or 7 people can stay there.  This cottage will cost only few hundred (300 to be precise) more.  It can be taken when 2 families go together.

There are many cute pets that James family has – 3 beautiful puppies, a horse, a cat, a rabbit ….The puppies were very friendly and they come and sit with us when we are doing camp fire.

Pancake - Break fast 

In Maple pine, the break fast is free: By default, they give Pancake-jam or Bread with omlette. If we need Roti, need to inform in advance. Other times, we get good quality rice, dhall and a vegetable and a non veg (chicken) dish.

At Maple Pine Farm house..

Power is generated through Solar and that power alone is used here for entire lighting & other needs !! Because of this reason, there is no bath room attached to the cabins. Only Toilet is attached. They have 2 common Bath rooms with heaters; though initially it looks little odd, we were ok with it when we were there, as this is one of the very few minus point (if we can say so); other one is the bad approach road to the Farm house; The drivers will struggle a bit to drive the last 200 meters. Despite these 2 minus, its worth visiting and staying in this place !

We met a Tamil family here who had come on a 3 week trip to Megalaya !! They stayed here for 2 days. Husband- wife & their son and daughter in law had come together and they were travelling to most of the places we visited but at a slow pace and stayed at each place for few days...

Guests who had come from Chennai...

Just Few feets away from Maple pine...

Mawphalang and Maple pine must be visited as a small group (either as friends or families) and just stay here for few days. The climate is very cool, the surroundings are mind blowing and we can have a relaxed few days…

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Closer to Maple pine, within walkable distance is Sacred Grove, a Forest area. Its better to visit this place with a guide.





He will tell many interesting stories: That you should not plug flower or any plant and you should not drink in this forest;  if you do so, snake will bite you; also the place where buffaloes were given as sacrifice every year will be shown by him. There are many interesting plants available here and Plant lovers will like this place. 

Few Photos shared here are taken by:  Mr. Sumit Bhowmik, Calcutta

Maple pine website: http://www.culturalpursuits.com/

	cp@culturalpursuits.com
	98560 41205

 (Next article... Mawphanlur... a Heaven on earth !!)

E Mail care

I have written few points on the "Care to be taken while sending e mails". All these points are accumulated from the previous 10 years “Mail experience” (There was no mail before that).

If you have done any one of the mistake mentioned below while sending any mail, my answer is “Good; I have also done that”. If you say you have never done any of the point below…… I will not believe that statement.

Hope you will like these points and it will be of use to you;

I feel that these precautions need to be used primarily while sending “Important official mails”, while it is optional for mails with friends/ others.

POINTS TO REMEMBER & FOLLOW WHILE SENDING IMPORTANT MAILS

1. Check whether the recipients names are correct; if there is a small error in the recipients, the message will be received by people who are not supposed to receive the message. Some times confidential information can go to unsolicited persons. If the message is of sensitive nature, the consequences of sending to unsolicited persons will be huge. So take care and verify the recipients names.

2. If you have to attach some document, check whether you have done that. If you forget to attach, within a minute of you sending the mail, some one will write (not only to you, but to the group) that you have not sent the attachment. (In fact it is a good practice, if some one forgot to send the attachment, to inform only to him and not to the group).

3. Check the correctness of dates that you have mentioned in the mail atleast twice before sending; on and off, in a hurry we tend to put a wrong date or a wrong month.


4. Please read all important mails atleast twice (minimum twice) and make necessary corrections. Many times we tend to send important mails without even reading once and after sending, when we read them from sent items, we notice many mistakes and curse ourself. This can definitely be avoided if we read the mails few times before sending.

5. Look for correct spellings and language in your mail because every company has a “Grammar master” who will invariably teach you English grammar after reading your mail.

6. When you forward your friends' mails to others, delete your friends mail ID and other tail in it. We do not know how many more times it will be forwarded and mail ID's might go to unnecessary people also.

7. Finally don’t be in a hurry to press the send button. Many have this urge to press the send button at the earliest & go to the next job, but this does not help. Take all care and check everything, atleast what ever is mentioned above, before sending an official/ sensitive/ important mail.

Review of 2008

My favourite writer Sujatha used to list out the best films, sporting moments and general events every year. He passed away this year and I certainly miss his year end review.

This is in no way comarable to his style & views but a modest attempt in his way ….


FILM CATEGORY:

Best songs: Kangal erandal (Subramaniapuram)
Anbe en anbe (Dhaam Dhoom)
Nenjukkul peithidum mamazhai (Varanam Aiyiram)

Best Kuthu Paatu : Naaka mooka (Kadhalil vizhunthaen)
Kathaze kannallae (Anjathey)

Best films : Subramaniapuram
Santosh Subramanian
Anjathey

Best actor: Kamal (Dasavatharam) (Only for the variety of his characters; but certain make ups were let down).

Best actress : Genelia (Santosh Subramanian)

Best Director : Myskin (Anjathey) and Sasikumar (Subramaniapuram)

Best comedian : Vadivel

Best Debut : Parvathi (Poo)

Best Music Director : Harris Jayaraj (Varanam Ayiram, Dhaam Dhoom)

Biggest disappointment : Kuselan.

Best Male singer : Harish Raghavendra (Anbe en anbe -Dhaam Dhoom)

Best Female singer : Mahathi (Muthal mazhai -Bheema)

Best lyricist : Thamarai (Vaaranam Ayiram)

Best photographer : Ravi Verman (Dasavatharam)

Decent small budget films : Poo, Kannum kannum and Pidichirukku.

TV CATEGORY

Most watched programme on TV : Maanada Mayilada - Kalaigar TV (Enthaan, eppadithan ethanai per parkirangaloo??)

Good talk show on TV: Neeya Naanaa - Vijay TV (Very good show; please do watch on 9 PM on Sunday).

GENERAL

MOST DISTURBING THINGS IN 2008: 1. RESCESSION 2. Price hike on essential commodities 3. Power cut

MOST SHOCKING EVENT IN 2008: Mumbai terror attack and other blasts in various cities.

SIRIPPU POLITICIAN : Arcot Veerasamy (Tamil Nadu Power Minister)

MEMORABLE SPORTING MOMENTS:

1. Abhivan Bindra winning the first gold medal in an individual sports category by an Indian in Olympic.

2. American swimmer Michael Phelps winning 8 gold medals in a single Olympic.

3. India beating the Australia in Australia in a triangular one day series.

4. Sachin becoming the highest run scorer in test matches.

5. Anand's victory over Kramnik in Chess to retain the world championship title.

6. India's run chase of 387 against England and South Africa's run chase of 414 against Australia both in the fourth Innings.

Mumbai massacre

Continuos rain for almost five days in Chennai; Water in streets, railway tracks, airport runways and inside the ground floor of many many houses.. This is the situation in Chennai on 27 & 28 th of Nov 08. Yet every Chennaiite followed closely what happened in Mumbai; This article is the perspective of an ordinary South Indian .

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On 27th Morning, we came to know about the situation in Mumbai. Heritage hotels like Taj and Trident was captured by terrorists. There was a bomb blast in a car and firing at the famous Chatrapathi sivaji railway station on the previous night….TV channels like NDTV, CNN, Times Now had a fields day; people across the country were gloomed to the TV sets. TV was showing live pictures of situation outside Taj, Trident and Nariman house.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil as usual spoke the same words, " We will take strict action against the people behind this..". Prime Minister spoke in TV and asked people to be calm.

As a citizen, I wanted to ask the following questions to the PM & his government:

Every time there is mention that some agency (like Intelligence or others) has reported in advance about the blast!! Why cant the government take preventive measures? Even in the current Mumbai massacre, fisherman is said to have written a letter to the government about some illegal activities in the Mumbai coast! What the Government has done?

In the last 6 months, blasts have happened in Jaipur (May); Bangalore (July), Ahmedabad, Delhi and I am sorry I lost the count.

How many people have been arrested so far in connection with all these blasts? Has the government collected any kind of information from them about their "Team & their leader"?

Home Minister (Now resigned) Shivraj Patil changed his suits three times for coming to media in an earlier blast; while people were dying, he wanted to project himself in different costumes !! When this was pointed to him by a reporter, he angrily said, " I always want to be clean ". He continued to be the Home Minister till several other blasts and spoke the same thing for every blast!!

After about 10 blasts in various cities, the present Home Minister has resigned!

The Mumbai terror hurts many-  more than other blasts because the earlier blasts happened in small markets, cinema halls where poor and middle class people come and died; in this terror, the rich people are affected and your government immediately show some action; Please remember even the poor and middle class people have families and their families are equally affected by their loss.

Honestly an Ordinary Indian citizen living in an urban city like me is very nervous and insecure; we are afraid anything can happen at any time.
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I am really not sure what would have happened had some other political party be in power? It could have been the same situation !! That is why I personally hate Politics and Political leaders!!

The only saving grace in the whole episode is the brave action of NSG people and that of the hotel employees who sincerely tried to save all the people inside.

Normally I am a very positive person and would like to look at positive aspects of life, but the situation is very grim and I am sorry if this article sounds very negative.

My salutations to the brave soldiers and officers who died in saving their countrymen!!

When Prem and Mohan slept at the Marina Beach

After finishing our five years course in Trichy Law college, some of our friends came to Chennai for practising in High court in 1993. Lakshman, Sankar, Bala, Prem, Mohan Kumar were the few who came to Chennai from Trichy and other surrounding areas. All of us initially stayed in some relatives place or friends room.

We had our enrolment on Sep 10th 1993 and a group photo was also taken on the same day in a studio near Madras High court. (You can see this photo in our website...)

It was the first few days since we had come to Chennai. Prem and myself went to our senior Thirumagal's house in Royapettah on an evening; we had a long discussion (those days discussions were only long, never short) and had our dinner there. After coming out of their house, some how we decided to see an English film in a theatre near their house; It was a good theatre "Woodlands" and a very average English film; we saw the night show and came out of the theatre by 12.30 in the mid night. We realized then that there were no night services and we don’t have sufficient money to travel to our respective places by auto. So we walked towards beach (about 3 Kilo metres from the theatre) and decided to sleep in the lawns of the beach.

As it was September, it was very cold. While walking towards beach, Prem said, " We can get up in the morning and catch a bus to our places; you can see lot of VIP's walking in the beach tomorrow morning".. I was excited on hearing this statement!! Seeing VIP's whom we have seen on film or TV directly!! Ha!! What a great thing!!

We struggled to sleep in the open lawn on a cold night; however somehow slept for few hours in the Marina beach….

We got up early next day and walked towards the bus stand. To my surprise, I could not see any VIP's; only very few ordinary people were walking on the beach road; I scolded Prem for cheating me that we can see some VIP's next day….

Nowadays when we go to the beach, I smile on seeing the place where Prem and myself slept about 15 years ago…………