an overdue journey

6 am, the weather is pleasant.
Birds sing and a subtle breeze dances through the air.
Candles flicker as I type away.
Coffee is made and eggs a boiling.
Just a few more things to pack before I head out.
Desperate to leave and experience something new.

Assam and Meghalaya are where I’m heading.
2 days of work and 2 days of travel.

Assam: The largest and most accessible of the northeastern states, Assam grows about 60% of India’s tea and produces a huge proportion of the countries oil. Initially I’ll be in Guwahati where the river Brahmaputra flows.

Things I want to see in Guwahati:
1. Kamakhya Mandir – centre for ‘Shakti’ (female spiritual power). Hindus believe that when Shiva carried away the corpse of his first wife, Sati, her body disintegrated and her yoni (female genitalia) fell here.
- Sounds like something I definitely do not want to miss out on!!

Meghalaya: Created in 1972 during the division of Assam, Meghalaya (The Abode of the Clouds) is home to the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo tribes-people, who are famous for the matrilineal system of inheritance. Matrilineality is a system in which lineage is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. I’ll be heading to Shilong, historically referred to as the ‘Scotland of the East’, with its champinship golf courses, polo grounds and Victorian bungalows and churches.

Things I want to see in Shilong:
1. Nohkalikai Falls – evidently they are supposed to be most spectacular just after the monsoon – perfect timing!!!

Now its time to get ready.
Dogs are barking and trucks making obnoxious noise are driving by.
Dawn has passed and the world is awake.
The laughing and clapping has started.
My morning wake up call has come.
(every morning a group of people meet in the park across the street from my house to exercises which includes laughing and clapping exercises).