Meghalaya

Meghalaya was inaugurated as an autonomous state on April 2,1970. It was declared as a state of the Indian Union on January 21, 1972. Meghalaya is situated in the north-eastern region of India, between the Brahmaputra valley in the north and the Bangladesh in the south.

The state of Meghalaya (the abode of clouds) is geographically known as the "Meghalaya Plateau" or the "Shillong Plateau". The area is made of the oldest rock-formations. Meghalaya consists of the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills along with their outliers formed by the Assam ranges. It is the detached north-eastern extension of the Peninsular India. Part of it lies buried under the alluvium deposited by the Ganga-Brahmaputra system of rivers. This gap is known as Malda gap (between Raj Mahal hills/Chhota Nagpur and the Shillong Plateau).

Meghalaya Plateau's elevation varies between 150 meters to 1961 meters above sea level. The Plateau is highly dissected and has irregular terrain in the western and northern side. The southern side is marked by a continuous escarpment with steep slopes. The broken hills and ranges in the north are not of a well defined boundary.

The western part of the plateau or the Garo hills has an elevation of 600m above sea level. The most important relief feature of this part of the plateau is the Tura range with its highest point at Nokrek 1515 meters above sea level. The central and the eastern part of the plateau or the Khasi and the Jaintia hills district play prominent senile topography. This part of the plateau is characterised by the presence of many peneplained surfaces, flat-topped hills and numerous river valleys. The central upland zone is the most important relief feature of the area and covers more than one-third of the area, east of the Garo hills. The highest point of this part of this plateau and that of the entire state is the Shillong peak whose elevation is about 1965m above sea level.

In the Garo hills, the important rivers of the northern system from west to east are the Kalu, Ringgi, Chagua, Ajagar, Didram, Krishnai and Dudnai. Of these only the Krishnai and Kalu are navigable. The important rivers of the southern system are Daring, Sanda, Bandra, Bhogai, Dareng and Simsang. Simsang is the largest river in the Garo hills and navigable only for about 30 Km . Other navigable rivers are Nitai and the Bhupai.

In the central and eastern section of the plateau the important northward flowing rivers are Umkhri, Digaru and Umiam and the south-flowing rivers are Kynchiang (Jadukata), Mawpa, Umiew or Barapani, Myngot and Myntdu.
 

Seriously consider the capital, Shillong (1500 m), as your next holiday destination. Set amidst gently rolling hills surrounded by pines, and reminiscent of the Scottish moors, this was a favorite holiday resort during the days of the British Raj.
Despite the inevitable expansion in recent years, Shillong retains much of its former charm - boating on the lake, pleasant walks, golf and a peaceful ambience. The drive up winding mountain roads from Guwahati to Shillong is made even more picturesque by the Barapani Lake (Umiam) which is now being developed as a watersports centre.

Within Shillong city is the flower bedecked Ward’s Lake encircled by whispering pine groves. Take a boat ride if you want to or feed the multihued fish standing on the bridge across the lake. You’ll love the walks in this city although it does get a little crowded with cars in the afternoon. Lady Hydari Park doubles up as a miniature zoo and is a short distance away from Ward’s Lake. A visit to the cathedral at Dhankheti is a must – it has beautiful stained glass windows and the grotto is carved out of a single rock. The bells of the cathedral resonate across the city at dawn, in the afternoon and dusk.

There are some gorgeous waterfalls around town - Sweet Falls, Beadon and Bishop Falls, Crinoline Falls and Elephant Falls, though the most spectacular oneslike the Nohkalikai Falls are near Cherrapunjee (56 km south of Shillong) . This was famous, for long, as the wettest place on earth till Mawsynram (also in Meghalaya) displaced it recently, where the mean annual rainfall is an astounding 1187 cm (nearly 39 feet)!

Take a trip to Shillong Peak, which is the highest point in the city. It affords a view of the city enveloped in clouds, one you just can’t afford to miss. In the evening, the lights of the city look like a thousand twinkling stars.

Siju in the Garo hills (near Bangladesh in the west), is where you will find Meghalaya’s most spectacular limestone caves. Indeed, there are over 150 caves spread across the state, some stretching to several km in length! On the way to the limestone caves you will pass a group of megaliths near a stream. This is one of the many megalithic sites across the state, and of great interest to historians and anthropologists.
 

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