Some pictures from the state of Meghalaya in the North-East of India – indigenous cultures, archery counters, charcoal landscapes.
In winter dry season it’s really hard to believe this is the wettest place on Earth with average annual rainfall as high as 1200 cm.
Rice Terraces in Meghalaya
A seller of bamboo flutes with a “broom” of reeds
Archery counter – bets are made on archers in a special tournament. Venturous people of Meghalaya can bet on anything – archery tournaments, bull and rooster fights
Bets can be as risky as 1:80!
Don Bosco Mary Help of Christians cathedral in Shillong, the biggest christian cathedral in the North-Eastern India. A voluminous guestbook in the cathedral is all filled with neat scholarly handwriting: “Dear God! Let me pass my exam tomorros, please, please!”
This 7 storey building is a great ethnographic museum, Don Bosco Center of Indigenous Cultures, featuring the exhibits, relating to cultures of all numerous people living in the Seven Sisters states. I think, it’s worth coming to Shillong even just to get to this museum
Traditional hunter tatoo of Wancho men, a tribe inhabiting Arunachal Pradesh
Khasi is the people inhabiting Meghalaya, with long history, elaborated mythology and matrilineal line of heritage
A village house in modern Meghalaya
Charcoal landscapes: Meghalaya is a major coal producing center. All sorts of coal pits and opencasts, big hills of coal and lime will always accompany you as you go along the Meghalaya roads. And long queues of huge trucks
Very few people ride mountain bikes in India – so it can be a big problem to buy a good one, durable, not too expensive and with enough gear. We finally got some for us. Will you bet – how long these will last?:)
