Can you help but feeling that you are in paradise when you have views such as this one, every morning you wake up?
Aizawl, a place usually not on our radar (unlike some other areas in the North East, Mizoram and Aizawl are very peaceful and so stay out of news) is tucked away in the remote south of the North East of India. Mizoram is not frequented by outsiders much – partly because of the above reason and also maybe because it is a little hard to get here. But, our 6 hour ride sitting in the last row of a Tata Sumo with hardly enough room was totally worth it (and the picture above stands testimony)!
We had been warned that Aizawl was quite expensive; some even compared it with Mumbai (which is one of the most expensive cities in the world). However, we had not been warned about some other things. We landed in the city from Silchar late in the afternoon – about 3pm or so. And what do we see – tons of school kids! Of course, we had already read that Mizoram is the second most literate state in India (literacy rate nearly 90%), but seeing is another thing. After washing up, we thought we would go out for a stroll and see the city and we got another surprise. Most of the businesses close early in the evening – by 6pm almost everyone is home and the streets are empty. We found the reason a few days later – they open very early too – it gets bright by 5am and the markets are full by 6am. But on the first day, we were actually wondering if we had missed something – all of the friends, acquaintances, people we had talked to had told us that Mizoram is a very safe place. Turns out, it actually is; only the shops close early.
Our first outing was to the State museum in Aizawl. The museum is a great place to learn about Mizo culture, their textiles and traditional attire, etc. There were sections reserved for the local fauna and traditional equipment used by the Mizo people. One interesting artifact was a “head-hunting dao” – a sword-like weapon with obvious intentions. The museum is a good place to start off because it gives a glimpse into the way the Mizo people were. That is especially important because it is totally unlike what they are now! Sure, there are occasions when you will see them in their traditional attire, etc but the culture is very westernized now and at least in the cities, you will only be able to catch glimpses of the old. We could not do anything else that day as it rained heavily for a long time.
Next up on our trip to Mizoram was a trip out of the city to Tamdil Lake. It is a small lake about 90km away from Aizawl set amidst small hills. The Mizoram government fisheries department has a project here too. Getting to the lake meant we had to take a taxi (Tata Sumo) early in the morning from the city center in Aizawl. This was when we finally understood the reason for the markets and other establishments closing early in the city – they open really early. In fact, by 6am, the street side vendors had all put up their wares and shoppers were out too – plus, it was a Saturday, which I think is a weekly market day in Aizawl. Coming from down south in Hyderabad, we are used to seeing shops open by mid-morning, about 10am or so, so this was another unique experience. Our journey to the lake was not without adventure and delays – we had a flat and it took quite some time to get that fixed. We were again reminded that we were traveling in the wrong season when we went to the lake – the recent rains had washed a lot of mud and the water was all brown. It still was very beautiful – low lying clouds covering the tops of the surrounding peaks made a great backdrop for the lake and a lone Gulmohar tree covered with bright orange flowers amidst it all, a nice contrast.
Before heading back to Aizawl, we visited a couple of villages too near Kiefang – the nearest town from Tamdil lake. We had a local friend who showed us around or this would not have been possible. We first stopped at a village called Rualchawm which literally means ‘snake fed’ – the origin of the name is from a legend that the tribal people living in the village used to sacrifice their children by feeding them to a huge serpent living in a hole in the town. A serpent needing a hole as big as the one in the picture would surely have been big!
We next visited Ruallung where our friend lived. The one thing good about villages that we went to was that they were really clean and the roads very good. We went to the top of the hill there from where we could catch views of villages on nearby mountains. Apparently, on clear days even Aizawl city can be seen from there, but that day we were not so lucky. We enjoyed the views there for some time and then came back to Keifang to catch the next taxi back to Aizawl.
We will suggest one unlikely place which turned out to be a really neat experience – Mizoram University. We actually went there to meet someone we know but the place is so amazing that it would be a great idea for any tourist to visit. The university is relatively young – it was started only 10 years back and a lot of infrastructure still being built. It is a little out of Aizawl but well connected with local buses plying regularly (except on Sunday when everything in the city shuts down!) to Ramrikawn which is about 3km from the entrance gate. Just a walk from Ramrikawn to the university provides amazing views! After the university, there are only forests and hills and while we were there, the clouds moved in from beyond the hills. It was a sight which cannot be described easily in words - one moment we were watching the clouds moving in, and the next we are standing inside one! We did experience something similar when we were in a car in Cherrapunjee, but actually experience the mist and silence come down upon you is something else!
I still remember what Nicolitta said in One crazy ride, something about how paradise or heaven is always described as a place above the sky and how she had actually seen it on her trip. I can say that about every morning we woke up in Aizawl.