Land of Wanderlust: God’s Own Garden, Mawlynnong clings on to its Tranquillity

November 9, 2016: Mawlynnong, is located at a distance of 90kms from the state capital Shillong in the state Meghalaya. The village is also tagged as God's own garden because of its mind-boggling fresh natural beauty and clean environment.

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Until 2003, this was a remote community hardly anyone knew about, but after it got the prestigious tag of 'Cleanest Village in Asia' by Discover India Magazine, tourists started pouring in to witness the God's own garden.

Mawlynnong is the home to the Khasi tribal people which is far away from noise and dirt of other cities.

"You would find Bamboo dustbins standing at the corner of each household," said Debopriya Kumar, a Tourism enthusiast and a scholar of tourism studies who recently visited Mawlynnong.

The streets are swiped at regular intervals by volunteers and would find large signboards requesting visitors not to throw away plastics, as littering is something that is sternly frowned upon.

He further said, "The local people say that the cleanliness was taught by their forefathers and they have kept their tradition going by keeping their surroundings clean."

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"Though, Mawlynnong's concern for hygiene emerged about 130 years ago when an outbreak of cholera struck. Since there were no medical facilities in the village back then, cleanliness was seen as the only way to prevent the spread of the disease."

The village has also been hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said in an autumn radio address under his Clean India campaign, "I was amazed to know that there is such a village in remote northeast, Meghalaya, which is so passionately carrying the mission of cleanliness for years."

In a conversation with NewsGram, Debopriya Kumar described how the walk through the village is like.

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"The living tree root bridges made by the locals are a beauty to watch, they entwined the roots of rubber trees in order to pave paths through the thick forest."

The bridges are woven in such a manner that they are not slippery and are very sturdy.

– by Pinaz Kazi of NewsGram. Twitter: @PinazKazi