Welcome to Mawsynram, the Wettest place on Earth

Winchester Lyngkhoi carries fresh meat up to his butcher's stall on market day in Mawsynram. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

YOU might need a bigger umbrella — in fact, you might need a stash of them.

And forget sunglasses because you’ll be lucky to see many rays in the wettest place on Earth. Perched atop a ridge in the Khasi Hills of India’s north east, the village of Mawsynram is subject to the highest average rainfall on the planet.

Rainwater surges through Mawsynram Village during a heavy downpour. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

In the two peak monsoon months of June and July Mawsynram is hit with an average 275 inches of rain. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

Mawsynram is a village in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya state in north-eastern India, a region renowned for being constantly wet.
The village receives a whopping 467 inches of rain per year thanks to summer air currents sweeping over the floodplains of Bangladesh and gathering moisture as they move north.

Perched atop a ridge in the Khasi Hills of India's north east, the village of Mawsynram is subject to the highest average rainfall on the planet. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

Mawsynram receives constant rain. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

When the resulting clouds hit the steep hills of Meghalaya they are “squeezed” through the narrowed gap in the atmosphere and are compressed to the point where they can no longer hold their moisture.
The end result is the near-constant rain the village is famous for.

Labourers wearing traditional 'knup' umbrellas walk into Mawsynram. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

A farmer wearing a traditional 'knup' umbrella doesn't let the rain get in the way as he works near Mawsynram. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

Further afield, deep in the rainforests of the state of Meghalaya lie some of the most extraordinary pieces of civil engineering in the world.
Here, in the depths of the forest, bridges aren’t built — they’re grown.

A fisherman walks under an ancient tree root bridge at Mawlynnong village. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

Examples of the thin aerial rubber tree roots used by locals to creates bridges and ladders in and around Mawsynram, which is the wettest place in the world. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

Trailing vines and mosses, the living trees bridges of Cherrapunji are breathtaking in their majesty.
Ancient tree vines and roots stretch across rivers and streams, creating a solid latticework structure that appears too fantastical to be real.

A local man on the “double decker” tree root bridge in Nongriat Village, deep in the rainforests of the Indian state of Meghalaya. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

Local woman Mary Synrem holds a young Ficus Elastica rubber tree root, the material used to construct the tree root bridges in Cherrapunji, Meghalaya, India. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

The Cherrapunji region is considered to be one of the wettest places on the planet and this is the reason behind the unusual bridges.

With Cherrapunji receiving around 15 metres of rain per year, a normal wooden bridge would quickly rot.

A living tree root bridge deep in jungle near Nongriat Village, near Meghalaya, India. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

Deep in the rainforests of the Indian state of Meghalaya lie some of the most extraordinary pieces of civil engineering in the world. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

This is why, 500 years ago, locals began to guide roots and vines from the native Ficus Elastica rubber tree across rivers using hollow bamboo until they became rooted on the opposite side, eventually creating a bridge.

Tourists visiting Mawsynram will definitely need one of these, in fact maybe a few. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

But locals don’t let the rain get in the way of a good celebration or some hard work.

Farmers especially have developed ways to keep the rain at bay.

The sign on the weather station on the outskirts of Mawsynram, India, says it all. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

Made from bamboo and banana leaf, they wear knups, which are favoured for enabling both hands to be kept free for work and for being able to stand up to the high winds which come with the rainstorms in Mawsynram.

Goats shelter in a bus stop during nother drizzly afternoon in Mawsynram. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

And locals don’t let the pouring rain get in the way of a good festival either with hundreds taking part in a traditional Khasi festival in Mawsynram.

Mawsynram Village, just don't expect a lot of sunshine. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

The festival has been held since 1899 when 16 Khasi youths formed the Seng Khasi movement to save the Khasi culture from being diluted by the rapid spread of Christianity.

A Khasi boy has his turban tightly twisted into place by his grandfather before an annual Khasi festival. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

People take part in a traditional Khasi festival in Mawsynram, which is the wettest place in the world. Picture: Amos Chappele/Rex/australscope

Delhi Comes Out in Full Support For Assam

New Delhi, Oct 22 : Delhi stood firmly behind the Music Fraternity yesterday and lent its earnest support for the concert titled #FORASSAM.

A packed Blue Frog witnessed the biggest names of the music industry as all the stars performed live to an enthralled audience. Spearheaded by Papon and Vishal Dadlani, the concert at Blue Frog in Delhi was held to help generate funds for the people who have been ravaged by the recent floods in the state of Assam.

Said Papon, “The intention was to generate awareness and attention about the flood situation in Assam and generate as much relief funds as possible towards the cause. We will collect the funds and hand it over to the chief minister’s fund soon”.

“This is probably the biggest concert in Indian music history where the music fraternity has come forward for a cause. Flood is an annual phenomenon in Assam, but due to some reasons, it doesn't get properly highlighted enough to be considered as a national calamity. ” said Vishal.

Longest Railway Tunnel in Northeast Scooped Out

Haflong, Oct 22 : The longest railway tunnel in the north east on the newly constructed Lumding-Silchar broad gauge line in Assam has been scooped out, said Northeast Frontier Railway officials.

The tunnel is situated near New Haflong station building and passes below Haflong town and the underground excavation work from both ends met each other on Sunday in Dima Hasao district, said NF Railway senior public relations officer (construction) Md M M Y Alam.

The 3,235 meter long tunnel connects the newly built New Haflong railway station with Jatingalumpur railway station, he said adding it is considered as one of the most critical tunnel in the 210-km broad gauge track.

It was scooped out with great difficulty due to soil conditions of the area and geological issues. Adverse geological conditions were encountered during underground excavation of the tunnel and its completion has been seen as a major challenge for the construction engineers of NF Railway, he told reporters Monday.

A high level team of the Construction Organisation comprising its Chief Executive Administrative Officer Ajit Pandit, Chief Engineer R K Ginger and others inspected the tunnel yesterday.

Terming it as a feat of the Railways in 2014-15, Alam said Construction Organisation has in a major breakthrough made the much awaited and difficult tunnel gauge conversion project.

Though work on the tunnel had begun in September 2005, it did not progress well initially due to several geological problems.

However, from 2012 onwards the work resumed and now the tunnel has been opened, Alam said adding, the remaining work of benching, lining and invert is scheduled to be completed by January next year.

Mizo Woman Death: Suicide Angle Under Lens

New Delhi, Oct 20 : Two days after a woman from Mizoram was found with stab wounds in her Munirka house, and later succumbed to injuries, police said they were awaiting the autopsy reports to ascertain whether the injuries were self-inflicted or if she had been murdered.

Twenty-seven-year-old Juliet Zonunmawi, who hails from Aizwal, was found bleeding in her Munirka flat on Thursday night. She was taken to Safdarjung Hospital by a friend, Virendra Singh from Haldwani in Uttarakhand, where she was declared brought dead.

Police said the autopsy reports were due in a couple of days. Her friends who were present in her house at the time of the incident are still being questioned, police said. “Juliet’s third-floor house is sealed and policemen are questioning neighbours,” Sachin Rai, a resident of the same building, told Newsline.

Though police registered a case of murder, they are also probing the possibility of a suicide. Based on Virendra’s statement that he found her bleeding in the kitchen, police have not ruled out self-injury.

After the post-mortem examination was conducted on Saturday, Juliet’s body was handed over to her brother Jeremy who flew down from Agra on Friday. The body was flown back to Aizwal where her family lives.

On Saturday, Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju in Gurgaon said he would bring up the issue with Delhi Commissioner of Police B S Bassi and urge him to ensure that issues and crimes concerned with residents from the Northeast are handed with care.

Bangalore: Manipuri Victim Gets Death Threat on FaceBook

By Prakruti PK

Cops yet to act on Michael's plea against vile torrent calling him names in Facebook

Bangalore, Oct 20 : The case of the engineering student from Manipur who was allegedly assaulted for not knowing Kannada on Tuesday night has taken a new twist. The 26-year-old approached the police on Saturday requesting them to take action against a woman who allegedly called him a "swine" on social media and said he "should be stoned to death".

T Michael Lamjathang Haokip alleged that a Facebook user, Priyanka Ravi, posted inflammatory comments about him online and assassinated his character by making false claims that the victim was in Kothanur that fateful night trying to "convert poor families to Christianity" which is why he was attacked, and not because he didn't know Kannada.

"At first, I found the situation rather amusing, since I am not even Christian to begin with. But I realised I could not stay quiet as this discrimination and hatred is unwarranted. I did nothing to deserve being beaten up, and the words used by the woman online are derogatory. It was my juniors in college who brought her post to my notice, and I immediately shot off an email to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-east) on his official mail ID on Saturday. I received a reply saying someone would contact me from the Kothanur Police Station. But so far, I haven't heard from them," Michael told Mirror.

One of the comments the woman made read: "And by the way, they hit him because he was trying to convert people here and not because he didn't know Kannada as reported by our paid sickular media."

When another user, Akshatha S B, commented that she had mutual friends with Michael and that they had never discussed religion, Priyanka replied: "Ooh, grow up! He was not a fool to do religion based conversations (sic) in an educational institution. He targeted poor families in the Hennur region and obviously people who are involved in conversations won't go around talking about it openly. As I said earlier, don't comment if you don't know the other side of the story!"

The woman then raised the vitriol level, "A person involved in religious conversions should be stoned to death, not just hit. I don't care if he speaks Kannada or Persian, he was involved in an illegal activity and he got what he deserved."


'COPS SLOW TO REACT'

Michael, meanwhile, claims the police have been slow to react. "I have been waiting for a call or some sort of action, but sadly, there has been nothing so far. I even complained on the Bangalore City Police Facebook Page, providing the link to her post, and asked the Cyber Crime Cell to take action. "She seems like some sort of fanatic who is bent on dragging religion into the incident," he said.

When contacted, DCP (North-east) Vikash Kumar Vikash said, "I will have to go through the email. But we will look into the matter." Priyanka Ravi remained unavailable for comment.

To put things in context, around 9:30 pm last Tuesday, Michael and two friends stopped at a roadside eatery on Kothanur Main Road for dinner. The trio was returning from the Kothanur police station, barely a kilometre away, where they had distributed invitations for a community event on November 1.

A group of three drunken youths sitting at the next table allegedly objected to the boys speaking in English and demanded that they speak in Kannada since they were "eating food in Karnataka". An argument ensued and the youths bashed up the students. Michael was attacked with a chair and stones and sustained injuries on his head, neck, shoulder, and back. A case was registered at the Kothanur Police Station and the youths were arrested immediately.


BULK SMS'es OF 2012

In early August 2012, bulk SMSes, emails, and messages began circulating warning people from the North-east to leave Bangalore and other cities before 20 August. This created panic among members of the North-eastern community in the city, who began fleeing in hordes after some people were attacked. Soon, 16 miscreants were arrested in Bangalore: eight for spreading rumours that led to the flight, and eight for assault.

Gurgaon To Get Helpline For Northeast People: Rijiju

By Rao Jaswant Singh

Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said that he has approved setting up of an exclusive helpline for the people of Northeast living in Gurgaon. 

Gurgaon, Oct 20 : Trying to calm nerves after the assault on two Naga youths in Gurgaon late on Wednesday night, Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju on Saturday met a group of students from the northeast and assured that "hate crimes will not be tolerated".

The minister said he has approved setting up of an exclusive helpline for the people of Northeast living in Gurgaon. "If the helpline proves beneficial in checking such incidents, it will be replicated across metro cities where people from Northeast region live in the country," he said.

"The government believes India is a democratic nation and such hate crimes will not be tolerated. Our society must not be intolerant, we must exist harmoniously together," Rijiju said. The Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal Pradesh said he has spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the national security adviser, and soon a high-level meeting will be held on the matter. "No stone will be left unturned to control such racist attacks against Northeast people. Solidarity of the country will not be allowed to be disintegrated as the people of the Northeast region have equal rights," the minister added.

He also said the Centre will soon implement recommendations of the committee formed in February 2014 to look into various concerns of persons from the Northeastern states who are living in different parts of the country, especially metropolitan areas, and to suggest suitable remedial measures.




Minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju addressing the media after a meeting on racist attack with people hailing from northeast states, in Gurgaon. (PTI Photo)

The committee headed by M P Bezbaruah, a North Eastern Council member, was formed following outrage over the death of Nido Taniam, a student from Arunachal Pradesh, in a racist attack in Delhi. It submitted its report to Rijiju on July 11. Among the recommendations were legal measures to ensure safety and security of people from Northeast. "The home ministry will implement recommendations of the Bazbaruah committee," said Rijiju.

The minister had an hour-long meeting with Gurgaon police commissioner Alok Mittal, divisional commissioner D P S Nagal and other senior officials over the incident. He said the people of NE region are "satisfied with civil and police administration for their quick action."The youths from Nagaland were beaten up allegedly by eight persons at Sikenderpur village on Wednesday night for refusing to have drinks with the attackers.

Northeast People Not Indians? Why They Treated As An Aliens Then

By Mukul Kumar Mishra

Remember Nido Tania, a young boy from Arunachal Pradesh who was killed in a South Delhi market in February this year. He was killed with iron rods and after that debate gained momentum that why such discrimination against north-east students. Why they are treated like they are not part of India.

Political parties also clamored a lot that time, just to take political advantage of the issue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had termed the incident as national shame.

After coming to power, to make thing better, BJP made former army chief V K Singh Minister of state (independent charge) for North East Region.

Why bearing the brunt in own country?

But it seems nothing has changed and that proves from recent number of attacks on these students. Latest is a young woman from Manipur was found dead in her flat in South Delhi's Munirka area. Earlier, on Thursday, two youths from Nagaland were beaten up and assaulted by a gang of seven in the Sikanderpur area of Gurgaon. The attackers even chopped their hair with stern warning saying that if they will dare to come again, they will face the dire consequences.

The barbarism against north-east students doesn't end here. On October 15, a Manipuri student leader was beaten mercilessly by a gang of men who were hellbent that he should speak Kannada. "They kept asking me to speak in Kannada.

If you outsiders know how to eat food that is produced in Karnataka, you must also know how to speak Kannada. This is India not China," said the victim. Why one should know local language? It is really shocking and at the same time shameful that we treat our own brothers and sisters shabbily. They are not foreigners or aliens.

They have the same right as any Indians have. But despite that they have to face the wrath of people. Imagine the guy was beaten just because he didn't know Kannada, as if the same people will visit Manipur they will start speaking in Manipuri.

India is democratic country with mix culture, language and inclusiveness. And that is its beauty. Is this written in our constitution that one should know the language of the region, if they want to reside in that part of the country.

Obviously not. One can't force anyone to speak the same language as local follows. If India can't treat northeast students at par with other Indians, it doesn't have any right to flex muscle over Arunachal Pradesh.

There is no moral right to call Arunachal Pradesh its own. If India can't care for this racial attack at home, then why make a big issue when someone from Indian origin is assaulted at foreign soil i.e Australia. Somnath Bharti, Raj Thackeray thread on same path Sometimes back AAP leader Somnath Bharti had raided in African residents area claiming that they were involve in prostitution business. But nothing was proved against them ultimately.

Did he care how much mental agony it caused to them. In 2008, MNS chief Raj Thackeray had also started a similar campaign against Bihari migrants, saying that they should know the Marathi language. Though, people know why he did that, just to give fillip to his political career. But this is really a dangerous precedent in Democracy.

One can't treat other brutally, just because they don't know local language or culture. This is really a serious matter and concerned authorities must take punitive action on this hate crime cases. India is a country which believes in love not in hate.

Mizo Girl Found Dead in Delhi Today

New Delhi:  Juliet, 24, a Mizo girl was found dead and brought to Safdarjung Hospital with fatal head injury from house No. 176, Moti Bagh Chauper in Munirka.

The victim had been living with a man called Virender Singh.

The police have lodged an FIR under section 302 of the IPC. Investigation is going on.

The girl was taken to Safdarjung Hospital with serious head injuries where she was declared dead, police said.

"She was living with a man identified as Virender Singh since the last few months. His role is being ascertained," said a senior police official. The live-in partner is the main suspect.

Singh has been absconding and the police are trying to trace him.

A case has been registered at Vasant Vihar Police Station and further investigations are on.