My first overlanding trip - Meghalaya, India!

At 6am my alarm started buzzing and being the lazy pig that I’d like to call myself I immediately put it on snooze but Harsh had woken up and without disturbing me he had made himself a cup of red tea and started getting ready for the trip that would change our perspective towards life. He had spent past 6 months researching about overlanding vehicles and finally building one after spending 5 days at the workshop which gave him enough experience to become a service representative. That’s the thing about him he always had this innate love for learning new things which I always aspire to inculcate in my personality.

While I was still dreaming in my cozy little bed, he came and said if you don’t get up and be ready in 20 mins I am leaving for the trip. I knew he wasn’t teasing me nor it was any of his tricks to get me out of the bed. I got up immediately like a robot and said give me 15, the thought of missing out on this trip was enough for me to not think about the questions I was wondering about since the time we decided to go on such a trip. Where will we park the vehicle at night? Will it be too cold? What should I pack?

I dressed my best in the stipulated time. I wouldn’t have been able to do that had I been getting ready for office. It has always been easy and natural for me. We picked up one of our colleagues and left for Meghalaya, we had gone there many times and almost formed a ritual that we’d stop for juicy and delicious pineapples on the way. I’d smile at everyone I see on the road, wave at children, play all kinds of music because Harsh & I like almost everything else have a different taste in music. Meanwhile, our friend at the back seat was enjoying the dew in the air when we started to go towards Laitlum grand Canyon, the roads were covered in clouds and the visibility was not more than 10 meters. I sat on front seat window door with more than half of my body feeling the cold wind as we were passing through the clouds. I was feeling cold and had gotten goosebumps but I was too lost in the moment to notice. It wasn’t our first visit to this place but it certainly seemed first because we had gone there in winters before and this time it was monsoon - the best season to visit Meghalaya!

The place has a big open area just before people start trekking down to village Rasong which I never noticed before. I could see the rolling hills all around me. It was a perfect place to spend the night in our overlanding vehicle and just like that, we discovered our very first campsite. We opened the tent, I was the first one to go inside feeling like a child who got a new toy to play and hastily started opening all the windows. It was quick and easy. I sat at the edge of the tent with a surprising revelation that it was actually innumerable times better than my bed than any bed I had slept in my life. For the next 1 hour, I kept staring into the horizon feeling ecstatic about the product that we have created and none of this would have happened if about 2 years ago we hadn’t got the opportunity to launch Uber in Guwahati. I was suddenly grateful for the life that I was living. Is this why I travel to feel the emotions which I thought best described only in books?

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