I recently came across an article about “God’s Own Garden”, a village called Mawlynnong in East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, this village has been deemed as the cleanest one in Asia. I was curious to know more about it. After visiting a couple of websites and reading a few blogs about how to reach the village, I decided to travel to the village on a tour package to Meghalaya, Cherrapunji, Shillong and Guwahati. The bloggers had described it as an amazing experience and a worthwhile journey. I was looking forward to a similar view, but was not sure if expecting all that was from a small village was justified on my part.
Well, it was.
After reaching Shillong on my trip, I was told that we were about to head to Mawlynnong. This got me excited and I took a seat next to the tour guide, who happened to belong to Mawlynnong itself. We started talking and he explained to me that there are 3 basic principles which the natives strictly follow. The first is the manners, which make everyone of them a part of the village community. The second is that they must always live without caste or class boundaries, this meant that everyone was an equal contributor to their society. The third and the most important was the cleanliness, which not only referred to the physical or environmental cleanliness, but also the inner sanctity.
After arriving at the village, it became very clear what he meant. The village is approximately 100 years old, but looks as though it were set up just hours before. It boasts of a literacy rate of 100%, and everyone in the village spoke English that was easily understood. Mawlynnong is a Must visit travel destination in India.
The village of Mawlynnong is paved with narrow pathways and clean tarmac. All houses have front yards which look astonishingly clean. There are bamboo dustbins all around and compost bins at some places for organic waste to be converted to manure. The use of plastic and smoking etc. are banned in the village. The upkeep and maintenance of Mawlynnong is done as a ritual and everyone participates in this.
The little children are taught the importance of their principles from the very basic years of their life. The village does not only look clean, but serene and peaceful too. Besides this, the village has a living roots bridge which is over 200 years old and was made by tying the roots of two banyan trees intertwined in a way that they grew around each other, forming a bridge across a small brook. We were also taken to a skywalk, completely made of bamboo which gave a view of the Bangladesh plains, an amazing sight in itself.
The experience was simply amazing and if we all took a page out of the book of the lovely people of Mawlynnong, we may live a much cleaner and environment-friendly lives too.
Well, it was.
After reaching Shillong on my trip, I was told that we were about to head to Mawlynnong. This got me excited and I took a seat next to the tour guide, who happened to belong to Mawlynnong itself. We started talking and he explained to me that there are 3 basic principles which the natives strictly follow. The first is the manners, which make everyone of them a part of the village community. The second is that they must always live without caste or class boundaries, this meant that everyone was an equal contributor to their society. The third and the most important was the cleanliness, which not only referred to the physical or environmental cleanliness, but also the inner sanctity.
After arriving at the village, it became very clear what he meant. The village is approximately 100 years old, but looks as though it were set up just hours before. It boasts of a literacy rate of 100%, and everyone in the village spoke English that was easily understood. Mawlynnong is a Must visit travel destination in India.
The village of Mawlynnong is paved with narrow pathways and clean tarmac. All houses have front yards which look astonishingly clean. There are bamboo dustbins all around and compost bins at some places for organic waste to be converted to manure. The use of plastic and smoking etc. are banned in the village. The upkeep and maintenance of Mawlynnong is done as a ritual and everyone participates in this.
The little children are taught the importance of their principles from the very basic years of their life. The village does not only look clean, but serene and peaceful too. Besides this, the village has a living roots bridge which is over 200 years old and was made by tying the roots of two banyan trees intertwined in a way that they grew around each other, forming a bridge across a small brook. We were also taken to a skywalk, completely made of bamboo which gave a view of the Bangladesh plains, an amazing sight in itself.
The experience was simply amazing and if we all took a page out of the book of the lovely people of Mawlynnong, we may live a much cleaner and environment-friendly lives too.