North East India Diaries

The David Scott trail was established by an Administrator of the Khasi Hills district of Assam by the same name. He lived there from 1802 to 1832. He was instrumental in the construction of this horse cart road from Sylhet to Guwahati through the Khasi Hills. Presently, the trail exists only in fragments. The most famous segment is from Mawphlang, around 35 km from Shillong, to Ladmawphlang, a 16km stretch. Ksanboklang took me to the stretch of the David Scott trail that starts near Tharia, at the foothills of the Cherrapunjee plateau, adjacent to the border with Bangladesh. He told me that this segment is about 3 km long ascent upto the Sohbar village. He said the trail takes one hour and is perfectly doable if I am interested. And interested I was. So off we went on an impromptu hike. What we saw was a perfect gem, hidden from the eyes of the outside world, probably thankfully so,  being located in the hub of limestone mining in Meghalaya, where hill upon hill has been fla

The Companyganj Cherra State Railway (CCSR) was established by the British in 1886 between Companyganj (now in Sylhet district of Bangladesh) and Cherrapunjee (now in East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya). The immediate purpose was to transport limestone to Sylhet. The broader purpose was to link Shillong, the capital of then Assam with Calcutta by rail. Railways existed between Sylhet and Calcutta. The railway line was planned to be extended to Shillong from Cherrapunjee and to Sylhet from Companyganj, but that never materialised. The CCSR was a contemporary of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. The CCSR project was divided into three sections: Companyganj to Tharia, Tharia to Mawsmai and Mawsmai to Cherrapunjee. The first section was the only one to be completely operationalised. The second section to Mawsmai passed through steep slopes of the Cherrapunjee plateau and dense forests. This section was rope hauled and could be used only upto 1891. The last section was never operational