Riwai

While Mawlynnong village may have gained more popularity due to aggressive marketing, Riwai is a much less visited village that lies only a few kilometres away. Riwai is approximately 81 km from Shillong and can be easily reached by road in a day. We stopped at the village centre where the sense of hygiene among local inhabitants was immediately visible. Few makeshift shops served the incoming tourists with local goods while we walked into the forest having trees laden with robab tenga citrus fruits.

A short 30-minute hike brought us to the man-made marvel—the living root bridge of Riwai. In Meghalaya, ancient tribes have had the tradition of joining roots of banyan trees over periods of as long as 20 years to create bridges over rivers. Unlike the steel and concrete bridges of modern times, these bridges grow stronger with time. Every person in the village used to contribute to the bridge. The tree branches and roots are said to have wisdom of nature and of all the people who built it. Very mysterious, isn’t it? If you choose to believe, the trees are indeed living beings. People hug the ancient trees here and ask for wisdom that they have in store. I certainly believe in this fable.