Under a Cloud: Life in Cherrapunji, the Wettest Place on Earth

As midnight approaches there is an aura of expectation in Cherrapunji…. For a while even the pinpricks of light scattered here and there in the village, like stars in a constellation, seem to stop flickering. And then the rains begin.With the sound of rain buzzing in his ears, Binoo K. John suffers bone-rattling rides, perilous treks and stomach-burning meals to complete a fascinating journey through swirling mists and clouds into the heart of the ‘drip-drip chorus’ of incessant rain: Cherrapunji and the nearby village of Mawsynram. It is rain that has made Cherra famous, and Binoo’s mission is to unravel the mystery behind the curious phenomenon which brings this area as much rain in three months as the rest of the country might not get in a whole year. But as he makes his way into each corner and crevice of Cherrapunji, he discovers that it is much more than the ‘Wettest Place on Earth’. After the bustle and tension of Guwahati and Shillong he finds in Cherrapunji a world of mesmerizing beauty peopled with unusual characters, from uncooperative bureaucrats and friendly auto drivers to women who run their own enterprises and forward-looking individuals who want to bring the sleepy little village from ‘Under the Cloud’ into the modern world of telephones and tourism. And he takes a quick and curious walk down the lanes of Cherra’s chequered history–a story of nineteenth-century evangelists and proselytization, the beginnings of education, the fierce earthquake of 1897 which almost obliterated the town, and battles against the colonizers. Ranging with consummate ease over topics as varied as religion, cuisine and eteorology, Under a Cloud paints an evocative picture of life in one of the most unusual places in India.