By Aparmita Das
The newly imposed travel laws, distancing regulations, and safety and hygiene customs have altered the way we travel. But, even now, regular solo travellers prefer visiting less crowded destinations, focussing more on local food and culture. What strikes as most peculiar, however, is that more and more travellers in the State refuse to share on social media the locations of unexplored places they luck into.
Kyntiew Kharbani is a regular traveller and explorer. He has an enthusiasm for discovering unique and untouched places but wants them to remain in mystery. To him the rationale is simple: “I do not want the natural beauty to be altered in any way or form”.
“We have all seen –once a place becomes popular, it gets overcrowded, which leads to littering. No matter what we do or try, it doesn’t change because the mindset differs from one person to the other,” Kharbani says. Instead, Kharbani only shares these treasures with a small group of similar-minded explorers. Routes and locations are only given publicly if the destinations have been promoted by the state’s tourism department or tourist organisations.
Kharbani and his wife often travel across the state, uploading videos on YouTube, but with a difference. “When we travel, we clean up places”. The couple spreads awareness on cleanliness and maintaining the beauty of nature, often carrying home trash they have collected for safe disposal.
Jayanta Chanda, a traveller and photography enthusiast, also agrees. He is part of a young crop of travellers who feel that letting places be undiscovered maintains the virtue of those places but says this is difficult for long.
“I have visited a few places that are still unknown to many. True to my profession, I love capturing nature in its true sense, away from the hustle and bustle of social animals,” he says. To Chanda, people are never content to admire beauty, but want to be photographed at the latest trending location and leave their waste behind.
During the pandemic, the Amkoi, Amlarem stretch of the Umngot river gained popularity for its white river boulders against blue waters. The steep, rough trek through betel nut plantations opened into an alienesque landscape of stone and water. While littering increase, tour guides said the attention brought them additional income.
So while travellers in Shillong wish the state to be shrouded in mystery, a substantial population outside is more forgiving of the polluting imprint of tourism.
The Indian tourist abroad is known to be criminally ill-mannered, as hoteliers have repeatedly made known. What happens when this tourist turns their attention inwards?
Chanda blames tourists for ruining Nongjrong with bonfires and music, where it was once a peaceful, quiet place in Mawkynrew.
Yet we must also ask: is nature the reserve of only a few special gatekeepers, or is there a way to punish us all out of bad travelling behaviour?