Secrets of the Happy State

A road trip from Aizawl to Champhai along the Indo-Myanmar border leads to many revelations for Florina Soren.

- Florina Soren

MADAM, THE CAR IS sliding on its own, there is hardly anything I can do," said the driver. A confident 26-year-old, Jonathan is always on top of his job. Be it finding a snacking point in the middle of nowhere, playing a multilingual playlist, or sharing anecdotes to keep us entertained, he always has a trick or two up his sleeve. So, this statement from him was a shocker. My travel companion and I were driving from Aizawl to Champhai, located in the Northeastern side of Mizoram, not far from the border of India and Myanmar. It had rained the day before, and while the mountains were washed clean, the road was at its notorious best. Well, not throughout, but some stretches made Jonathan throw his hands up in exasperation.

The distance to be covered was nearly 200 km and we were to reach Champhai in less than seven hours, but that seemed unachievable. This was my first visit to Mizoram, and I had never heard about Champhai before. Since many routes were under construction, we were off-roading most of the time. However, the rolling hills, fresh mountain air, and endless stretches of lush green fields made the trip worth it. The rolling hills were dotted with free-flowing waterfalls and lakes.

Though known as the rice bowl of Mizoram, Champhai is soon becoming the fruit capital with its grape vineyards and other fruit production. As we drove along, we spotted shops selling pineapple, passion fruit, apples, kiwi, grapes, and more. We stopped by for some amazing local fruit juice just outside Aizawl, and I realised the locals do not understand English or Hindi. Thankfully, our trusted driver helped us with the translation.