God's Own Garden

This quaint town in Meghalaya is ahead of the curve for its dedication to cleanliness.

- Barry Rodgers

Beyond their sacred groves, the Khasi’s, the indigenous ethnic group of Meghalaya in the north-eastern part of the country, reverence for nature is a way of life. Like a host of other villages in Meghalaya, Mawlynnong does not have a formal sanitation infrastructure in place. So, every person does their bit to safeguard the environment. Tidying up is a ritual that all village folk – from toddlers to toothless grannies – take very seriously. Waste is collected in bamboo receptacles located all over the village, which is then recycled into fertiliser and used for agriculture, their primary occupation. Plastic is repurposed, and the villagers sweep lanes and public spaces daily. It is no wonder then that this small, 600-odd person town has earned the tag of India’s cleanest village.

Komal Lath, founder of the integrated communications agency, Tute Consult, visited the village in 2017 while on holiday in Shillong. “My gal pal and I decided to make a one-day pit stop at Mawlynnong to catch a view of the Living Roots bridge there. The road from Shillong to the village is beautiful. It winds over misty green hills towards the border post of Dawki. Beyond the little town of Pynursla, there is a fork off the main road. The narrow village road becomes a corridor through a wall of green. A short drive through this corridor brings one to Mawlynnong village,” says Lath.