Road trip to Shillong: Why I will never go on one ever again

It was a lovely start of the day with warm winter sunlight, a touch of cold in the air, and a car packed with bags and two people all ready to go on a road trip. I was home for the winter holidays, and an unexpected medical emergency led to this impromptu trip to Shillong.

But what happened on the way made me question my love for road trips, and forced me to think “Will I ever go on a road trip from Silchar in Assam to Shillong in Meghalaya?”As mentioned, our trip started from Silchar, my hometown, and for a travel writer and an avid traveller, this last-minute medical emergency also came with a touch of excitement. If anyone has been to Silchar (Cachar District) in November, you’d know that it’s pleasantly warm.

But even in this pleasant season, my body was at a breaking point with excessive body pain caused by Lupus Nephritis, an autoimmune disease. So I thought why not head over to Shillong, and maybe see a rheumatologist, get some answers, and in the process, re-visit the city I love the most–Shillong? Sorry Delhi, it will never be you.

The stretch from Silchar to Kalain, was scenic, hot at times, and you meet hundreds of trucks on the road, all on their way to different major towns in the northeast.

We met very rough patches of road near Kalain, but they were over in less than an hour. Lazy traffic but nothing we couldn’t handle. Now all these were before reaching the state border. The drive till Ratacherra, Assam-Meghalaya border, was a smooth one. With forest on one side and sweeping views of Bangladesh on the other.

Ah, scenic! If you didn’t stop and click photos there, did you even travel?

Next stop: Sonapur, Jaintia Hills

The view was so beautiful that I forgot to click photos. Yes, that happened in Sonapur.

Lukha River flows through this area in East Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya. As we neared the bridge over the Lukha River, I peered out as far as I could to get a good view of the blue-green-turquoise water (mainly due to limestone. And I still forgot to take a photo of this famous landmark (on NH-6). I didn’t get to mourn the lost opportunity, because I blinked (okay, I slept) and we had already crossed landmarks like Khlieriat, Ladrymbai, 8-Mile and Jowai.

For those wondering, Silchar (Assam) to Shillong (Meghalaya) is approximately 7 hours, with fairly good roads, and frequent gas stations for quick little nature breaks. Till Jowai, one covers a huge section of the entire trip. So Shillong was basically a stone’s throw away. Or so we thought. Now we were in a place called Smit, a mere 45 minutes away from Shillong, an hour at max! But this is exactly why I decided never to do a road trip in this region, not when I am still going through complications of Lupus Nephritis.

The traffic jam that we encountered made me worry for my health. As soon as we reached Smit, we saw a kilometres-long traffic jam…and a standstill one at that.

The first 10 minutes, and I was still humming songs, occasionally shifting positions. Then the 30-minute mark came, and I felt nature calling, one of the side-effects of Lupus Nephritis (kidney problems in short, for non-Lupus folks). Then came the 45-minute mark, and Hello!!! By now, I had already wished I was a man (for obvious reasons IYKYK).

Nothing moved. To make the matter worse, no one seemed agitated except for me.

Hello, move! It was pitch dark, all the vehicles on the road even turned off their engines and were just…sat. It was more than an hour now and Ma’am Nature was adamant on calling. For a moment I even thought “to hell with Swacch Bharat, it’s happening on the road side.” Just as I was figuring where the darkest spot was, a party truck came by, all lights on, music blaring.

Just like the loud music killed the silence of the night, something died in me too. Hopefully not my kidneys. It was the silent death of my wish to urinate. And just like that, we were there for two whole hours. And again, just like that, faster than my eyes could blink, cars started to move and in a couple of minutes, the road was empty! What just happened? We were praising the efficient traffic police, but then, we saw none.

I even had the audacity to think that CM Conrad Sangma sir finally saw my ‘strongly worded’ post on X (@KameiPrecious) and ordered the traffic police to ease the traffic mess.

Not a single like on the post till date. Not to mention I even bought the Blue Tick out of desperation, hoping that something would work. Yes, it's funny now, but back then, I believed in it. I had faith.

Guess what brought the traffic to a standstill? Up ahead, on the roadside, there were some liquor shops where people had oh-so-generously parked their cars, and were enjoying a drink or 10.

So that’s that. Make what you will. By now, we were in our 8th hour, nearing 9th. Then came Laitkor (Upper Shillong). An hour there, thanks to another snail traffic. We somehow managed to cross Happy Valley, only to be stuck in another hour-long traffic jam. By the time we reached my aunt’s place in Barik, it was 11 hours in total. Before I forget, I did get to use the washroom in Laitkor, in one petrol pump. Fun and tickles aside, the trip was a horrifying one, especially for someone with a condition like Lupus Nephritis, which comes with fibromyalgia sometimes. A six to seven hours road trip is doable with enough rest, and bathroom breaks, keeping the diseased kidneys in mind. But 11-12 hours is just something unimaginable, and not to forget - painful. Meghalaya, you can do better.