High on the hills - A look at Arunachal through hazy eyes.

I’m sitting in the back of a pick-up van, coasting through the snake like curves of the Himalayas. Lush green valleys littered with man and beast, pockmarked with streams rush past my eyes to the East. My driver Mako, comfortably navigates the tricky curves like he’s been doing all his life, here in the land of the dawn lit mountains.

Suddenly Mako brakes the vehicle to a stop at a clearing by the side of the road and beckons me to follow him. Together we make our way down the slope to a larger clearing bordered with a loosely guarded fence. Mako looks at me with a twinkle in his eyes and makes his way through the fence.

I follow him cautiously and find myself in a huge rice field. After walking for a few minutes, we approach a narrow stream, past which Mako tells me, I will find what I’m looking for. He takes off his shoes and expertly skips from pebble to rock before landing on the other side with a huge grin on his face. I approach the water, fearing the worst and at once the chill wreaks havoc on my body. My legs freeze up and I slip more than a couple of times, before Mako finally reaches out his hand and pulls me to the other side.
He then leads me to a higher ground from where I can see a small field, with Marijuana growing on it. Excitedly the two of us make our way there and begin harvesting the crop. We fill as much of it as we can in a plastic bag and sprint back the way we came.

That’s when we hear the shot. I turn around and see a heavy set man running a mile away from us with a rifle in his hand. He leaves another shot lingering in the air. Mako urges me to run as fast as I can, but in my haste, I trip and fall again. The ground comes up to welcome me and I feel the air sucked out of my lungs. I hear another gunshot and look ahead to see if Mako is okay. That’s when he pulls me by the collar and hoists me back to my feet. Mako takes me by the hand and leads me through a short – cut, to the safety of the pick-up van.

As I look out through the window of the pick-up truck at the picturesque landscape of Arunachal Pradesh and glance over at Mako’s grinning face, I can’t help but fall in love with this mystical land and its warm people. It will be with a heavy heart that I will bid goodbye to the hills and to Arunachal Pradesh.