Most Beautiful Village in Northeast India | Mechuka | Arunachal Pradesh
Some of the most beautiful places in India are in North East India. Despite having such beautiful landscape, there are still some places which are not known to most of the people and most of the Indians do not even know about these places. And one of these places is situated so far on the other end of India that India-Tibet border is only 30 kilometers away from here.
One of the most beautiful village among all the villages of Arunachal This village is called “ Mechuka”. Mechuka is situated in a big valley at a height of 7,000 ft. It is surrounded on all sides by these high mountains.
And in the middle of these high mountains, spread over several hundred kilometers, there must be such a big village situated that you cannot even imagine on the way to reach here. Mechuka is so remotely located that even from Arunachal’s capital Itanagar it takes not just few hours but two days to reach here. But after crossing these difficult paths, a new world is waiting for you. I really want to say that the landscape of Mechuka is so unique, which means that you would not expect at all after crossing so many mountains, you would find so much plain area which is very rare. I have hardly seen it anywhere else. Right now I don’t even remember where I have seen something like this.
This huge plain area is surrounded by green mountains on all sides and then on top of that there is another layer of snow peaks which are higher than the green mountains so this combination is very rare. And when you come to such a remote location, you will not expect that all the houses will be built so properly, that is, all the houses will be built in such a beautiful way, the streets will be laid so properly and the roads is also marked. You wouldn’t expect anything, it’s actually very, very rare. Coming here, I feel as if you have lifted a little bit of the mountains of Meghalaya and a little of the mountains of Kashmir, a little bit of Manali’s valley, a little bit of Kashmir’s valley, by mixing all those places you have created a very rare landscape and that landscape is “ Mechuka”. So you will never be travelling alone in Mechuka, someone will join you and today he is accompanying me.
He has done the entire trek to monastery with me. Say Hello! He has a little attitude. Laughs! Now you see this house, how beautiful it is, there are so many beautiful houses here, it means that really Mechuka is such a place where you will feel like settling down. About 5 thousand people live in these beautiful houses of Mechuka and the Siyom river flowing here is the lifeline of so many people living in this valley.
This river flows out from the glaciers of Eastern Himalayas, this river travels a distance of 170 kilometers and becomes the widest river of India i.e. Brahmaputra, the widest river of India. And Mechuka got its name because of Siyom river, in the local language Men of Mechuka means “Medicine” chu means “River” and kha means “Snow”, i.e. a place which is blessed with medicinal snow water. And there are some villages of Mechuka based on both sides of this river, so to go from one village to another, one will have to cross the river, that is why many hanging bridges have been built here.
These bridges are built by the people who live here. There are many such hanging bridges built on the river here, and I am not moving anything like this, it is moving on its own, it is moving due to the wind, you walk as you please, once you start walking normally it will start moving. These hanging bridges, made by joining some wooden planks and iron wires, are not very stable but are helpful for the people here to cross the river.
Namastey Namastey!(Greetings). How many people can cross the bridge at one time? On the bridge? 10-15 people. So these are like shortcuts in the mountains, these hanging bridges work as shortcuts.
Be it these bridges or any view point, there is no need of taxi or bike to roam in Mechuka, you just have to keep your steps outside and while moving, you will keep on seeing a new beautiful view at every turn. But yes, if you get a bicycle instead of walking then nothing can be better than that. Look, the fun of roaming around in Mechuka is only possible through cycle and now I am roaming around the whole nearby area on cycle and nothing can be better than this, friend. And while riding the cycle I also made some friends.
You just need to cross this. I talked a lot with them and if I tell you from my experience then Mechuka is very tourist friendly and the people here get happy seeing the tourists because due to it being so far away not many people come here. Infact, Mechuka is such a village where air travel came first and road came later. Many years ago, the only way to reach here was this airstrip of Indian Airforce and the people living here could get the necessary items by air only and even today there is helicopter service from Itanagar to Mechuka twice a week and hence I also made one side trip by helicopter. And this village continued to flourish despite having no road connectivity for many years.
Because there is someone who is protecting it even amidst these mountains. “Samten Yongcha Monastery”. Built on a steep hill, this monastery overlooks the whole Mechuka. And looking at it, it seems as if it was specially made just for the protection of Mechuka. This monastery is not 100 or 150 years old but is more than 400 years old and the peace that this monastery has created in this place for so many years is felt as soon as one reaches here.
Brother, Can you tell me which form of Buddha is this? “Guru Padma Sambhava”. Ohh okay! This form, it is made like this, he is the protector, we worship him in this type of form. Okay. He is the same. So you worship him in this form? Buddhism and Hinduism is relative.
They both have different forms of God, As Christians have one God i.e. Jesus, they worship them only. But in Buddhism and Hinduism, there are different forms of God Snake form, moon form and many others so that’s why we worship this form of Buddha here. Okay ,Okay.
There is a huge valley near the monastery, where only greenery is visible as far as the eye can see. There is no one around, it is so peaceful and there is just greenery and completely green land and green mountains and then behind them, especially this peak that is visible, I don’t know its name but it looks very beautiful. There are some houses settled in this valley whose fields are beautiful and the views are such that even if you have seen a place like this in your dreams, it would hardly be like this. A beautiful settlement of Mechuka, is situated amidst these views, “Dechenthang”. Some beautiful houses built in huge beautiful fields, surrounded by extremely beautiful mountains, and a place so quiet that you can even hear the sound of wind blowing. And in the villages here I am noticing this thing that if one house is here than the other is there, meaning all the houses are not built together like this, the houses are very far apart, it is just a small village, a very small village, maybe a small place to be called a village, such small settlements have been made, people are hardly visible, people are not visible here, I don’t know why, maybe people in these houses also live very rarely.
I don’t know how remote place I have come to, I cannot see any person, I can see houses, animals but I cannot see any people. I even reached the houses but I couldn’t see anyone. There might be people living here, it’s not like that. While roaming around like this for a long time, I found an aunty working in the fields. Namastey, Namastey!(Greetings).
What are you farming? I am cultivating my own field of “Potato”. Ohh “Potato”, Okay. So right now, you are taking out potatoes? Yes! Ohh I see. Will you show me the potatoes for once? Potatoes? Yes.
You have just taken all these potatoes out of the field. Ohh like that. Do you have red potatoes at your place? Yes, red potatoes are the most common here. Okay, Okay. Which leafy vegetable is this? This leafy vegetable? This is “Cauliflower”.
Ohh, Nice. People living here grow almost all kinds of vegetables in their fields or garden. When we move from Mechuka towards Tibet border, somewhere in between the army camps, there is a camp which has a temple of “Hanumanji”. This temple which is run under the supervision of the Indian Army is very special. This is special because Hanumanji’s face can be seen very clearly on a mountain right in front of it.
You will see the entire face of Hanumanji clearly, lookup in it, his two eyes, then his nose is visible, and his smiling face, his entire face is visible, this is really very unique, so very much, I have never ever seen anything like this before. You will be surprised to see this naturally formed image of Hanumanji right from the front. Many years ago when B.R.O was making a road to the border, this special mountain was seen and a temple was also built here along with the road.
And every small or big work of this temple is done by the army soldiers and that is why it is not only known as “Hanuman temple” but also as “Hanuman Camp”. But this is not the only place which is looked after by the Indian Army. “Gurudwara Mechuka Sahib” is just a short distance from Hanuman Camp near the Siyom river. This Gurudwara near the border was built by the soldiers of “Sikh Regiment” of the Indian Army.
This Gurudwara is also run by the Army, it is completely under the surveillance if the Army and the special thing here is that you get “Langar”(Free Food) 24 hours, yes, 24 hours means at such a remote location where you don’t see a person, not even a single person, there is not even any food or water shop for several kilometers, you are getting food there for 24 hours, that is a very big thing. And taking blessings from here I went to the other side of Mechuka. Another beautiful place comes after crossing the Siyom river in Mechuka is , “Dorjeeling”. Whose name sounds like Darjeeling of West Bengal but this place is very different from Darjeeling.
Open grasslands where even the mountains are covered with the grass. Surrounded by such beautiful views, this place seems like a fairytale. And there is also the famous signboard of Mechuka here. Right now, I am in Dorjelling of Mechuka, I am at a point where all the countries have been marked, with the aerial distance from here, and after seeing this, I came to know one thing that New Delhi is 2,631 kms away and Hong Kong is 2,124 kms away, means if I go now, then Hong Kong is closer than my home, I have come quite far. In the silence here, I hear the noises of some children. Children Playing! They were playing and having great fun.
Hello! What game are you guys playing? Just having fun. And after a while I didn’t know when I started playing with them. Children playing! And after bidding goodbye to these children, I moved ahead to fulfill the promises I had made to myself.
The day I got to Mechuka and saw the Mechuka written on the mountain in front of me, from then on I promised myself that one day I will definitely climb this mountain and today is that day. So today is that day, I started from that iron bridge and today I am going to that mountain on which I have seen Mechuka written and I know that the view from there is going to be very beautiful because that mountain is beautiful, so let’s go and see how much more time it will take? And as i said, someone will join you in Mechuka And I found a friend here too. Infact, while walking here, I met other people too. Hello! How far is it now? You still need to climb 4-5 more mountains.
What? 4-5 more mountains? What did you guys go there to do? We went there for a stroll. Okay, Okay. Hello, Hello Hello! Namastey!(Greetings).
You are having fun brother, sit comfortably on shoulders and enjoying. This is the picnic spot for the locals here and today is Sunday, So Thank God, I met some people on the way. As often happens in mountains, however close something appears, in reality it is very far away, as is happening with me now. Mechuka is written there, I have to go till there and you must be knowing from my breathing how difficult the journey is. You will definitely get tired walking on these mountains, but not at all of seeing these beautiful views. Finally, after a trek of 1.5 to 2 hours we have reached the top.
“Menchukha La”. Oh My God, Menchukha La is really wow. It feels as I have arrived on some other planet. I mean the truth is that it is so beautiful.
I can’t believe my eyes that something like this can even exist. It is very beautiful, it is worth it. I mean, if the trek is longer than this, even then it would be worth it. I am telling you the truth, it is very beautiful.
And standing here, the whole Mechuka town is visible. The whole of Mechuka is visible from here. The mountains here and the shape of the mountains are very different here. And I had been seeing it from a distance since many days, I had been seeing it written from a distance, I had been seeing its shape from a distance but when I stood here and saw that beauty from close, then it is an unmatched experience, no matter how hard I try to explain those feelings, no words can describe this feeling.
Places like Mechuka give you another chance to reconnect, with people, with nature or maybe even with yourself. Because road connectivity or mobile connectivity is not that good in Mechuka and there is no internet here. Hello! So, all theses things take you once again towards a simple life. Children playing! If there is no network in your mobile, then instead of talking on the call, you will talk to the person who is in front of you.
Bye! Bye! Or without the internet, you will be able to see the world face to face instead of through a screen , or maybe even in a better way. Because in an attempt to make some things easier in cities, we have made many things more difficult. Life has become easier than it was before. but living has become much more difficult.
2024-07-13 22:39
