In India, as in much of the developing world, it is labor that is cheap and machinery and gasoline that are expensive. This situation is dramatically visible on India’s Meghalaya Plateau where miners dig out coal deposits by hand. Coal is plentiful on the Meghalaya Plateau. In some places, as seen below, a large vein … Continue reading
As I discussed in my previous post on Driving In Assam, I endeavor to provide an impression of what the places I visit are really like. For me, that often means focusing on daily life. So, below, I hope you’ll enjoy some of the views of the Meghalaya Plateau and gain a better understanding of … Continue reading
Known as Siat Khnam, the city of Shillong boasts a very unique lottery system. To obtain the random numbers needed for the lottery, a group of Khasi tribesmen squat in a semicircle around a straw target and fire as many arrows as possible into it over a set time before a canvas curtain is raised … Continue reading
Assam (also spelled Asom and Axom) covers the fertile Brahmaputra valley, making it the most accessible of India’s Northeast States. The typical Assamese landscape offers golden-green vistas over endless rice fields that are patched with palm and bamboo groves, and framed in the distance by the hazy blue Himalayas rising up out of Arunachal Pradesh. … Continue reading
We stopped at this village for provisions and I found it photogenic in a “slice of life” sort of way. You’ll notice, no doubt, that this appears more like a scene from Cambodia or Vietnam. The Northeast States are very different from the rest of India. Continue reading
This hill station was the capital of British-created Assam from 1874 to 1972 when the state of Meghalaya was carved out of Assam. Since becoming the state capital it has rapidly developed into a typical modern Indian town and in doing so, some of its older colonial buildings have been demolished. However, in parts it … Continue reading
In my prior post, I mentioned gaining access to the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project through a bombing range utilized by the Indian Air Force. Below is that bombing range… Not all the pictures are not up to normal Velvet Rocket standards in terms of focus or composition, but given that we were not supposed to … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 