Mawlynnong, the Cleanest Village in Asia- Day 6

We had travelled around four, mostly bumpy, hours from Shillong to reach this place. On the way we saw Pynursla village and I immediately fell in love with the Khasi way of life as we entered Mawlynnong. The village looked like a garden, thanks to the villagers who chip in a few rupees every month to pay for a village gardener who keeps the place immaculately clean and has planted some fantastic flowers and exotic plants from the surrounding forest.

Mawlynnong

We had travelled around four, mostly bumpy, hours from Shillong to reach this place. On the way we saw Pynursla village and I immediately fell in love with the Khasi way of life as we entered Mawlynnong. The village looked like a garden, thanks to the villagers who chip in a few rupees every month to pay for a village gardener who keeps the place immaculately clean and has planted some fantastic flowers and exotic plants from the surrounding forest.

The village is located in the East Khasi Hills and is also referred as ‘God’s own garden’. It has won the acclaim of being the cleanest village in Asia in 2003, and is around 90 km from Shillong. 

We found “Thapas”, bamboo dustbins, at every nook and corner of the village. Every single piece of litter and fallen leaves or flowers are collected in the dustbins and later shifted to a pit to be used as manure by the villagers. The village has a very strong and strict council and smoking is completely banned here. The council imposes a fine if anybody is found guilty of throwing litter or cutting tress unnecessarily. The council also conducts a strict inspection at each and every house, at regular intervals, for their sanitation facilities.

We found a person cleaning the road, and I came to know that rain or shine will not deter these villagers from rising early to sweep the roads, and this process is repeated several times a day. Even though some cleaners have been hired by the village council to sweep the roads, many villagers take turns to make sure they are swept several times a day.

Signboard to guest house

We saw a community hall where visitors can offer donations which is further used by the residents for the maintenance of the infrastructure of the village. After seeing the community hall, we just went straight away to the Sky View.