{"id":15949,"date":"2017-12-11T11:53:01","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T16:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/?p=15949"},"modified":"2020-09-05T02:24:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T06:24:08","slug":"the-seven-sisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/blog\/the-seven-sisters\/","title":{"rendered":"The Seven Sisters"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was published in the Escape Artist Weekly Newsletter on\u00a0December 11, 2017. If you would like to\u00a0subscribe\u00a0to the newsletter, please click here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to talk today about the most unique, remote, unknown, and interesting part of India. \u00a0Let\u2019s start with an Indian government map of its states and territories. \u00a0We\u2019ll end with how you can soon explore this fascinating region with me.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s draw our attention to the two neighbor countries of Nepal and Bangladesh and notice that they almost come together.\u00a0 There is a thin sliver of the Indian state of West Bengal barely separating the southeast corner of Nepal from the northwest corner of Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

At its narrowest, that sliver is\u00a0less than 11 miles wide\u00a0and is named for the town at its northern end:\u00a0\u00a0the Siliguri Corridor. \u00a0It\u2019s also appropriately named\u00a0the Chicken Neck,\u00a0as it\u2019s India\u2019s most strategic vulnerability. \u00a0You can see why:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

There was a dramatic demonstration of that vulnerability last summer. \u00a0What gives India the willies is how close China is to Siliguri \u2013 little more than 60 miles due to a salient of Chinese Tibet between Bhutan and India called the Chumbi Valley.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

China under Communist control has a long history of border disputes with its neighbors. \u00a0Currently, Beijing is in truculent border disputes with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and of course, Bhutan and India.<\/p>\n

Beijing bullies Bhutan regularly. \u00a0That white area on Bhutan\u2019s northern border is a claim of China\u2019s. \u00a0Last June, Beijing decided to rattle India\u2019s cage by pushing its ally Bhutan around some more, building a road in Bhutanese territory to reach the southern tip of Chumbi. \u00a0Indian troops were sent to physically stop them.<\/p>\n

The Indian press beat the war drums, but there was no war, with nary a shot being fired (some troops threw stones at each other) – it was just China\u2019s shtick of cage-rattling its biggest neighbor. \u00a0By August<\/a>, the \u201cDoklam Plateau\u201d teapot-tempest was over.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the episode has caused New Delhi to refocus attention on its long-ignored Northeast \u2013 for the Chicken Neck choke point is all that politically connects India to a collection of seven provinces, known collectively as\u00a0The Seven Sisters.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

India\u2019s Seven Sisters<\/em><\/p>\n

Encircled by Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, and Burma, all Seven are landlocked \u2013 no ports, their\u00a0only\u00a0road and railroad connection to the outside world is through the Chicken Neck.<\/p>\n

Six of the Seven have little ethnic, cultural, or religious connection to “Mother India” (the exception is Tripura, due to the exodus of Hindu Bengalis from Moslem Bangladesh).<\/p>\n

Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh are predominantly aboriginal\/tribal and Christian, while Manipur is half hill tribe\/Christian and lowland tribe\/pre-Hindu Sanamahi religion.\"Consumer<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Perhaps all this in the past led to New Delhi ignoring the region and discouraging anyone from exploring its wonders. \u00a0That\u2019s now over. \u00a0This February, I am leading an exploration of all Seven Sisters \u2013 and we are being welcomed with open arms. \u00a0Be prepared to be astounded at what each of the Seven Sisters has to uniquely offer.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a brief synopsis: \u00a0We meet in Calcutta on February 16 and return to Calcutta on March 3.<\/p>\n

We fly from Calcutta to\u00a0Shillong, capital of Meghalaya. \u00a0Little more than an hour\u2019s drive is the area of\u00a0Cherapunji, where for centuries tribal peoples such as the Khasi have constructed\u00a0living root bridges\u00a0over rivers and streams connecting their villages. \u00a0Roots of banyan and rubber trees are trained to grow and interconnect, forming a living bridge \u2013 with some bridges over 500 years old. \u00a0One of them is even a double-decker.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

On our return to Shillong, we\u2019ll find\u00a0India\u2019s Stonehenge \u2013 the Nartiang Monoliths. \u00a0It\u2019s a vast megalithic complex of millennia ago, set among the beautiful Jaintia Hills.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

From Shillong we charter a helicopter to fly us to the\u00a0Tawang Tibetan Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh.<\/p>\n

Tucked just below the Himalayas where Bhutan, China, and India come together, ancient Tawang is the largest Tibetan monastery in the world (the Potala in Lhasa is larger, but the Chinese have converted it into a museum and it is \u201cdead\u201d to Tibetans). \u00a0We arrive in time to attend the extravagant\u00a0Losar Ceremonies\u00a0celebrating the Tibetan New Year.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Losar is partytime for the Monpa Tibetans of Tawang, where families invite you into their homes for a cup of\u00a0chaang\u00a0barley beer and we all get to know each other. \u00a0We\u2019ll have a wonderful time.<\/p>\n

Our chartered helicopter now takes us to\u00a0Tezpur on the Bhramaputra River in Assam, from whence we drive to the famed\u00a0Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary. \u00a0Kaziranga is a World Heritage Site, the home of over 2,400\u00a0Asian one-horned rhinoceros, and the largest number of\u00a0Royal Bengal Tigers\u00a0in the world.<\/p>\n

Our safaris in Kaziranga will be on elephant back. \u00a0We\u2019re guaranteed to see a plethora of rhinos, and since we\u2019re there in the dry season with the grass low, our odds of seeing tigers are high.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

From Kaziranga, we drive up to\u00a0Kohima, capital of\u00a0Nagaland,\u00a0to attend the\u00a0Sekrenyi Purification Ceremonies of the Angami Nagas.<\/p>\n

The Nagas were once feared headhunters. \u00a0While that\u2019s in the past, they still like to show off the skulls of their ancestors\u2019 enemies. \u00a0Now they take pride in their culture with spectacular ceremonies.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

From Kohima, we drive to\u00a0Imphal, capital of Manipur. \u00a0The Meitei people of Manipur are religiously eclectic, the Christians among them building beautiful churches like St. Joseph\u2019s Cathedral, while many others adhere to their original beliefs of 4,000 years ago, older than Hinduism, the worship of Lord Sanamathi.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Near Imphal is\u00a0Lake Lotak\u00a0with its unique\u00a0phumdis, floating circular islands with villages of fishermen. \u00a0We\u2019ll be having a fish feast with them.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

From Imphal we fly to\u00a0Agartala, capital of Tripura. \u00a0We\u2019ll visit\u00a0Ujjayanta Palace\u00a0of the Tripura Maharajas and the\u00a0Jagannath Hindu Temple, then drive to the astounding\u00a0Rock Temple of Unakoti, an ancient shrine of the Hindu god Shiva.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

For our seventh of our Seven Sisters, we fly from Agartala to\u00a0Aizawl, capital of Mizoram. \u00a0The Mizo people are 90% Christian of various denominations. \u00a0Their churches are spectacular, particularly the non-denominational church of\u00a0Solomon\u2019s Temple. \u00a0We arrive in time to attend the Mizo\u00a0Chapchar Kut Spring Festival. \u00a0Everyone is happy it\u2019s springtime.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

You can join in if you want! \u00a0And with that, we fly back to Calcutta.<\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ve enjoyed learning something of this very special part of the world. \u00a0And I hope you\u2019ll join me in seeing it for yourself. \u00a0What you saw above is only a hint of all we\u2019ll actually see for real.<\/p>\n

Again, the dates are February 16 to March 3. If you\u2019d like more info, just let me know at\u00a0Jack@Wheelerexpeditions.com<\/a>. \u00a0I\u2019m looking forward to meeting you in Calcutta.<\/p>\n

Click here to get advance notice of expeditions you can join & stunning photos of Once-in-a-Lifetime Adventures<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack Wheeler is the founder of\u00a0Wheeler Expeditions<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article was published in the Escape Artist Weekly Newsletter on\u00a0December 11, 2017. If you would like to\u00a0subscribe\u00a0to the newsletter, please click here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"SD-IRABanner\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was published in the Escape Artist Weekly Newsletter on\u00a0December 11, 2017. If you would like to\u00a0subscribe\u00a0to the newsletter, please click here. We\u2019re going to talk today about the most unique, remote, unknown, and interesting part of India. \u00a0Let\u2019s start with an Indian government map of its states and territories. \u00a0We\u2019ll end with how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":366,"featured_media":15957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[23639,23635,1822,1815,9234,23638,23637,23636,1753,1814,1811,10560,10732,23634,1819,1812,1820,23640,9237,10730],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/image8-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15949"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15949"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40782,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15949\/revisions\/40782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15949"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}