Under A Cloud: Life In Cherrapunji, The Wettest Place On Earth

It is rain that has made Cherrapunji a globally renowned villageand so Binoo K. John undertakes a tumultuous journey to unravel the mystery of the geographical quirk that brings to Cherra and the nearby village of Mawsynram as much rain in three months as the rest of India gets in a whole year. But Cherrapunji, finds Binoo, has much more to offer to the visitor: it is a land of great beauty and warmth, peopled by a cast of characters ranging from truculent bureaucrats and eccentric visionaries to friendly entrepreneurs and drivers fond of drink. Bone-rattling rides, perilous treks and stomach-burning meals notwithstanding, Binoo travels resolutely to every corner of Cherrapunji, and discovers behind the swirling mists a thriving population of energetic men and women determined to bring their sleepy little hometown out from under the cloud and into the twenty-first century. Through tales of nineteenth-century evangelists and earthquakes, debates on culture and cuisine and observations on religion and meteorology, Binoo K. John brings to life in a crisp and witty narrative one of the most unusual places in India.