Mawsynram and Cherrapunji—Rainiest Places on Earth

Cherrapunji still is little more than ‘a cluster of low, discolored hilltop buildings’. The bus-stop is still there with the bazaar nearby. I was there simply in search of that mythical precipitation as described by Alexander Frater in ‘Chasing the Monsoon’. Once there, I sensed a burst of raw humane emotions giving Rain Company. Here people, with calico-wrapped backpacks suspended from headbands where an umbrella also remains tucked, are too real for an impressionistic mood of the monsoon. And, unmistakably, I saw Frater’s Newspaper Seller. With his news protected under polythene sheet he was seen settled under a shade, not caring to brave the rain any more. Drawing hard on a wet cigarette he simply informed me that it used to rain more in Cherrapunji.

In 2012 Mawsynram recorded 467 inches of rainfall while Cherrapunji recorded 463 inches—best 2 figures of precipitation as far as the wettest places on earth are concerned.