Life and Lies of M R Maiti

I got off the bike to check whether it was safe for the bikes to pass through. The downward slope was muddy. I trod carefully until I reached the point where the landslide had occurred. It appeared to be quite recent. Crossing the road, the debris had made it to the river flowing alongside it. Thankfully, two JCBs had been working on clearing a path. I gave the heads-up to my friends and waited. I was far from home, in the midst of an unexplored land. All I had said to my parents before leaving was that I was going to Guwahati and that I had a friend there. I wasn’t exactly lying. I did have a friend in Guwahati. And I would go there, eventually. I just didn’t tell my parents the route I was going to take to reach there. Located 70 kilometers away from the city of Gangtok, Dzongu had been established as an official reserve for Lepchas, the original inhabitants of Sikkim. No travel agent covered this place in his itinerary; they even advised against it when enquired about. The reason be