Autumn in Paradise City

There's something intriguing about autumn. The in-between season. Neither here nor there. Neither the warm love of the summer nor the bitter cold thrashings of winter. And especially, autumn in Shillong can be a wonderful treat aesthetically. On one hand, jacaranda flowers bloom along the roadside trees, adding that touch of soothing melancholy to the air. While looking around, there is that sense of apprehension in Nature, the slow giving away of life to the harsh strangles of death and winter. Nature seems to be at war with itself. It is not unnatural or unlikely or even bizarre to go through an average autumn day here where you have harsh sunshine till noon, rain in the afternoon, a gloomy evening suddenly broken in by a brilliant sunset and all this followed by a windy and treacherously cold night. Indeed, the seasons do play out a celebration of their diversity, all in a day's work. What comes out of all this chivalrous and chaotic natural play, is again a wonder in itself. As winter begins to win the battle of the seasons on the battleground of autumn, there is a renaissance in the air. While the ordinary among the beautiful give way and perish, the evergreen symbol of Shillongite beauty, the pines, gear themselves for the rough ride. And indeed, they stand green and bountiful, lending colour to Paradise City (The GN'R number might well have been written for this sleeping beauty of a town!). Then the walk along Ward's Lake becomes all but just a walk, and the greens of Golflink bring more than just the piercing wind to you. Then Shillong becomes a cloudy paradise till Nature wakes from its slumber...