East Khasi Shillong Cherrapunji Living Root Bridges Coal Meghalaya

East Khasi Hills district containing Shillong (Meghalaya's capital) and Cherrapunji (Sohra) — one of the wettest places on Earth (11,430mm annual rainfall) — is famous for the living root bridges of the War Khasi people, where rubber fig tree (Ficus elastica) aerial roots are trained over decades into load-bearing footbridges spanning streams in the Cherrapunji and Mawlynnong valleys. Khasi women dominate markets and business — Meghalaya's matrilineal society (among the few surviving in the world) gives women primary property rights and inheritance. The district's coal deposits (rat-hole mining, now banned by NGT), betel nut (kwai) cultivation, and broom grass farming are key livelihoods. Shillong's music culture — the "Rock Capital of India" — produces Northeast India's most vibrant Western music scene.