India: Episode Two The Travel Show

and leaving at least 17 dead.

Now on BBC News, The Travel Show.

India, 70 years after independence.

This emerging world power of more

than a billion people

is still changing.

I'm on a journey to two extremes

of this vast subcontinent.

Crystal, hard crystals.

White salt.

Can probably taste it.

I began in Gujarat, in the far West.

This is genuinely

incredible, I'm in heaven.

Pretty crowded.

This week, I've travelled 2000 miles

over to the north-east.

I'm on the banks of the mighty river

Brahmaputra, and about to go

to a very spiritual place.

It's one of India's

lesser-known regions.

We're really high up,

and just to my right,

the border with Bangladesh.

A part of the country which prides

itself on its traditions.

He makes it look so easy.

It's incredibly difficult.

But it's also looking forward

and embracing progress.

So now, I'm on my way to go and see

Assam's very own eco-warrior.

It is going to be an

incredible adventure.

India's north-east,

a collection of eight states,

almost cut off from the rest

of this vast country,

but for a tiny strip of land.

At partition, a large swathe of this

region was sectioned off,

to become East Pakistan,

which later became Bangladesh,

leaving the Indian area landlocked.

It's geographically

and culturally out on a limb.

This is frontier country,

little-known to tourists and other

Indians alike.

They call it the land of cloud,

that's because of the severe monsoon

season.

Hilly, remote, the area

so crisp and fresh,

and the view, simply spectacular.

It's this cool climate that made

the state of Meghalaya

and its capital, Shillong,

that made it a popular retreat

for the British during

the colonial era.

They dubbed it the

Scotland of the East.

It's pretty crowded!

What about the city today?

There's only one way to find out.

I take a bus into the city centre.

So it's a modern industrial town

these days, Shillong.

Whoa, feel it!

I think those breaks

may need a bit of work.

So tell me, what do

you think about Shillong.

This is your home city.

What do you think about this place?

The culture here is so different.

You see the people here.

More than half of the population

of Meghalaya belong to the Khasi

tribe, and here at the British-built

polo ground, a traditional British

sport is thriving,

but it sure ain't Polo.

Every afternoon, hundreds of people

gather from all around to take part

in a really interesting

daily ritual.

This is called teer,

derived from the Hindi

word for arrow.

They target is mounted and 50

archers have just two minutes to hit

it as many times as possible.

The significance of the sport dates

back to the early 1800,

when khasi warriors defended

their homeland not with guns

and swords but with bows and arrows.

I'm aiming for the

target, obviously.

The small one.

Why is it going to

the ground like that?

Spectators get involved by taking

bets on the number of arrows that

hit the target.

Crucially, it's only the last two

numbers of the total

score that matter.

They are all added up,

and the last two digit

will be the result.

690, five arrows.

Meghalaya became one of the few

states to legalise gambling in 1982.

People here are very superstitious.

They'll dream about

their dead family.

A dog, a cat.

And they'll try to

make it into numbers.

So I have 200 rupees

of my hard earned money here.

I want to go and gamble,

can you show me how to do it?

Let's go to one of these counters.

I want to gamble on a lucky number.

Two digit, lucky number.

I'm going to go for...

39.

And I'm going to put

100 rupees on 39.

And on my other bet

I'm going to bet on...

77, can you fix it so I win(!)

LAUGHTER That depends

upon your fortune.

I had a dream last

night, I had a dream...

That a strange dog walked past me,

and that dog had the number 39

on it, is that the kind

of dreams we have.

Wish me luck.

It's a tense moment

as the numbers are counted...

310, 320...

And my dream turns out to be...

A shaggy dog story.

77 was my number, 97 is the result.

Still, two of my lucky

numbers, nine and seven.

Next, I head out the city

to the region's famed Khasi

hills and villages.

Incredible to think that

despite landscapes like this,

the north-east is one of the least

visited areas of India.

But things are slowly changing.

We've been travelling out

of Shillong into the countryside

towards the Bangladesh border

for about two hours,

it has been pretty bumpy and rough

roads until suddenly,

we have reached this bit

and it is beautifully smooth road,

would not look out of

place in a major town.

We are heading towards a village

which has a really interesting

reputation.

The Khasi Hills are the only place

in the world that you will find

a bridge grown from the roots

of the Indian rubber tree.

Or Ficus elastica.

1840.

This bridge was meant

for the villagers to cross over

the River when they go back

to their daily life.

During that time there was no

partition, no Bangladesh,

no Pakistan, so we had that link.

During monsoon, the Khasi hills

are hit by record-breaking

downpours, more than 20

feet of rain in a month.

These are some of the wettest

places on the planet.

But people here have found

an ingenious way to harness nature

in order to prevent the village

being cut off by floods.

Just tell me what they

are doing right now.

Now they are tying them,

to cross on both sides of the river,

so that the roots of this tree

will be woven along here.

Bamboo acts as a scaffolding,

which helps connect routes

from trees growing

on opposite river banks.

This is skilled and

occasionally dangerous work.

Thanks to continuous repairs,

bridges like this have stood

firm for generations.

And will probably remain

for many more to come.

So we leave Meghalaya

and head to Assam.

Passing through some of the 25,000

tea plantations that have made

this region world-famous.

We're on our way to Jorhat,

a few hundreds kilometres

from India's border with China,

and the jumping off point

for the next adventure.

I'm on the banks of the mighty river

Brahmaputra, and about to go

to a very spiritual place,

the island of Majuli,

one of the biggest river

islands in the world.

Now there's 150,000 people on that

island, and only six ferries a day,

each one is really crammed.

Just looking at the list of prices

for all the different categories:

passengers, 15 rupees,

that's OK, that's reasonable.

Then you go down, pass the vehicles,

animals have today, Buffalo has

to pay 45.

Bull, cow, 30.

And then the poor elephant has

to fork out 907 rupees!

Perhaps fortunately,

none of these creatures

were travelling with us today.

And incredibly, after a few

last-minute panics,

we are set to go.

I climb onto the corrugated

aluminium roof to join men who do

this trip day in, day out.

Starting in Tibet, the Brahmaputra

river is nearly 2000 miles long,

second only to the Amazon,

in the volume of water that

rushes through it.

Interesting game of cards

going on here, I think

they are playing whist.

I'd like to join in.

But it may be a private game.

High stakes.

We arrived at Majuli

and it is turmoil again trying

to get off the boat.

To avoid the queue,

there is a sneaky way out,

which involves climbing onto another

boat and going down that way.

You know what, I think I'm

going to take that one.

Well, he we are, on land,

doesn't look quite as spiritual

as I imagined, but if you look

away into the distance,

it's just one big

flat land of desert.

Let's see.

The island is home to 22

monasteries, or Satras,

initially established in the 16th

century by the Assamese guru,

Sankardeva.

Boys are instructive from a very

young age in the religion

that he preached, Vaishnavism,

an offshoot of Hinduism.

The monks are celibate and according

to their beliefs they worship only

one God, follow a vegetarian diet,

and reject the caste system.

And here, the doctrine includes

this special art form.

This form of classical dance is now

recognised by the authorities

as a genre in its own right.

Many of these monks have

performed around the world.

That was amazing.

Thank you very much indeed.

I know you spend a lifetime

learning the skills of this,

but can I have a go, can I try?

Arms through here...?

Very good.

Thank you so much.

One, two, three, four.

There are 64 positions in this

classical dance and I'm having

trouble with the first two.

It's very difficult.

One, two, three...

Without the grace, as well.

No grace whatsoever.

He makes it look so easy.

And it's incredibly difficult.

I'm going to leave

it to the experts.

Sometimes you have to give up

and let them carry on.

An exquisite performance.

But there's one problem,

one very big problem,

and that is, that this island may

simply not exist in just

a few decades time.

Hard to believe at the moment

but there is a genuine worry that

Majuli will be submerged

and destroyed within 20 years.

In the last 70 years it has shrunk

in size by two thirds.

And a majority of the original 65

monasteries have gone.

Every monsoon, the Brahmaputra

river swells, eroding

the terrain around it.

Bit by bit, land is disappearing.

But there is hope.

So now, I'm on my way, in a tractor,

to go and see a man whose life 's

mission has been to tackle

the flooding that has

afflicted this island.

He is Jadav Payeng, basically

Assam's very own eco-warrior.

Sadly, these areas that

get completely deluged,

when the monsoon hits,

there is some water there,

we have to cross...

For the last 36 years,

he has taken on an extraordinary

challenge, to save this

land from vanishing.

And so, his lifelong calling began.

And so, his lifelong calling began.

Jadav is known today

as the Forest man of India.

He began planting trees so the roots

would bind the soil,

soak up excess water,

and prevent the land

from being eroded by flooding.

From a barren landscape,

he has created a forest the size

So we are now going to do the ritual

that every guest that comes

here is asked to do,

which is to plant a tree.

What kind of tree is this?

I'm going to put this in here...

It's good.

He has spoken at environmental

summits all around the world,

and his roll call of guests

is equally international.

I do know that everyone who plants

a tree, when it grows,

they put a plaque down

with their name on it,

and I'm going to have that

privilege, fantastic, thank you.

And so to my final day in Assam,

and a different kind of ritualistic

celebration of nature.

If there's one repairing

theme throughout my trip

in the north-east, it's

the sense of community,

everywhere, really, and there's

nothing better to illustrate

that than this...

A local village going down

to the river, to celebrate harvest.

This community was started in 1939

by a young woman who came

from the mountains

in search of food.

I believe she found that this

place was better for her

because it is coated in water,

and civilisation needs water,

she brought friends and family here,

followed by a brother.

The entire family of her own clan...

All from that one woman?

Really, fascinating, wow.

This is a much-loved annual

celebration and people of all ages

gathered to mark in,

using fishing methods that have been

passed down the generations.

'Then you pull it towards you...

Pull the stick...

This is today's catch...

Wow!

That is pretty good.

And this, you will cook, now?

Excellent.

So my trek across India from border

to border is almost over,

and it's been a real journey

of discovery for me off

the beaten track.

This isn't India "on tap",

instant gratification,

which some people are accustomed to,

but the rewards, if you make

the effort, are immense.

Can they bite?

Yeah, it does.

It bites.

Is it poisonous?

No, not much.

Not much?!

LAUGHTER Can I get out now?