It is not, however, that the government is not trying. To feed the monsters the wonderful lake at Barapani is being emptied at express pace, its storage from last year’s terrific monsoon squeezed out into the turbines so feverishly it is nearly empty now. So empty you can even see the remnants of the old highway, which had been submerged when this reservoir was created. You can see that pain in the eyes of Prabhat De Sawian and his Mizo wife Parrtei. Prabhat is the scion one of the most prominent and cosmopolitan Khasi families. His father Lala De was the IG of police, a job his brother now holds in DG’s rank. His sister Bijoya was a top model in Delhi. One of his sons runs a rock band in New York, the other helps manage the chain of hotels he is setting up. The apple of his eye is Ri Kynjai (Khasi for serenity by the lake), a tiny resort he has built by the side of Barapani. Prabhat graduated from the Delhi School of Planning and Architecture, probably the first northeastern tribal to do so, and he has designed the resort himself, building it almost entirely with local pinewood, and his cottages in pure Khasi style. It really is a most wonderful gem, hidden so far away, and yet he is filling it up with guests. He now waits for just two things. The return of water in the lake with the monsoons next month, and the completion of the airport expansion work at nearby Umroi, so direct flights would link Shillong with Kolkata.

... contd.