Anushka Srivastava

It began with an old Khasi folktale I had overheard during an office tea break. I was sitting in the Central Secretariat canteen in Chennai, stirring sugar into my steel tumbler of tea, when someone mentioned a place “where bridges grow with trees.” At first, I thought it was metaphorical.

The sound of raindrops on our windowpane, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, and a packed suitcase waiting by the door— this was the start of our much-awaited trip to Meghalaya. My partner and I had been planning this getaway with Thrillophilia for months, and finally, it was happening. Meghalaya,