The Root Bridges of Cherrapunji Re-listen
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2022
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In the northeast of India, you'll find an unusual quirk of geology. |
| 0:24.2 | A mountainous plateau pushed up by the same continental crash of tectonic plates that created the Himalayas, |
| 0:31.6 | and next to it, the vast flat plain of Bangladesh. |
| 0:37.6 | As air flows over Bangladesh's hot steaming plains, it's like they're passing through a sauna, |
| 0:43.0 | the clouds soak up the steaming moisture until they hit the steep plateau where they're squeezed |
| 0:49.8 | through these narrow gaps in the mountains. |
| 0:52.7 | It's like a wet towel being twisted until every single drop has fallen. |
| 0:59.1 | It's the perfect storm for a storm. |
| 1:03.8 | This region of India is known as the Megalaya Plateau. |
| 1:07.1 | Megalaya means the abode of the clouds, and it's one of the wettest regions on the planet. |
| 1:12.8 | Some of the villages get as much as 38 feet of rainfall a year, |
| 1:18.2 | 38 feet of rainfall. |
| 1:21.7 | The rain comes down in these raging torrents that over time have carved their way into the limestone, |
| 1:28.1 | creating these deep canyons overflowing with raging rivers. |
| 1:34.2 | For the Kasi tribes, living in one of the wettest places in the world, |
| 1:38.6 | crossing these torrents was an act of life and death. |
| 1:42.4 | And normal bamboo bridges, they just got washed away, and wooden bridges rot in the humidity. |
| 1:50.1 | But hundreds of years ago, the Kasi tribes solved this problem with one of the most beautiful, |
| 1:55.7 | elegant solutions that you can imagine. |
| 1:58.5 | Because up there, in Megalaya, among the clouds, the bridges aren't built. |
| 2:05.5 | They're grown. |
| 2:07.6 | I'm Dylan Therese, and this is Al-Subskira, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places. |
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