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By BUGLE | July 2026 | Last updated: July 2026 Somewhere in the East Khasi Hills, a bridge has been growing for close to two centuries — no concrete, no steel, just the aerial roots of rubber fig trees, patiently guided across a river by generations of Khasi villagers until they fused into a walkway strong enough to carry people. There are dozens of living root bridges scattered across Meghalaya, but one — the Double Decker Bridge at Nongriat , the only two-tiered living root bridge on Earth — is the one everyone means when they say "the root bridges of Meghalaya." This is the complete guide: what the trek actually involves, how to get there, what it costs, and the details nobody tells you until you're already on the stairs. What's in this guide What you're actually walking into · How to reach the trailhead · The trek itself, section by section · Costs · Best time to go · Should you stay overnight? · What to pack · Etiquette (this is a living structure and so...

By BUGLE | July 2026 | Last updated: July 2026 The short answer: India has three separate legal categories restricting where foreigners (and sometimes Indians) can go: Protected Areas (mainly the Northeast border states), Restricted Areas (the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and parts of Sikkim), and Prohibited Areas (military zones and a small number of places that are simply off-limits to everyone, permit or not). This is the complete list, state by state and island by island, with what's actually needed for each. What's in this guide The three-tier system, explained · Protected Areas (PAP) — full list · Restricted Areas (RAP) — full list, including the Andaman islands that got de-notified · Truly prohibited places — where no permit exists at all · Tribal reserves — a separate, stricter category · Nationality-based extra restrictions · Quick reference table The three-tier system Protected Areas — governed by the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958. These are ...

By BUGLE | July 2026 | Last updated: July 2026 The short answer: Most of Northeast India — Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim, and most of Arunachal Pradesh — is as safe for travelers as any well-visited part of India, and Western government advisories agree. Manipur is the exception : it remains under active ethnic conflict, and the U.S. State Department currently places it at its highest advisory level, Do Not Travel . This guide gives you the honest, state-by-state picture, sourced from official government travel advisories rather than either the alarmist headlines or the tourism-board optimism that both distort this region online. What's in this guide Why "Northeast India" is not one safety question · State-by-state breakdown · What official advisories actually say · What the risks really look like on the ground · Practical precautions · Should you cancel a planned trip? · FAQ Why treating "Northeast India" as one question is the fi...

What Is Article 371 of the Indian Constitution? — Special Provisions for Northeast States, Explained Plainly What Is Article 371 of the Indian Constitution? — Special Provisions for Northeast States, Explained Plainly By BUGLE  |  June 2026  |  Last updated: June 2026  |  13 min read Why this is in the news in 2026: After the BJP government's 2019 abrogation of Article 370 — which had given special status to Jammu and Kashmir — communities in Northeast India began asking whether Article 371, which gives special protections to their states, could be similarly removed. In the Supreme Court, Congress leader Manish Tewari raised this concern explicitly during Article 370 hearings. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court on behalf of the government that it has "no plans" to amend Article 371. Meanwhile, the government has considered extending Article 371-like protections to Ladakh — the Union Territory that lost its special sta...

The Brahmaputra River — Why Asia's Most Dangerous River Is Also India's Most Important Strategic Asset The Brahmaputra River — Why Asia's Most Dangerous River Is Also India's Most Important Strategic Asset By BUGLE  |  June 2026  |  Last updated: June 2026  |  13 min read Breaking development — July 2025: China formally began construction of the world's largest hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo — the Brahmaputra's Tibetan name — on July 19, 2025. The dam, located at the Great Bend in Medog County, Tibet, will have a capacity of 60,000 megawatts — three times the output of China's own Three Gorges Dam. A confidential Indian government report, corroborated by Reuters in August 2025, warned that the dam could reduce Brahmaputra flows by up to 85% during the dry season. China has not shared hydrological data with India since 2022. India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar raised the issue with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Aug...