Located a few kilometres from the border with Bangladesh in India's Meghalaya state, Mawlynnong became a popular tourist attraction after Discover India magazine named it Asia's cleanest village in 2003. In a country known for its lack of sanitation, this is no small feat. But in Mawlynnong, children are taught to tidy up from a young age, with many taking to the streets each morning before school to sweep the town of dead leaves and empty rubbish bins. Villagers see to the disposal of biodegradables and take pride in public landscaping.
Shortly after launching his national Clean India Mission campaign in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew further attention to the village in a radio address.
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The accolades made Mawlynnong famous across India. Residents pivoted from agricultural work to tourism, opening guesthouses and restaurants. They built a car park bordered with souvenir and tea stalls, all serving the daily procession of tourist vans filled with visitors.
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Two decades after tourists first started coming to the village, with social media attracting new generations, Mawlynnong's village committee decided that rebalance was needed and imposed the Sunday ban on day trippers. The main reason, residents said, was that it allowed the village's predominantly Christian population to spend Sundays at church rather than catering to visitors.
Precious Khongdup, a committee member, told Indian media that the proposal was introduced "to preserve both the cultural identity of the village and the discipline that once made Mawlynnong stand out in the first place".
"It's good for us," said local resident Festival Kharrymba, who charges tourists 30 rupees (23p) to cross the large bamboo walkway in the village centre. "We have time to go to church, for service, for praying," she added. "If tourists are here on Sunday, it's a problem for us."
Even before the ban, most tourism businesses chose not to open on Sundays. Khongdup said only two restaurants operated, leaving visitors able to walk around the village but with few places to eat or buy drinks.
"We don't want visitors to feel uncomfortable," Khongdup said. "If they want to buy a water bottle [on Sundays before the ban] they couldn't get it, because all the shops were closed… We want visitors to feel the hospitality of the villagers, so that's why we are closing on Sundays."
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Khongdup told me that before 2003 Mawlynnong wasn't connected to nearby villages by proper roads, and its change from isolated village to beautiful tourist destination had been swift. When I asked if this change had been good for the villagers, he pointed to some new concrete homes, which he said were bought with tourism income. Just one generation ago, he added, many families here could only afford thatched grass houses.
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