We landed at Guwahati in the afternoon. The Air India flight from Kolkata took us an hour. The hotel near the secretariat area was comfortable, clean, and centrally located.
We made a beeline for Kamakhya temple in the afternoon on an Uber taxi. It is strongly recommended for any traveller to download the Uber app. Guwahati literally moves on Uber, and it is the best way for an anxious traveller who has many reasons to get worried in a new place. Kamakhya is one of the oldest Shaktipeeths of the country. It defines the North-Eastern part of our country perhaps. Temples geographically define India and the Kamakhya temple prominently sits on the Eastern point. The garba gruha or the sanctum sanctorum of most temples in Assam is at a lower level and are unlighted except by lamps. The legend of Kamakhya is that Vishnu cut the body of Sati into many pieces, and the organ of procreation fell in this place. Consistent with the legend, there are no idols as such in the main area. The crowds can be huge on some days; and it is best to take a special ticket costing around 500 Rs to cut the line, especially if you are short on time.
We started for Cherrapunji in the morning after breakfast in a friend’s car.
Guwahati borders with Meghalaya and one enters the Khasi hills of Meghalaya as soon as one crosses the city limits. In fact, Assam and Meghalaya separated in 1972. Prior to that, it was a common state with Shillong as the capital. After the formation of the new state, Guwahati became the capital of Assam. As is common with many other states, alcohol is consumed in good quantities. Meghalaya is popular for the people in Guwahati as the rates are cheaper and people flock to Meghalaya and Shillong over the weekends!
The amazing thing about North-East and especially Meghalaya is the high levels of cleanliness they are maintaining. Shillong has narrow roads, but they are so well maintained. The drive from Shillong to Cherrapunji is perhaps one of the most brilliant rides I had in my life. It is a high plateau ride, so one fells very safe along with some breath-taking views of the hills.
We stayed overnight at a resort and it was a fantastic experience. There were no rains however. Apparently, the rainfall seems to have come down and is no longer recorded as the area with the highest rainfall in the world. Our visit saw clear skies. The resort was superb, the food was great, the rooms were cosy, and the campfire in the night was unforgettable. I sat with my old friend for long into the night reminiscing over the past days at school and college. We were meeting after 28 years, and that was the only time we connected. Later, he would get caught in the hustle and bustle of his professional life. After a lovely breakfast and a casual roam in the surrounding hills, we started to Shillong.
On the way to Shillong, we had a small adventure at a park which has some famous caves. My wife and daughter took a ‘difficult’ path to the caves through a jungle; and I and my friend went on the ‘easy’ path. Talk about role reversals! We reached early to the caves, but our families did not arrive for a long time. One chap managing the toilets near the entrance of the caves told us that the jungle route had been closed off due to a landslide. We panicked. We went back at the starting point, but they were nowhere to be seen. There was no help around as it was greatly isolated, and I was not in a position to climb the jungle track. There were some anxious moments as our families took all the time in the world. I was never so worried in my life for the safety of my family. Anyway, good sense had prevailed over them and they turned back at a point when they realised the track was broken. But, it was amazing that our young teenage girls were busy taking selfies when they were lost, and it took all the cajoling and force by my dear wife to bring them back!
We later had a brief view of the Shillong hills and then checked into a hotel. A friend is posted in Shillong as a group captain and he invited all of us for dinner. It was rather nice of him. We checked into a hotel; spent an hour in the famous police bazaar, did some mindless purchasing and proceeded to my friend’s house. Police Bazaar is a must visit for anyone visiting Shillong for a unique shopping experience. Being winter, it becomes dark by 4 pm in the North-East.
My friend parted the next day with his daughter; and after breakfast, we had a long drive to Kaziranga. Shillong was being decked up for Christmas celebrations, and it was great to see the city. We had a view of the CM’s house too on the way back. The rest of India needs some lessons on cleanliness from the North-East.
It was a great drive to Kaziranga from Shillong and the road was very good. The beautiful road to Kaziranga gave us the glimpse of the beauty of Assam valley. The villages were quaint, the houses were nicely kept, and the general feeling of cleanliness was obvious. We reached Kaziranga in the evening and checked into a small but beautiful resort. It was neatly maintained and the rooms were elegant. Being already dark, we relaxed in the room. On the way, we purchased two pineapples from Meghalaya just before the border. There were simply luscious. Meghalaya is famous for its juiciest pineapples. In the evening, we had a fantastic Assamese vegetarian meal and slept early as were tired after a long journey.
The next day after breakfast, we proceeded to have a jeep safari into Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary. This was the first time for myself and family. It was a two-hour safari and it was great fun. We were naturally excited to see the world famous one-horned rhino, which is housed only in the North East of India. The animal is impressive, huge, and very calm. Nature never ceases to surprise me. All the powerful animals are vegetarians and are very calm by nature.A very good advertisement for vegetarianism perhaps. The ferocious animals are carnivores, but they generally stay away from these animals. But, the tigers apparently do attack them sometimes. The carnivores kill only to ease their hunger; humans kill for pleasure and for the fun of it. We saw a variety of beautiful birds, deer, wild boars, and the rhinos from close quarters. Of course, there were elephants too. It is unfortunate that poaching of the rhinos is still going on despite all the laws. Human greed is so unfortunate for the world. We have the laws made to prevent wrongdoing; wrong things are still done; sometimes, the law breakers are apprehended; and finally, the lawyers variously interpret the law to release the law breaker. I cannot understand law.
We had the whole day to us. In the afternoon, we visited a place called Deopahar, which was about a 45-minute ride from Kaziranga. Again, the road was very well maintained and the villages all along, very neat. We had to climb a mountain to find the ruins of a very old temple built perhaps in the 15th century. The temple was huge and without any second thought, impressive. What was stunning was the beautiful view from the top of the mountain, but one is amazed how anyone could have built such a super structure at the top of the hill. There is a road and there are steps now. The temple is built of heavy structures, and it makes one wonder how they could have been even taken there. The temple itself is dedicated to Vishnu and there were carvings depicting the story of Ramayana. The Eastern boundary of the country is no doubt defined by Kamakhya and perhaps this temple. I can only imagine people of the olden times making a pilgrimage to these places from remote corners of the country. Bharatavarsha is geographically defined by its temples; about this, there is no doubt. The unfortunate thing is; the ruins are in a state of neglect. It is a hot tourist spot. A similar place in a western country would be making millions. It is such an awe-inspiring place that I would like to see it as necessary accompaniment to anyone visiting Kaziranga.
It was by coincidence that we met a reporter who was covering the ruins for his channel. We were pleasantly surprised when he interviewed us about the place. I spoke in glowing terms. We drove back to the resort, had a leisurely walk followed by dinner, meditated, and slept off after a quiet Assamese dinner. It was a hectic day.
The next day, we had a very early morning safari ride on an elephant for about an hour. There is a jeep safari and an elephant safari. We happened to take both. We woke up at 4 am and were there in the dark by 5 am. The procedure was elaborate. The actual ride was just about an hour, but it was fun. I am sure it would not have been so for the poor elephant. The domestic elephants are used for the safari in the morning; and are in chains for the whole day. The humans use them in great fear. The jungles are explored to seek thrills and adventure from the safety of a benign strong animal or mechanized jeeps and under the protection of guns. Oh humans! Getting a kick out of a safe scare and thrill.
We had a very nice leisurely morning walk outside the resort after coming back. The countryside was so beautiful. We wondered why people had to take off to foreign countries when all the beauties lay not so hidden in our own country. After a very leisurely breakfast, we went to see a park nearby which housed different types of Assamese traditional households. The park itself was in a state of disarray, and apparently, we were one of the few visitors after a long time. The tourism department had constructed huge houses belonging to the various traditional tribes of Assam. The concept was unique. The houses were beautiful but suffered unfortunately from a lack of maintenance. It is a neglected park; and the tourism guys must do something urgent to revive this wonderful and different place.
We then went to a theme park which housed all the orchid varieties of Assam. There was Assamese cuisine being provided; and a central stage where Bihu dances and other folk recitals are performed daily. There is a local produce shop too and a small lake to have an old-fashioned boat ride. The whole place was fantastic in its concept and one can spend a good number of hours easily imbibing the Assamese culture and tradition. They have a rich flora, fauna, and a rich cultural heritage.
Assam cannot be left without visiting the tea-gardens and we did just that. We took some permissions and managed to go inside a tea-factory owned by the Tata people. The manager took us around and showed us the intricacies of making tea.
Tea is cultivated for 8 months in a year and 4 months is a hibernation period. This was hibernation period where the machinery is overhauled completely. There are two types of tea; the CTC (cut, tear, and curl) and the powdered tea. We were taken on a fascinating journey of making tea. The machines surprisingly, were rather simple. There was no great or elaborate technology. But tea apparently is like wine. The taste of tea is dependent on a variety of factors. Heat, humidity, soil, the season of plucking, the processing and fermenting comes all into the play to decide the taste. There are professional tea-tasters who decide on the quality of the tea. The best quality tea gets exported. Most of the Indian tea is the powdered form as we are not very fond of the CTC tea. At least, that is what I gathered. But, the most surprising was the fact that the poorest quality tea is the tea bag variety. It is made up of literally the dust which comes out during the tea making process. We sip it in trains and all public places and there are great ads to entice us to dip the bags and make the tea stronger as per our choice! The fact is, the dust tea packed in tea bags is a classic selling of a poor-quality stuff through slick advertising. That was the TIL of the day perhaps. We had a gentle drive to Guwahati and it was night by the time we reached. We checked into the same hotel.
We went to a place Soalkochi which was about 45 kilometres from Guwahati the next day. It is the place where Assam silk is manufactured. The cloth of that area is very famous. We spent a goodish amount of time in that place. We drove past some beautiful deep yellow mustard fields, indeed a sight to relieve the pressure of any eyes. Wife manged to do some hard bargaining and blew up enough money to buy the famous silk sarees. Assam silk is supposed to be very famous made in a special way. The shine of the silk never goes away. In fact, the story is, the shine increases with time. I need to confirm this. On route, we visited two temples called the Digeshwari temple dedicated to the Shakti and the Dol Gobinda temple, which is famous for its Holi festival celebrations. We also saw IIT-Guwahati from outside.
We visited the Umananda temple the next day situated in the middle of the Brahmaputra river. We had to reach there by a ferry. The temple itself is built in the 16th century and is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The main sanctum sanctorum is again set in a depth. Most of the temples seem to follow that plan in Assam.
The ferry ride was very good and it was some hard bargaining with the boat guy. They have this habit of random quoting, and finally we settled for Rs. 500 for the to-and-fro transport of three passengers. The government run ferry service is only Rs 20, but there are some fixed timings, and it would do well if the timings are known beforehand.
Outside the ferry point, there was this park dedicated to the legendary general called Lachit Borphukan. His story was certainly awe inspiring. My eyes suddenly opened to the fact that there were some great warriors in the North East too, something which was missed completely by our Delhi centric writers of school textbooks. Lachit Borphukan was a legendary general, who defeated the Mughals decisively on the famous Battle of Saraighat which took place in 1671. The Ahoms were great ship builders and they could defeat the larger and the more powerful Mughal fleets on the Brahmaputra using smaller and more maneuverable boats. The story of his life is the stuff of legends. It came as a surprise to me that the best outgoing cadet of NDA (National Defence Academy) is given the Lachit Borphukan medal. The Ahom kings and generals holds certainly a great amount of interest to historians. But of course, a breed of political historians and writers see the importance being given to Lachit Borphukan as a Hindu right wing promotion in the lines of Shivaji, who would be described as a plunderer of Mughal lands in some writings. It is sad that Indian history writers and journalists would never try to instill any pride among Indians about the past heroes.
In the afternoon, we managed to sneak into a mall, have some food at a fast food joint, and saw ‘Dangal’, the latest Amir Khan flick. The cost of the ticket was an overwhelming 220 per ticket! I paid the ticketing guy 500 and was expecting a change and the tickets. The ticketing guy waited for the tickets to be given, and when I inquired about the delay, he replied that he is waiting for the remaining 160. I was a bit embarrassed, but that is the way it is. The movie has gone on to become a sleeper hit; however, I did not like the movie much. I was a little uncomfortable with the brutal methods the father employs to his daughter’s training against their interests to achieve a popularity that he could not achieve for himself in wrestling. It seemed a bit politically incorrect in these times when they talk about child independence and all such things.
In the afternoon, we visited the famous Assam handicrafts museum situated near the ferry point. The place is worth spending a good number of hours. All the purchases and the gift articles can be sorted there. There is another place just opposite-the North-East handicrafts emporium. These two places are brilliant and can take care of all your shopping needs concerning the local curios and local expertise. It is a necessary visit place in Guwahati. Unfortunately, they do not do transport service, so many of the items and especially the furniture, cannot be purchased. They will not fit in the planes or the trains.
We visited the Navagraha temple the next morning, which is atop a hill. An Uber guy took us there. The temple is very ancient, and has huge Shivalingas placed as the Navagrahas. The arrangement of Shivalingas as the Navagrahas is indeed unique. Again, the sanctum sanctorum is at a depth and it is very dark inside as there are no lights. We went to the Assam State Museum after that, but it was closed! It is closed on second Saturdays like a governmental institution and one visiting Guwahati must take care not to plan a second Saturday for a visit to the State Museum. It certainly looked very big and impressive, and I do not know what treasures lay inside. Probably, for a later date.
We went in the afternoon to a vegetarian joint called Chennai Kitchen and we were very happy to be at an exclusive vegetarian restaurant. The staff of the hotel were all in lungis to create an authentic South Indian feel, and it was heartening for a soft-core South Indian to see that! The food was great, indeed a delight. Any vegetarian in Guwahati is advised to go there for at least once. I think Chennai Kitchen should offer me a commission for the advertisement I am giving them. The price is also reasonable. It is on the main Dispur-Shillong road. The DS road is the happening road of the city. All the malls are situated there.
In the evening, we had the most fantastic river cruise on Brahmaputra. The cruise costs 1000 Rupees per person which includes an entertainment programme, and a lovely dinner at the end. The money was well spent. There was this wonderful short film on the legendary Lachit Borphukan which raised goose-pimples in everyone. This was followed by a Bihu dance and the artists were simply fantastic. In the end came a singer who managed to get everybody on the dance floor grooving to old Hindi numbers. That was indeed the best part. I could never have imagined that people could dance to the old Hindi numbers, many of them my favourite. But, the DJ did that precisely and it was great fun. The two hours on the river went just like that.
Brahmaputra is a grand river; ships cruise on the river. It starts in China, very near to the origins of Ganga apparently, and then takes an eastward run. It curves peculiarly around the Himalayas to enter Assam near Dibrugarh, a place where the other end cannot be seen from town end. The river cuts Assam exactly into two parts; upper Assam and lower Assam. It then enters Bangladesh and drains off into the Bay of Bengal. The river is a welcome sight for any tired eye. No visit of Assam can be completed without the river cruise. For those with limited times and other dinner engagements, there is a shorter version too without the dinner and the entertainment stuff. We happened to take both!
The Brahmaputra cruise was a fitting finale to our entire tour of Assam.
The time to pack off! Some great moments, some wonderful experiences which made us resolve to visit once more the beautiful North-East and cover all the states in an extensive trip. We flew from Guwahati to Kolkata. We had about six hours in Kolkata before our onward flight to Hyderabad, and like a modern Indian, we visited the Central Mall. The Malls belong to one unified country. There should be a Republic named the Mall. Wherever one visits a mall; Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Warangal, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, there is absolutely no way to tell which part of the country you are in. The shops are all similar, the crowds look fantastically the same, the same kind of promotions are going on, and the same kind of isolation in a crowd is felt. We managed to blow a good amount of money and reached the airport in time. There were some scary moments when confronted with the famous traffic jam of Kolkata, but it cleared within a short time.
Ages back, we spent a year in Kolkata. We were neighbours to the famous actor Biswajeet. We lived in a huge house despite my father’s meager salary as a government employee. The mystery was that the owner of the huge bungalow was in desperate need of some tenant as there was a danger of his house being taken over by a political party for office purposes. My father was recently transferred from Assam to Kolkata (this was in 1967-68) and he was on the street looking for a house to rent. He asked this guy for some directions. The owner was on the street looking desperately for some tenants! My father was almost seen like an angel, and he immediately rented it to us at a princely sum of 50 Rs per month. It was shocking to us, my parents tell us, to move into this huge bungalow with just two suitcases carrying all the family’s belongings! Anyway, this happens to my father’s favourite story about Kolkata. I really wonder how long the owner could prevent the politicians from taking over his house.
We flew back to Hyderabad in the evening. It was great to fly with Air India. There is good leg space, the staff is courteous, and there is always something provided to eat, depending on the time. The modern low-cost airlines have become very scary. One has to just fly. You must pay for everything else:leg-space, snacks, early check-in, early baggage claim, air, water, looking, reading, lights above your head, conversing with your neighbour, calling the steward, seating in the front, seating in the back, seating near the window, seating near the aisle. You ask for anything, literally anything, and that becomes a premium service available for a fee! Plus, as soon as we are in the air, the air hostesses start selling you articles to be bestowed to your near and dear ones. I have discovered the rule of flying with the low-cost airlines. Go inside the airport with your mouth shut, get inside the airplane with your mouth shut even tighter, get out at the landing firmly continuing to keep the mouth shut, leave the airport, and relax outside, in the safe confines of the transport vehicle. The modern hospitals and the hotels have become something like this too. I guess these are all modern business models.
Anyway, we came back with lasting memories and a visit to the North East is a must recommend to every Indian. The natural beauty and the historical richness is no less than the more popular places of India like Rajasthan and Kerala. Unfortunately, North-East is rarely on the radar of the regular tourists; and this must be corrected. Priyanka Chopra has now become the brand ambassador of Assam, and let us hope, she is able to create more awareness.
RANDOM MUSINGS 