Thursday, April 9, 2009

Weaving the Dreams

Words before Foreword:
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This is not a Travelogue where the Traveler goes to every possible tourist spot, takes a snap of himself, blocking the entire frame thus making it irrelevant where the photograph was taken, gets the statistics of the place like how big it is, how many rhinos are still alive, what is the height of the falls etc and then writes the information in a blogspot page.

Rather this is a story about a fascinating week when we traveled to the beautiful lands of Assam and Meghalaya. It's so so difficult for me when it comes to expressing myself in words. I used to think camera is my best friend - but while going to Cherrapunjee, I was so mesmerized with the beauty and the wide spectrum of greens that I stopped clicking at some point of time. I was just trying to soak myself with the greens.

Foreword:
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When we were planning for the trip, we were a little worried about insurgencies in North East - and that's the biggest tragedy of independent India. The insurgency/terrorist attacks have made us believe that certain areas of our own country are not accessible any more. However we went ahead with the plan. And there was a blast at Tezpur 2 days before our tour started. When we were in Tezpur, another blast in Guwahati took 3 lifes. The political situation at Meghalaya also worsened and President's rule was imposed 2 days before we started for Shillong from Tezpur. We boarded the train from Guwahati on 5th April. On 6th, there were serial blasts in Assam (one in Guwahati where we were staying) which took 9 lives.


But we didn't change our plan.

Shillong


Shillong


Shillong

The Plan
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Since we had a huge advantage of having my in-laws staying at Tezpur, we planned our itinerary with Tezpur (TZP) as the base station. Tezpur is itself a wonderful place - for the uninitiated, its 1 hour drive away from Kaziranga forest, and 3 hours from Guwahati. It's a small town on the banks of Brahmaputra in upper Assam, with Mahabharatic history strewn around, sometimes with little care. We will travel through TZP, but first lets get you familiarized with our itinerary.


28th Mar (Satday) - Start from Kolkata - Saraighat Express at 4PM
29th Mar (Sunday) - Reach Guwahati at 9 in the morning, go to Kamakhya temple
30th Mar (Monday) - Guwahati - Tezpur
31st Mar (Tuesday) - Roam around Tezpur
1st Apr (Wednesday) - Tezpur - Kaziranga - Tezpur
2nd April (Thursday) - Tezpur - Shillong
3rd April (Friday) - Cherrapunjee
4th April - Roam around Shillong, come back to Guwahati
5th April - Board Saraighat for Howrah
6th April - Home sweet home


BTW, we didn't have our return tickets booked. Because of the uncertainty of our workplace (& work), we have to rely on the Tatkal service of Indian railways anytime we plan to travel. And this time the tour was of more than 5 days - hence the window was yet to open for the return ticket.

But who cares for the return ticket when you have the ticket to go and a nice little plan?

Guwahati, Tezpur and ...

Saraighat (from Howrah) remains one of the best trains to Northeast India.


It was pretty much on schedule. We had plans to visit Kamakhya and thanks to uncle and the helpful Panda (Nabapati - let me know if you need his number), we could register our gratitude to the God even in times of Navaratri and bomb blasts. We spent the rest of the day meeting our relatives in Guwahati. The weather was a little cloudy. Assam was reeling under dust storm till the week before. We brought in relief with splashes of rain. We had to bring out our woolens. Welcome to Assam.




Guwahati - Tezpur
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It takes around 3.5 hours by car. There are options of buses also which takes a little longer - 4.5 hours approximately.

Guwahati to Tezpur

The clouds/rains/mist made the day for us. I have always believed that the journey is more enjoyable than the destination (no pun intended though as I was heading to my in-law's place).

If you have never been to Assam previously, one thing that might strike you pretty early is the huge presence of Army at every corner of Assam. Tezpur being one of the Northeastern bases of Army, the abnormal presence of men in uniform might sometimes irk you. The men in uniform always move in herds with the red and green flagged armored trucks. The common people looks a little shaky in accepting them as part of their life - some of them opine that the men in uniform are too busy to protect themselves, instead of protecting the common people. There had been uproar in the past about the excesses of the men in uniform - though I didn't find any such strong sentiments these days in my last few visits. The mainland of India made very little effort of bringing Northeast to the mainstream - be it because of geographical constraints or cultural difference. The people out here always have a feeling that they were the deprived lot - which may be partially true if you look at the employment generation rate.

However times are a changing. Silchar has a full-fledged NIT. Guwahati has got an IIT. Shillong hosts the latest IIM. The Nation heads are frequently travelling to Assam & the other 6 sister states also. Increased employment and focused development are the only ways to bring the 7 sisters back in the mainstream of India.



Tezpur
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There are many a places in and around Tezpur to consume your entire day. Tezpur observatory is one of best places around. On the banks of Brahmaputra (Luit in local dialect) river, the view can take your breath out. If you stretch your eyes, you can see the 3.5 km long Kalia Bhomora bridge (the longest on river Brahmaputra) and the bluish mountains of Kaziranga.

Brahmaputra

The sunset over Brahmaputra was one of the most memorable ones I have seen so far.

Sunset on Brahmaputra


Sunset on Brahmaputra

Apart from the natural beauties, you may also stumble upon relics of ancient India scattered in utter negligence (Usha Pahar).
Tezpur


Tezpur

We also visited the Mahabhairav temple - if you are travelling with your family you have to visit temples as well.

Tezpur

A new Rock Garden has come up at the Dhenukuna Pahar - I thought the view from here was even better than the Tezpur Observatory. You could very well rename it as Tezpur peak (like Shillong peak etc). But that needs a little concerted effort to position it as a tourist destination to the rest of the world!


Tezpur


We also visited Maithan and the Cole Park.

I have met many a people who travel to Assam just to explore Kaziranga and then they return back. If you are planning to stay at Kaziranga, you can very well plan to roam around Tezpur for a day. Take a local cabbie. Ratan (Mandal, not the Tata one) was very enthusiastic in taking us around Tezpur. If you need his contact number, let me know.


More about Tezpur: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tezpur

Kaziranga

Kaziranga national forest is just one hour drive away from Tezpur. If you love Information, visit this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaziranga_National_Park.


All those late-to-bed-late-to-rise folks - remember that you can get a glimpse of the wild life only if you can get hold of the first lot of elephants.

So we had to start early - to be precise 4 in the night. By 5, we were at GL's resort. It was a little torturous to my delicate daily schedule which starts at 9 in the morning. Anyway my FIL had contacted Deepak Das - the owner of a couple of elephants. He and his fleet of elephants arrived by 515. The President of India was supposed to travel to Kaziranga on that day - however the tour got cancelled and we were lucky in getting Deepak's fleet.

Kaziranga


Kaziranga
GL's resort is located in the foothills of Burapahar. The cottages looked awesome, couple of them even having AC in the mid of this forest.

Our expedition started at 530.

Kaziranga
- The road leading to the heartland of the great one-horned Rhinos.

Kaziranga
The weather was perfect - cloudy, but still not raining.

Kaziranga

Unless you are used to Elephant rides from your childhood, it might take a couple of minutes for you to get adjusted with the elephant's movements. But once settled, you would really start enjoying the ride. But its a little difficult to take pictures while on the go as the undulations are bound to make your picture blurred! I had got a better seat - with an empty one in front of me. I guess my long lens helped me to get this one. This long lens keeps helping me when I badly need a better seat - be it in Kaziranga or Connor :-)

Kaziranga

First half an hour was a little dull. We were anxiously looking for something to talk to you about. Finally we found a herd of deers running for cover. The mahuts told us that the tourists had to be satisfied with the deers alone on the previous day. The famous elephant grasses were not so tall now - once the monsoon comes, they grow even taller than the elephants, and narrows your vision. I heard that we were in Kaziranga in one of the best seasons. It was awful to know that a vast area of the forest gets flooded every year during the monsoon killing a number of wild lives. Monsoon was yet to arrive in Assam this year.

Kaziranga
We turned out to be lucky. In the deep land of Kaziranga, finally we met the King.

And its family...

Kaziranga

Kaziranga
We were pretty close to them at times, which was a little scary for my mom. However the King nodded to us, posed for a few seconds and then did a graceful exit. We clocked almost 2 hours in the deep forest of Kaziranga.

Kaziranga

While we were returning from Kaziranga, it started drizzling. A herd of buffaloes came across our way. Deepak Das was a bit worried as we were taking more time than any other normal business day where the trip gets over by 45 minutes. We were home by 9. It is a long time that I have been to a forest. The memories of Betla Forest (Ranchi) or Corbet National Park (Kumayun) were fading away a little. The freshness and rawness of the wild life was a welcome breather to the polluted urban respiratory organs.

Our Assam tour was coming to an end. We need to move to Meghalaya now - the abode of clouds.


Charoibeti, Charoibeti.

Shillong

Guwahati to Shillong

Tezpur to Shillong is around 250kms. We took the route via Naogaon. At some stretches, the road was horrible, while it was like a glide in some other stretches. It's around 160km from Tezpur to Jorabat where from the road takes the diversion towards Shillong. It takes 3 hours to reach Jorabat - there we took the Shillong road. Till quite a distance, the left side of the road belonged to Assam while the right side belonged to Meghalaya! People cross state whenever they cross the road!

It started getting interesting right after Jorabat as we started moving up the Shillong hills. It was a bright sunny day - Suparna was a little sad as Meghalaya without Megh (cloud) doesn't sound good!

While on the go, what mesmerized me most was the variety of greenery around. It's spring time here. The famous fall colors of distant USA looked a little dull compared to these pines, ferns and not-so-famous greens, reds, yellows and browns. People generally take a little break near Nongpu. There is a bus depot there and snacks etc are available. However we thought of continuing at a stretch to reach early.


Badapani Shillong


But we had to stop at Badapani - the clouds and their shadows over the huge lake pulled me (& my camera) out of the car. The local name is Umiam Lake. We are just 12 kms away from Shillong and it is drizzling.

Shillong

Suparna's aunt stays at Shillong - near Rhino point. That helped us a lot. Bijan (her cousin) had already arranged for our stay at Stay Inn Guest House near Police Bajar. It's a cozy little hotel with wooden floor and roofs (well, that was a criteria for me). It is raining a little harder now and we are worried if we have to be in the hotel itself for the rest of the day. However Bijan assured us that it will clear up soon - just like any other day in Shillong.


Shillong

Since its already 4, and it gets dark early in the hills, we thought of wrapping things up quickly. Ward's lake is near the Police Bajar only - its just 10 minutes away from the hotel we are in. Once the cloud started getting cleared up, we decided to move - along with the umbrellas.

Please bring your set of umbrellas to Shillong whenever you are travelling - irrespective of the season, you are going to get a splash of rain at any time of the year.

Shillong


Ward's lake is one of the most well maintained hillside lake - one of the reasons being there is low footfall compared to Nainital or Kodaikanal. Also the authorities are very particular about the cleanliness here. The picturesque lake would surely have featured in many hollywood blockbusters had it not been in NorthEast India. The tiny microphones hidden in the shrubs were delivering an unknown song to the ether. The sound waves were dancing with the droplets of rains which were still there on the air and the petals and they touched the clouds roaming around - along with us. If you have time to spare from the I-bank blues and net worth losses, you might like to take along a gulp of freshness from the wet greeneries. Take a few moments from your busy life - and get drenched with the calmness here. Don't blame me if you suddenly start questioning the very purpose of life.

Shillong


Shillong


Shillong


Shillong is a small little town - if you take a walk around Police Bajar and Ward's lake, you would bump against almost all the important landmarks within half an hour itself - Rajbhaban, Secretariat, Assembly, BSNL house, Chief Minister's bungalow etc. But we were not interested in any of them ;-)

Shillong


It's getting dark - lets call it a day. We are now heading towards Aunt's place. 90% of the cabs here are Maruti800 cars or Maruti Alto cars. Earlier it used to be good-old-Amby. However times are a changing.

Funny part is we returned from Aunt's place at 830 PM and thought lets take an early dinner at 9 itself. However when we ventured out, we found that its too late for Shillong. We had a tough time in finding out a food joint at 9!

BTW we have already booked our tickets for Cherrapunjee via MTDC agents. They have a office near Police Bajar 7 point crossing and they charge Rs. 200 per head for the Cherrapunjee package in a 34 seater bus. We thought of going for the bus instead of cars because of language barrier. However hold on for the Cherrapunjee details - it would come in the next post. For the sake of continuity lets skip a day and roam around the rest of the Shillong in this post itself.


So we are on 4th April now. 3rd April needs to wait a little longer.


Initially we had thought of making it to Shillong peak and Elephant falls only and then start for Guwahati by 12. But our tour actually continued much longer.

Shillong
We started off with Shillong peak. The area is under Indian Air force amidst huge security. All cars getting into the area needs to take the permission and keep it visible. Trespassers are not guaranteed of their life (and that is actually written in the main gate!). It was a little early at 8 - the shops were yet to open. The view was good - but not great actually.

Our next stop is Elephant Falls. The road heading to the falls might remind you many a shots of your favorite Bollywood hero's flirting with the heroine. A park has come up next to the falls - but we were too early at 9. The park was not open yet.
Shillong


Shillong
Elephant Falls

Shillong
Elephant Falls


Shillong
Elephant Falls
There was a shop put up the local Khasi girls renting the tribal cloths. Pay Rs 50, try the cloths and take a few snaps. You will have fun when you are back home.

Shillong
This is the house near Rilbong where Rabindranath Tagore used to stay and had penned Raktakarabi. Presently it is not with the Tagore family though.

The golf ground of Shillong is also a must see. Its the second largest one in Asia - dont ask me which one is the biggest. But the beauty is breathtaking. The undulating grounds, the pines, the greens, and the clouds touching your face - I wish I could stay there for the entire day.

Some info here: http://www.holidayiq.com/destinations/Shillong-Know.html

Shillong

Monoliths at the Golf Ground. You will find these monoliths everywhere in Meghalaya - they are sacred to the localites.

Shillong
The road in between the ground

Shillong
The Golfer

If you are in Shillong, Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians must be there in your places-to-visit. The arches, glassworks and the ambience is surely going to mesmerize you.


Shillong

Shillong

Shillong

I liked one more Cathedral near the Police Bajar - the All Saints Cathedral. While strolling in the evening, peep into it. You would be surprised to see that 80% of the audience is in teens and are strumming guitars while praying to the almighty.


In between we had also gone for Biddon & Bishop falls. The area is less travelled by tourists these days - however our cabbie was confident enough to show us that one also. The last on the list was Sweet falls. Its a little out of Shillong town - its in the Happy Valley. Shillong being a base of Army and Airforce in the north east, you would frequently come across the men in uniform - the road to Sweet falls goes through the Army area also.
Shillong

The best part of sweet falls was - there was no one around. It was only 4 of us. You can get a view of the entire fall of 97m.

Shillong

We have roamed around Shillong for 6 hours by now - and we are a little tired. Its 230 now. Lets have our lunch in a local dhaba and start for Guwahati. We found a WagonR in the Police Bajar Taxi stand - it takes Rs 750 to get you to Guwahati from Shillong irrespective of the type of the cab.


But wait - I am yet to tell you the story of Cherrapunjee.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Cherrapunjee

Lets clear your doubts first - you need to update your geography fundas if you thought Cherrapunjee still holds the crown of world's highest rainfall - the crown now belongs to Mousinram these days a few miles away from Cherrapunjee. However Cherrapunjee remains one of the biggest attractions in Meghalaya and whoever comes to Shillong goes for a day's outing in Cherrapunjee ('Sohra' in local dialect). We booked our seat in the MTDC (Meghalaya Tourism Development Corporations) bus. Freddie was our guide for the tour. He started off with a little introduction about the tribes and their culture. You might know that Khasis follow matrilineal inheritance like many other tribes in the Northeast. Freddie explained that the youngest girl in the family gets all the properties - you can guess that the Khasi guys always eye for the youngest girl of the family. The tourists got interested and started asking about all combination of relations and the possiblity of getting the properties!



I didnt have the idea that Cherrapunjee, having one of the highest rainfalls in the world, doesnt boost agriculture. Freddie explained that actually due to the excessive rain, and the hard rock, agriculture is not possible here. But the land here is having coals in it. While going to Cherrapunjee, we found quite a number of small coal fields.


If you are a true believer of the theory that the journey is more interesting than the destination, Cherrapunjee is the place to go. I was awestruck to see the beauty. It was a little chilly - the woolens and the jacket were helpful in keeping us warm. I was trying to capture the roads - however after some time I stopped clicking as I found it was impossible to capture my feelings in a 4x6 piece of paper. The greens, the vastness, the serpentine roads with sudden turns and curves, the cold breeze, the small hamlets out of nowhere, the warmth of the child waving to you from his window, the old lady looking up at the bus holding the English daily in the remotest part of the world, the crosses - how could you capture so many things in a small digital instrument?


Our first stop was at the bridge over Mawkdok valley. It has a nice viewpoint.


Cherrapunjee, Shillong
- One of the futile attempts to bring you the feeling


Cherrapunjee, Shillong
Next on list was the Nohkalikai falls. There is some gory story about a lass - but forget the tragic stories. The view of the falls amidst a range of green mountains doesn't call for such a gory introduction to be very frank.


We were at the Eco Park - there is some model of a falls, a dam, and so many things. But I was struck with the view. You could see Bangladesh away from us by a couple of mountains only. Freddie assured we would go even closer.
Cherrapunjee, Shillong


Cherrapunjee, Shillong
- On our way to Cherrapunjee

Cherrapunjee, Shillong
- Taken somewhere at Cherrapunjee, inspired by Bridge on the Madison County.

Cherrapunjee, Shillong
Giant Rock - you can get the best view of Bangladesh from here, the nearest being the Sunamgunj district. India gets a huge geographical advantage during the monsoon - the entire rainwater gets drained to Bangladesh thanks to the almost vertical rocks of the Cherrapunjee.

Cherrapunjee, Shillong
- Ramakrishna Mission, Cherrapunjee. They have a higher secondary school as well. The ambience is bound to thaw you. It is one of the oldest institutions in the state. Camera is not allowed inside - but I still have the frames somewhere in my mind. Now I know where to head when I sell my Ferrari.

We were to a few more spots - Thangkharang park (having Pitcher plants you have read about in your botany books), Seven sisters falls (well its not that there are 7 streams, its named after the 7 sister states of Northeast - thats Freddie's explanation btw), Mawsmai cave (Stalaktite cave where we tried our fitness quotient - but like typical software engineers, we had overestimated our capability and had to make a retreat quickly.)


We had our lunch near the Mawsmai cave - they have a few foodjoints, where surprisingly Chinese dish takes longer to serve than Paratha & Butter Paneer.



Our day is getting over - and the clouds have started gathering over the hills. Its time to come back to the hustle bustle of Shillong Police Bajar and do some shopping before we go back to Guwahati tomorrow.


4th April - Shillong to Guwahati
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Guwahati is getting into the headlines for all the wrong reasons. With the impending election, there are news coming from all over Assam about increased violence. We were a little tensed obviously.
Cherrapunjee, Shillong
- Shillong to Guwahati


Epilogue
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Cherrapunjee, Shillong
After seeing a couple of photographs of Cherrapunjee in orkut, someone commented - 'Its Heaven'. Well thankfully I am yet to see Heaven, but I have seen parts of Northeast India, images of which are not captured in any earthly medium, but in my mind - which keeps getting polluted everyday with inflow of juggleries of mundane things.



The search for the Heaven continues.



Charoibeti, Charoibeti.