The Aura of Assam - Part I

at a tourist locale in Sibsagar

(This piece of writing is a kinda travelogue of this blogger, edited at quite a few places, to cater to my blog-audience). Our sincere thanks are due to Dr.Thongam (Manipur), Dr.Nath (Assam), and Prof.Ramjoshi Chandra (Gujarat) for their insightful and incisive thoughts on the subject.

Well, the flight-trip from Chennai to Delhi was indeed comfortable but not as breath-taking as the one from Delhi to Assam (something akin to, but that which can never out-rival our Shimla sojourn of September!)

Be it the eastern section of the great Himalayas or the great southward bend of the beautiful Brahmaputra, or the pointed peaks or the snow smothered mountain passes, or the tantalizing tea estates that criss cross the length and breath of the hill state, or the alluring charm of the endless lakes that lay a claim to the heart, spread over the entire state, it was indeed a trip of a lifetime..!

The flight crew’s frequent commentaries were indeed well-meaning complements to the enhanced visual appeal of the sylvan landscape! They were telling us the altitude of the flight (35,000 ft) and since the flight had low occupancy rates, even the pilot had told us earlier on, to sit to his left to have a beautiful view of the Himalayas, and lucky we were, the flight was only half full, and so we had our share of happy clickings and video coverage with all the excitement that goes gaga along with it. And, omg, the clouds sometimes played spoilsport that completely covered up the view on all four sides – I wonder how the pilot steered us to safety, amidst the din and chaos inside the plane, when visibility was at its lowest, and everyone inside was seen perturbed to the core. Full credits to his acumen!

And oh yes, all along, we could also witness the ravages of the Brahmaputra on its Assamese putra. Thousands had lost their lands and fields, as was evident from the widescale destruction one could see from up above. (Even as I am typing out this travelogue of mine, I am watching the news on TV in my hotel room in Sivasagar – The Assam CM Tarun Gogoi and Environment Minister Jayanti Natarajan are seen taking a tour of the flood-hit regions.) 

All along, enamored with the exotic locales, that were evidence to the endearing enthrall of the east, and the effusive efflorescence of the “ebullient explorer” within each one of us, we were curiosity personified all along, that we forgot the arrival of our destination, which was, you may say, a rude jolt back to reality. 

Into a strange land, rightfully called one among the seven sisters, I was catapulted before I could even realize the intensity of the ‘strangeness’ that had ‘engulfed’ me. Since, Sibsagar was a good 3- hour journey from Dibrugarh, we were ruefully ruminating on the road to be taken, when, to our pleasant surprise, to all of us who had alighted at Dibrugarh airport, we saw people waiting for us holding out placards with our names on it. We felt that we were literally on top of seventh heaven or cloud nine (call it what you may) for two reasons. One, because of their regard for us, secondly because we had got some real native help for a guided hands-on experience of the locale around us. 

We heaved a great sigh of relief even as our lips spontaneously sang a song of gratefulness to God on seeing these unexpected visitors. Wondering we had been,  on how we’d make our way through Dibrugarh to Sibsagar which was estimated at more than 80 kms from the airport. They had arranged to transport us to our hotels by a sedan – a journey which proved memorable and enlightening going by the huge surprises about the State which were in store for us. It was tea, tea, tea all the way. The roads were haggard, and so were we! Yet, the car was driven by an energetic Professor who faithfully regarded as his life’s primary duty for the moment, to see to it that the speedometer didn’t get anywhere below 130 km/hr. With a student from the College for company, we three were given a first-hand narration of Assamese life and culture by the natives themselves.

The first surprise for us was that, the sun rises as early as 4: 00 am in this part of the country, and hence it starts getting dark even at around five in the evening. We were then told about the tourist places of attraction in Sibsagar, which includes a lake (adjacent to the College) which is supposed to be Asia’s man-made largest lake. Another interesting thing was that, rice was a staple for them (a kinda sticky rice, they call it). They’ve even got celebrations for it which begin on October 17, two days after Navaratri. A Manipuri Prof who joined us later, also said that, the sun rises at around five in Manipur! The chief guest of the conference said that, the state had the potential to fulfil 50% of India’s electricity needs, if only there was some political will power. Hope they do!

On the other side, things were not looking brighter. There were queues and queues of home-makers standing for hours together for their quota of cooking gas refills. The town doesn’t have even one autorickshaw. They were flooded with rickshaws, which looked quite archaic in its appeal. The roads were battered throughout the entire stretch of around 80 kms. But all along, we could find people selling live fish for a premium. Fish for many, was the staple here! It was rare to find any vegetarian restaurants and equally hard to find boys/girls in modern wear. The women students were attired in sarees in colleges, and women generally took a great liking to the saree, which we thought was a rarity in the Seven sister’ states. We had been wrong!