Whazzup North East India!!!

Nagaland's Headhunters Caught

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 09:23:00 +0000

Vikeyeno Zao of the Angami tribe made a 15-minute short film 'Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters’ which was showcased in the short film section at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in France. It was also the first time that a short film from India’s Northeast had made it to Cannes.

It took her 7 years to research the headhunting practices of her ancestors. The film tries to re-enact the ritualistic details of headhunting, a practice that continued till the mid-20th century. It shows how soothsayers could predict in which direction the enemy was lying and the time and direction in which the warrior should move. When the warriors brought their prized trophy home, they would place it on a platform made of a banana trunk for three to four months until the head began to rot. Then a ritual was performed and the skull was brought and kept in the Morung, a dormitory where young, unmarried men were taught life skills.

‘Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters’ is not Zao’s maiden venture. She has produced and directed several films on the anthropological aspects of the different tribes of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The most notable among them are ‘Defenders’, a fictional 100-minute period film based on Naga history which was made in 2009, and ‘Sopfunuo’, a fictional film on polygamy practices among the Nagas.

Read the Entire Article on The Deccan Herald

Aneesha Baig in the North East

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 09:27:00 +0000

Aneesha Baig of NDTV's Will Travel for Food has done a couple of segments on the food of the North East.

Join foodaholic Aneesha as she discovers the traditional authentic Assamese cuisine in the hustling and bustling, capital city, Guwahati.

View the video at: NDTV

Soak in the old world charms of Shillong with Aneesha, as she digs into 'jadoh' and 'ktungrymbai' - the local Shillong cuisine, and samples unique twists to pork, fish and chicken recipes.

View the video at: NDTV and on NDTV

Also take a look at Rocky & Mayur's (of Highway on My Plate) segment on food - Xmas in Shillong

Bhogali Bihu Fish Market at Uzaan Bazaar

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:13:00 +0000

An Assamese friend of mine, invited me to the fish market on Saturday (January 14th) morning. She said it would be special as the market was specifically expanded for Bhogali Bihu (Makar Sankranti - the sun transitions from Saggitarius to Capricorn. The celebration heralds the lengthening of days, arrival of spring and is also one of the two annual harvests )

Normally the Uzaan Bazaar fish market is a place where medium sized traders buy fish from the fishermen or the large traders. If you want to buy fish here on a regular basis you need to get here really early in the morning like 4:30am. And you just buy your fish, rarely will you be able to get it cut and cleaned here itself. Today, each stall had 1 or 2 people on hand to descale, clean and cut the fish.

On Bhogali Bihu, a lot of smaller fishermen also set up stalls here. When we arrived the stalls stretched out for almost a kilometer and 6 rows deep on the sandy riverbanks of the Brahmaputra. If you plan to buy fish here, then do note that you will have to buy the whole fish and not just a piece. Fish size here, ranges from 2-20kgs each. Not like Mangalore, where you get 5-6 bangdas in a kilo of fish.So fish markets in Guwhati allow you to buy just a couple of pieces from whichever part of the fish is available.

The tail isn't preferred here, but the head is prized by a lot of families.The primary varieties of fish available here are the ari (fresh water cat fish), bhorali and chital (a flat fish). Rohu is sometimes available, but its very bony.

Most fish in Guwahati comes from outside Guwahati. But even though they have higher transport costs, local varieties of the fish are more expensive as people prefer the taste of the local varietes of the same fishes.

Given that it was Bhogali Bihu, prices of food items in the city skyrocketed. Chicken which is normally around 120/kg was selling for 400/kg. The fish was selling from 550/kg onwards. Prices of vegetables and milk products also hit the roof. I was told that in the economically weaker sections of the society, they buy lottery coupons for various proteins. The prizes for each of these lotteries are things like a dozen eggs or half a kilo of fish, chicken, mutton. So only the winners of the lotteries get protein on their plates during this festival.

I did visit the market with my friends, but given that I was forewarned about the prices of fish, I left my wallet behind and only carried my camera.

The market:

The Fish:

Weighing / Buying/Cleaning Fish:

Some people proudly carry the fish home whole, so everyone can admire the size of their catch.

Day 9 - Cheerapunjee - Shillong

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 19:41:00 +0000

The Cheerapunjee Holiday Resort is built on the mountains facing the Bangladeshi plains of Sylhet. So while Shillong, Kaziranga and Nagaland were freezing, the temperatures at Cheerapunjee were extremely pleasant. The warm air from the plains rises up the mountain and the cool air flows down to the plains resulting in lovely weather during the winter months. However, the true beauty of Meghalaya is experienced during the monsoons when the heavens pour down and waterfalls peek out from around every curve of the mountainous roads.

We had set our alarm for 5:30am, so we could visit one of the living root bridges in the morning. Brajesh's alarm was set for 15 minutes before mine (we take it in turns to wake up earlier in the mornings when traveling with only one washroom). However, even when he was all dressed and ready for breakfast, I still hadn't woken up and he woke me up thinking I had forgotten to set my alarm. He went outside into the dining room while I headed to brush my teeth and found no-one in the dining room or kitchen, even though we had requested 6am breakfast, so he headed out for a walk in the garden.

About 10 minutes later, my alarm began to ring. It was only then that we figured out that his phone (on which he set his alarm) had latched on to the Bangladesh signal and had automatically updated time to Bangladesh, which is half an hour ahead. Poor guy! This trip has been physically exhausting and 30 minutes of sleep does make a huge difference to our day.

Mr Dennis Rayen who runs the Cheerapunjee Holiday Resort is the man responsible for popularising the living root bridges of Meghalaya. The Indian Rubber Tree - Ficus Elastica - is native to Meghalaya. Its roots are guided (through hollow bamboo tubes) over 20-25 years to form living bridges. These bridges can then be used for upto 500 years. These bridges are completely natural, extremely strong and can withstand the constant rainfall they are subjected to in the wettest place on earth.

There are quite a few living root bridges around the Cheerapunjee Holiday Resort and keeping to his theme of employment generation, Mr Rayen has a team of young local boys who can guide you to any of them. Mr Rayen chatted with us about our fitness levels and pre-existing medical conditions and given my bad knee, he advised us to visit the Umkar bridge.

The Umkar bridge is slightly damaged and hence partly under reconstruction and entails a 1.5 hour trek over relatively flat surface. The other root bridge had a descent of 1400feet and the double decker living root bridge has a descent of 2400feet. But they both offer an opportunity to bathe in mountain streams before ascending again.

Mr Rayen sent Alan to accompany us and we eagerly set out to view one of the natural wonders of the world. When we visited, 80% of the road was in its natural state but 20% of the road was being developed under NREGA (National Rural Employment Generation Scheme)

The path was densely wooded in various shades of dark green, only interrupted by multi colored giant spiders whose webs seemed to be holding trees together.

It was quite an experience to actually walk on a living root bridge, technology for which was developed centuries before concrete was even invented. These bridges have helped villagers across the ages, cross deep ravines, swollen rivers and walk across waterfalls. They must also be the earliest examples of generations building long-lasting infratstructure for future generations.

After trekking back to our car, we drove to a couple of scenic view points around the area under Alan's guidance before heading back to Cheerapunjee Holiday Resort for lunch. Today too we tried some Khasi specialities including a powerful dry fish chutney and dhal with local green leafy vegetables.

The menu at Cheerapunjee Holiday Resort is quite varied and all they ask is that you order meals an hour in advance to allow them enough time to prepare everything fresh.

Much as we would have loved to indulge in a post-lunch siesta, it was now time to head back to Shillong with fingers crossed hoping to avoid the worst of the traffic. But before that, on a friends suggestion, we stopped for a short break at the Ramakrishna mission in Cheerapunjee. The mission runs a wonderful school here and they have curated an educative museum centered around the local culture and myths. Photography however wasn't allowed inside the museum.

Once we reached Shillong, we realised we had made good time and stoped to peek inside the All Saints Cathedral with its charming stained glass interiors. The church was originally erected in 1876 and still has a large congregation.

Right next door to the Church, was a small hall advertising a North East India Travel & Tourism fair. Since time was on our side and we are always eager to discover more places to visit in the region, we popped in for a look see. Our Khasi guide from yesterday, Ishuk was there manning an Indian tourism stall as their North East representative. We did not learn much more, but had our pictures taken by quite a few stall owners. We were initially puzzled by this and then figured that we were the only "tourists" and non-travel & tourism operators to have visited the exhibition. "We" were their ideal target audience, & unfortunately for them we were also the only 2 to turn up.

From here, we headed back to Tripura Castle for the night. This time we were given a bigger room that was exposed to the howling wind from 3 sides. The wind chill rendered the soiltary room heater useless, but requests for an additional room heater were immediately turned down as being "unreasonable" We were however handed a hot water bottle each at 11pm that night.

The service staff at the restaurant at Tripura Castle is friendly, but the room service staff is extremely curt to "non-foreign" guests. The management in their office does their best to look constantly busy and is not helpful either. Personally I would recommend the RiKynjai Resort over Tripura Castle anyday.

The prospect of being in our own bed tomorrow is so comforting, that I will hold onto that thought to get me through the chilly night.

Day 8 - Shillong - Cheerapunjee

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 06:11:00 +0000

We were quite excited today when we were told that a local Khasi guide would take us to visit a Shaman and the Khasi King of Smit. After a substantial breakfast, we set out eagerly towards Smit, accompanied by Ishuk (our Khasi guide).

However along the way, our guide informed us that today was Seng Kut Snem, the Khasi End-of-Year festival and hence the king (who incidentally is an MBBS doctor and also treats his people medically) would be busy with official activities and wouldn't be able to meet us.

We proceeded to brave traffic jams and at Thangsning we stopped to visit the Shaman. This Shaman turned out to be a herbalist, especially skilled at healing broken bones and Parkinsons disease. While we were there, one of his patients was a young man under treatment for 6 months. Regular doctors had given up on his multiple fracture and completely broken bones (broken apart, not just a fracture) He said he was in much better shape than when he originally visited this doctor.

It seems a couple of months back, German doctors came to visit him to find out how he had cured a case of Parkinsons in a patient whom they had resigned to be untreatable. The Khasi patient had come back to Smit and got himself treated by Dr. Bringstone Kharumnuid and gone back to Germany completely healed and astounding the German Doctors.

Dr Bringstone happily showed us some of the herbs that he used in treatments and I have to say, I have never seen such roots and leaves before in my life, even though my grandmother also used a lot of herbal remedies in treating all of us, when we were sick.

After visiting the doctor, we took a small detour and stopped at Laiplum view point. A steep vertical drop to the bottom where a couple of villages exist. Today was market day and these villagers were all headed to Smit to sell their produce and buy things they needed for the coming week, before market day came around again. We had vertigo just looking down from that height, but the hardy villagers just climbed up and down without even breaking into a sweat. A rope pulley system is in place for the heavier produce, which they can avail for a fee. The villagers did not want their pictures taken, but we will never forget how they climbed the almost 85degree vertical surface.

Although, the Khasi king was occupied, we did visit his palace. It is constructed from pine and other local wood, but similar in structure to the Naga chief palaces. Every bit of the palace (except the thatched covering of the roof) including the nails are made from wood. Every November, during the Nongkrem festival, the thatch on the kings palace is replaced within 24 hours while the virgins are dancing in the maidan just opposite the palace..

As we returned to Shillong, we were caught up in a festive procession and it was lovely to see the Khasi flags featuring a crowing cock and women dressed in their best jeinsengs.

We dropped our local guide back to her home and then headed towards Cheerapunjee. Although Shillong peak, Elephant Falls and the Sacred Forest were originally on our itinerary, since we had already seen them and had lost a lot of time to traffice jams, we decided to skip it and head straight to Cheerapunjee, the wettest place on earth until overtaken a few years ago by a neighbouring village.

We took a tea break at Soilyna Huts, which is currently being renovated and refurbished. Its a good clean place for washroom breaks and they also serve Khasi food. But we weren't yet hungry enough for lunch, so we headed on.

Our next stop was the wonderful view point at Duwan Sing Syem. If you are inclined you can trek down from the viewpoint, but we contented ourselves by clicking pictures from the road, right next to where the car was parked.

We finally arrived at Nohkalikai falls. The story of how the falls got their name is similar to a story from Greek mythology. Likai was a young Khasi woman very much in love with her husband and their daughter, but her husband died young. Under pressure from the rest of the village, she re-married, but the 2nd husband was jealous of Ka Likai's love for her daughter. One day, when she was away from the house, he killed the child and cooked her and left the food in the house. When Ka Likai came home she assumed her husband and daughter were at a neighbours place and since she was hungry, she went to the kitchen and served herself. The food was delicious and she enjoyed it. It was only later when she realised what she had eaten that she went mad with guilt and rage, that she flung herself from the falls, so the falls are called Noh Ka Likai (the place from where Likai leaped)

These falls are claimed to be the 4th highest in the world. They don't have the majesty of the Niagara or the power of some of the other falls that I have seen, but it is definitely poetry in motion. The viewing point, is quite a distance from the actual falls, so its difficult to truly appreciate their size and grandeur.

The dhabha next door offered us tasty and simple home style food. Rice, kaali dhal, salad, aloo mattar sabji and aloo chips for 60/- a plate. We ordered a side of fried brinjal and fried chicken. A simple meal, but very well cooked.

With this light replenishment we went to discover one of the major attractions of Meghalaya - caving! I'm mildly claustrophobic, so I was sure, I would not be entering the cave, but would duly wait at the entrance and exit to click the requisite pictures while Brajesh explored the insides. However Dipankar and Ruporabha convinced me that it wasn't too tight a squeeze, that it was electrically lit up inside and there was no danger of bats and so I started. At each point where I felt the passage was getting too tight, they would assure me that the exit was round the corner. And it was only this series of white lies that got me scrambling and crawling through Mawsmai cave. The few places, where I could stand up at full height were beautiful, but I'd rather enjoy the stalactites and stalagmites at places like the Luray caverns or Jeitta Grotto, where I can breathe easily through the entire experience.

The Khasi monoliths on the way to Mawsmai are much more remarkable than the generic ones that we have seen around Meghalaya.The monoliths are installed in memory of someones valiant deeds, but do not record who the persoon or what the deeds were, so sadly, their history has been lost.

We also took a quick photo break at a 113 year old Presbyterian Church at Nongsawlia - the oldest in the North East. Rev Thomas Jones, the first Welsh Missionary arrived here on 22 June 1841. He established the community in 1846 and a chapel was built on this spot in 1898.

Our halt for the night was the Cheerapunjee guest house, run by Mr Ryan Davis and his wife. Mr Davis is a Tamilian married to a Khasi. He fell in love with this area when visiting his wifes family and a few years back, he decided to create a resort here, so others could appreciate the beauty. He can single handedly be credited for popularising the living root bridges to the world. He believes strongly in helping the local populace become self sufficient and giving them dignity of labour. All the staff is local. In the evening, we were entertained by a local group of youth with some excellent English, Hindi and Khasi music.

We finally managed to try some Khasi food too. Khasi food is similar to Mangalorean food in some respects with some unusual twists. More about that, when I write about the food.

After dinner, we turned in early, all excited about finally visiting the Living Root Bridges in the morning.

Day 7 - Kaziranga to Shillong

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 05:50:00 +0000

Managed to get more than 5 hours sleep for a change. On a normal basis, I can operate on 5-6 hours of sleep. But the last few days have been physically exhausting too.

Today was supposed to be an easy drive on relatively good roads (compared to the last 3 days), so we were hoping to reach Shillong early enough to explore the hotel we were staying at instead of just burying our noses in our laptops on arrival as we have been doing since we began this trip.

We left Iora at Kaziranga by 8am and as we were leaving we were given a lovely send off by 2 rhinos and a couple of bison who came almost to the highway to bid us goodbye.

We stopped for tea at Dhabha Highway at Rah. Relatively clean washrooms. (Yesterday at Kareng Dhabha, the washroom was a series of broad leaves hastily thrown together in a reactangular shape with gaping holes all around that tried to enclose 2 bricks on either side of a hole in the floor). The dhabha was a popular stopping point for vehicles on this route until the new highway came in, which now runs about 15-20 feet above the dhabha. The enterprising Punjabi owners have added a staircase for customers to climb up and down while also affixing a couple of notices saying "Dhabha customers, please park cars on the service road and not on the highway"

The day was warm and I wasn't in the mood for tea, so I got really excited after a few kilometers, when I saw Tender coconut water (nariyal paani) for sale at Thekeragudi. There was plenty of competition, but they all insisted that it would be 20Rs a coconut and then proceeded to give us a lecture on the health benefits of coconut water!

Our next stop for lunch was 15kms away from Guwahati at Highway Citi Dhabha. We planned to bypass Guwahati completely, but I was extremely tempted to just go home and tumble into my own bed and not wake up to any more 6am alarms. In hindsight, we may have been better off if we had rested in Guwahati for half a day and then headed out to Shillong in the morning. We had basic anda bhurji, dal fry and rotis at the dhabha. We had ordered for butter rotis (rotis here are made with maida and need that extra moisture) What arrived where plain rotis. When we asked the waiter, he said that there was butter in the dhal and hence no need for any to be added to the rotis! That was a first, waiters normally try to upsell more expensive items on the menu, this guy was downselling!

The almost 200kms from Kaziranga to Guwahati was covered in 4 hours. After a 1 hour lunch break (service here is really slow) we reached Shillong (120km) within an hour and a half. But the last 13kms to enter Shillong took us 2 and a half hours. It was absolutely excrutiating to be so near and yet so far away.

Other than a short photo stop at Borapani / Umiam Lake, today was just about the drive and we had been really looking forward to reaching early and getting everything thats been pending organised, but that just wasn't to be. The pitiable point to note is that none of these traffic jams would have occurred if people just followed some basic civic sense.

Shillong is a hilly region and roads are 2 laned. However, when faced with a series of cars in line, there is always one driver who messes up everything by overtaking all the vehicles standing patiently in line and zips up on the wrong side of the road, setting a horrid precedent, thagt is quickly followed by a rush of other irritated drivers and soon they block the path of all oncoming traffic and the situation is repeated on the other side resulting in a complete gridlock.

We finally arrived at Tripura Castle in Shillong at 6:30pm. Ancestral home to the Maharajas of Tripura in Meghalaya. Some of the buildings are very old and some are newer constructions, built to resemble the old. The cutlery all comes embossed with the coat of arms of the Maharaja, but we weren't lucky enough to find him in residence.

Today was a quiet uneventful day, but tomorrow is quite packed, so stay tuned.

Day 6 - Mon, Nagaland - Sivsagar - Kaziranga

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:50:00 +0000

I can't say I was sorry to leave the Konyak region of Nagaland. It was a beautiful soul stirring experience, but I couldn't wait to get back to solid even grounds and hot water baths. (At 800m-2000m above sea level and 10C temperature, we only had running cold water at the guest house as the water heaters had all gone on the blink. Turning any one of them on would result in the tripping of the electricity to the whole building.)

The region and the area is beautiful, but the hardships that they face on a daily basis is sapping. I was expecting everyone in Nagaland to be dressed in colorful clothes and enjoy a relatively comfortable standard of living but the dirt & grime of reality in Konyak, was unsettling. It induced a strange kind of guilt, of us being able to take running hot water for granted with just the flick of a switch, while it meant chopping firewood, lighting a fire, carrying water from the well, setting it to boil and only then using it, for the Konyaks.

I had hoped that a tribal chief system in its purest form, would be a more effective form of governance. But drugs and alcohol seem to be more prevalent here than in the rest of India. A kilo of ganja / marijuana costs 250Rs (5$) while a kilo of pork or dog meat costs 130. A strip of opium soaked cotton costs 10Rs. So drugs are a cheap and easy way to dull the senses. At least for Konyak, the grain, meat and vegetables all come from Guwahati. Are these the same people who are demanding a seperate country or is that just political posturing? I left Nagaland without any answers and more questions than I entered with.

On our way out, we had to let the army post know that we were leaving and the Nagaland checkpoint too. We started early, so we could stop to take in a few sights at Sivsagar that is halfway through.

Sivsagar was the ancient capital of the Ahom kings who ruled over most of the North East for over 600 years, repelling Mughal and British attacks, but finally fell because they requiring British aid to beat back the Burmese incursions. Opinion is divided on where the Ahoms originally hailed from. The ASI says they came from China, while noted guide books claim it was Thailand or Burma. The best place to see remnants of their influence are the temples at Sivsagar. Today Sivsagar is famed as the cultural capital of Assam with all the plays & musical performances that happen here.

The Rang Ghar is the first Ahom Monument you will see while driving along the main road in Sivsagar. This is supposed to be Asia's first amphitheater. Ahom Kings sat on the first floor of this oval structure, whose roof resembles an upturned boat and watched animal fights and cultural performances taking places in the grounds below. Today there are 2 statues placed in the gardens below to depict the kind of perfromances that took place here.

In 1734, Queen Ambika (of Ahom king Swargadeo Siba Singha) constructed the huge tank in the center of their Ahom capital and 3 temples on its banks. The Shiv temple called Sivdol is 104ft (32m) high and the circumference is 195ft (59 m) at the base. The 8ft high cupola just below the trishul on the top is covered in gold. There are claims that this is the tallest Shiva Temple in the country.

When facing the Shiva temple, the tank (Sivsagar) falls behind the temple. It is believed to be a very Holy temple and while we were visiting, we met some ladies of mixed Bengali and Assamese origin who had travelled from Guwahati to come to this tank to offer prayers for the successful and happy marriage of one of their family members. I struck up a conversation with them, because I was very fascinated by the hand painted pots in their thali.

To the left of Sivdol is Devidol and to the right is Vishnudol. The compound also houses smaller temples to Kali, Hanuman, Shani & Ganesh. Plenty of pigeons and goats are fed on the premises, so if you are visiting as a tourist and want to see all the smaller temples too, I highly recommend that you don't leave your footwear at the main stand, but take them off just outside each temple. There are plenty of temple offerrings scattered on the floor, so you are better off wearing washable footware.

The path to the main Sivdol is lined with Sadhus and Babas peddling all manner of threads and charms. We didn't buy anything from them, even though they were quite persuasive. With our SLR's & Brajesh in shorts, we are often mistaken for the golden geese - "foreign" tourists, until Brajesh speaks to them in Hindi and assures them that we aren't going to be buying cotton thread malas for 200Rs.

Our next stop was lunch at Sky Chef. The service is abysmally slow. But the restaurant is clean, hygenic, air conditioned with clean loos and the Chinese food was quite tasty. They served my favourite American Chopsuey on this trip so far. Yes, unfortunately, most places we have eaten at on this trip, only offer Indian and Chinese options and not their local specialities.

Post lunch, we visited Talaatal Ghar, a 2 storey Ahom palace built in the mid 18th century. The grounds are beautifully landscaped and its a beautiful walk for 5Rs.

There was a special exhibition by ASI on the grounds of famous Indian monuments. We lso saw some of the before and after pictures that the ASI has taken of the restoration of all the Ahom monuments and I must say it has been a phenomenal effort. The only problem is that the buildings now look new and not a couple of centuries old.:)

Simultaneously, the ASI was also holding an essay writing competition for disadvantaged kids on the necessity to preserve historic monuments. A wonderful effort, the kids were very excited and I hope these initiatives help to make a difference.

After stepping back 400 years, we were ready to come back into the present. We headed to Iora in Kaziranga to break journey before heading to Shillong in Meghalaya. It was such a pleasure to be able to have a hot water bath to wash away all the dust of the last 3 days and soothe our sore bodies. Our North East Chilli Vodka cocktail beckoned and it was with great effort that we stopped at one each, else no pictures would ever have gotten uploaded or blogs written.

Day 5 - Visiting Naga villages - Mon - Burma - Mon

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:34:00 +0000

Yesterday we were puzzled by the numbers on the 6 guest house bedroom doors. 17, 201, 134 etc. Completely illogical and non progressional. One theory we had was that Aunty had got the number tags at a discount and took them all. We were thinking of asking her about it, but were too tired to think straight. Today we realised that the keys to the doors came with pre assigned numbers and the corresponding key numbers became the door numbers.

For today, we hired a local Naga guide - Anyang. There are 16 Naga tribes and they each have a different language. They now use a language called Nagamese to communicate with each other and English. However, to smoothen the paths and ensure no misunderstandings in translation, we were assured that it would be best to have a local guide accompany us.

One of the 16 Naga tribes is the Konyak. Districts here are roughly divided along tribe lines and Konyak is also the name of this district. It is divided into Upper Konyak, Lower Konyak (borders Arunachal Pradesh and Assam) and Eastern Konyak (borders Burma). There are 4 main Konyak kings. They are blood brothers and each of them has some villages under them. Each set of villages is governed by a chief - Angh, who bears allegiance to one of the 4 kings. Similar structures are found in all the other Naga tribes.

Today we visited Shengachingyu and Longwa in Eastern Konyak and Chui in Lower Konyak. Paramount Guest House, where we are staying, is in Mon, which is part of Lower Konyak.

The drive to Shengachingyu which is 40 kms took 1.5 hours as the road is just a broad mountain goat path. Roads maintained by the BRO (Border Roads Organisation) and the Central Government are in much better shape than those managed by the State Government.

The foreigners who were staying in some of the other rooms at the at the Guest House had finished their village visits yesterday and were really excited about meeting with Naga Kings. So I guess I also built up the image of a fierce warrior chief. (Nat Geo programming simply reinforces these stereotypes.) When we arrived at the straw, thatch and reed mat palace, the chief had gone for a walk. He soon arrived and if he had not been introduced to us as the Chief, we would never have guessed. Dressed in a simple cotton animal print jacket, trousers and red flip flops, we could have easily passed by him anywhere in the world without giving him a second glance.

However, he is a very forward looking chief. One of the few chiefs who has only one wife. (Naga chiefs may marry as many times as they like) His son is currently studying at University in Shillong. He is building a brick and mortar structure to house a future museum and generally is concerned about the people who look to him as their chief. Konyak warriors were headhunters. A plaque near the palace, proudly proclaims that the father of the current chief beheaded 36 enemies & during his reign 130 were beheaded by the village warriors. His grandfather was a famed headhunter. So they currently have a collection of over 480 skulls which have been gathered as war trophies. He plans to display all of them properly when the new musuem is ready.

Making guns is a craft practiced in Nagaland and we visited their workshop. Wood is available in plenty in this thickly forested region. The barrels are made from all kinds of spare parts and they even make the bullets themselves.
***Insert pic 4***

The next village that we visited was Lungwa. This chief greeted us in shorts and a cowboy hat, with just a Naga style necklace with 5 bronze heads as a pendant to mark who he was. This chief greeted us, posed for photos and promptly invited us into the inner room to watch him and his council prepare opium for smoking.

As the only woman in a room filled with about 20 Naga men and the 4 men I was travelling with (husband, driver, guide, Naga guide) it felt like I was trespassing. But since I was invited in, I was happy to sit in the background and watch. Men ranging in age from 14 to 80 sat around a fire while the opium was distilled from soaked bits of cotton and prepared for smoking. There was some chanting which we were later told was more for our benefit than of any significance.

The chiefs palaces are made from the same material as those of the other villagers. They only differ in size and the number of animal skulls on display on its walls. Their houses are huge and the Lungwa chiefs house is half on the Indian side of the border and half on the Burmese side. He also has some villagers living on the Burmese side of the border and the first real Burmese settlement is about 7 days walk away (there are no motorable roads on the Burmese side at this point)

When we came out some of the villagers had spread out their wares for sale. This reminded us a bit of the Masai Village that we visited in Kenya. The jewelry on sale was not something "I" could wear, but I did pick up a couple of pieces that would look lovely on our walls.

There are no restaurants where tourists can eat anything in Konyak except at the checkpoints. So we returned to Paramount Guest House for a late lunch. After which, Anyang took us to the village of Chui. We just strolled through this village and were followed by laughing, giggling children throughout. This particular village does not see a lot of tourist traffice, so the kids were curiously following us everywhere, alternating between making faces for the camera and running away from it.

To a general description, these kids could be described as poor. But they are well fed (nutritiously) and happy. Their joyful smiles when playing with a ball made by tightly rolled up plastic bags or rolling down the hill on a makeshift wagon were way wider than any PS3 playing or firefox riding kid I have ever seen.

Day 4 - Kaziranga - Mon, Nagaland

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Today has been exhausting. 7 hours to drive 250kms. Of those, 3 hours were for the last 60kms inside of Nagaland. The roads are non existent. While we thought that the drive from Balipara to Nameri was bad, those were actually just a teaser. Our bodies are sore, bones are jarred, muscles are aching, nerves are shot and 4 hours after arriving, I still feel like my body is rattling around.

We set out from Kaziranga by 7:30am and given the smoothness of roads in Upper Assam, we were making good time. We drove through Sivsagar, the ancient capital of the Ahom kings who ruled the North East for over 600 years. We didn't stop here as we needed to reach Mon in Nagaland before dark (ie 4pm), we did however glimpse the Rang Mahal from where the Ahom kings would watch elephant fights and other gladiator sport like events. It looked interesting and if we have time on our return journey, Ruporabha, our driver on this journey has promised that he will let us out to get a closer look.

We also passed the turn off for Majuli - the worlds largest inhabited Riverine island, famous for its Vaishnavite satras. If you are planning a journey of your own, it would be worthwhile to budget 2 days to explore Sivsagar and Majuli staying overnight at a Satra.

We stopped for tea at Sky Chef in Sivsagar where the coffee and tea was average but washrooms were extremely clean. In the vegetable markets nearby, we saw plenty of Bhut Jholakia - the worlds spiciest chilli (until the new hybrid version came out of Dorset). Bhut Jholakia grown in Upper Assam and Nagaland is much spicier than that found in Guwahati. The easiest way that these chillies are consumed here are by drying them in the sun for an hour or so, then they are sliced and immersed in mustard oil. The jar is kept in the sun for a week and the pickle is then enjoyed year long.

Dipankar (our guide) was very concerned that after staying at Iora and Wild Mahseer, he could not offer us similar "high standard" accomodation and restaurants on the Nagaland leg of our journey. We tried to allay his fears by letting him know that we would eat anything that was tasty (except dog meat and insects), no matter what the location looked like. He did not seem convinced and when we reached Kareng Dhabha he was very apologetic about how basic it was. We ordered 3 pork and 1 chicken thali between the 4 of us. Rice for 3 and rotis for 1. The food was simple, home cooked, but oh so tasty! As if the food wasn't tasty enough, we also were served (our first) bhut jholakia pickle. I'd like to think that the way that we tucked in and polished off every bit that was served to us while licking our fingers, was to dispel his apprehensions and not gluttony on our part.

After the enjoyable lunch, Dipankar and Ruporabha confessed to us that we were the first Indian visitors that they were taking into Nagaland. Most Indian tourists they have dealt with, visit Kamakhya and Kaziranga and return.

As we came close to the Nagaland border, they stopped the car to pick up some alcohol as we would shortly be entering a dry state. The alcohol wasn't for us or for them, but for the Naga chiefs whose villages we would be visiting. At one time, most Naga chiefs were fierce, strong warriors, respected by their entire community. Today many of them are chiefs just in name, who expect gifts of opium and alcohol from visitors.

The situation has gotten so bad, that youth in many of these villages have now started harassing tourists to get a share of the booty for themselves. After checking in today, we were informed that we would not be able to visit Shangnyu village as originally planned. The harassment faced by tourists to this village, crossed all bounds today. Local youth have been demanding 2000Rs (roughly 50$) per picture taken. When the foreign tourists who visited today, felt that it was unreasonable, they decided against taking any pictures, the youth then started attacking their car and damaging it. The few tour operators who operate in this region have decided to boycott this village until the chief can guarantee that the tourists who visit will not be harassed.

The border crossing saw a flurry of paperwork. One stop on the Assam side where we had to show our ILP's (Inner Line Permits) and other documentation to the Assamese police. The second was a permit check on the Nagaland side. If you enter without a permit you can face a 1000Rs fine or one year imprisonment or both. The third stop was at a Nagaland police station at the border and the 4th was by the Indian army. Tomorrow, we may have to personally check in with the local police station where we are staying.

While we stopped and Ruporabha was getting the paperwork checked, there was a small vegetable market run by local women. So I stepped out of the car to take a look. We had been warned that we should be extra careful about asking permission before taking peoples pictures in Nagaland, so I did. The woman who looked like she was in charge said it would be 1000rs a picture. I did not think that this was a fair price, so I thanked her and we moved on.

The other warning that we have been given is that if anyone other than the police or army asks us, we should not mention working for any company. Company employees and tea garden employees are seen as prime targets for kidnapping. Our cover story hence is that we are writers - the most unthreatening employment, with least likelihood of being kidnapped - everyone knows that writers have no money :) and it explains the cameras.

After the treacherous last 3 hours, we arrived in Mon just around sunset and saw kids running around like crazy. We were told that they were catching insects, which would soon be roasted for their evening snacks.

At Mon, we checked into Paramount Guest house. A basic accomodation. 6 rooms with attached baths and twin beds. It is owned by Aunty who used to previously manage Helsa Cottage the only tourist accomodation in Mon. Aunty is a jovial woman who is a great hit with all the guides whom she mothers. Aunty was very happy to see us, as she said that we were the first Indian tourists to stay with her over her 20+ years managing Helsa Cottage and Paramount Guest House.

She told us dinner would be served at 7:30pm. There is no menu. Food is whatever she cooks in her home for the visitors. Today it was rice, dhal, mixed vegetable and pork followed by custard for dessert. The pork was first boiled, then marinated with ginger garlic paste and then fried in an egg and cornflour batter. An interesting combination of simple flavours.

We are very excited about tomorrows village visits and the possibility of 7 hours of sleep. We have both taken a dispirin to soothe our aching bodies and hopefully we will wake up refreshed and charged to face those roads again

Day 3 - Kaziranga National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 06:47:00 +0000

Today began dark and early. We were up by 3:30am to leave by 4:45am and reach the Western Range - a 30minute drive from Hotel Iora, so we could catch the earliest safari at 5:15am.

Kaziranga National Park has 3 entry points for safaris- the Western Range, Central Range and Eastern Range. Each of them falls in a different district. While animal sightings are the norm at the Western and Central ranges, the Eastern range is mostly visited by birding enthusiasts.

Elephant safaris start at 5:15am and last around 45minutes each and jeep safaris start at 7:00am and extend for around 2 hours each. The park is closed to tourists for about 1.5hours in the afternoon, so the forest rangers, mahouts and working animals can have their meals and some rest. It opens up again around 2:00pm until sunset which is 4:15pm these days. By 5:00pm its pitch dark outside and you have to exit the park before it turns dark.

Each elephant seats upto 4 people on a howdah and they set off in groups of 8-12 elephants. 1-2 armed rangers escort the group. The mahouts all have their own lethal looking machettes. With these armed men to guide us and a thin iron rod to protect us from losing balance and toppling over we took off into the park.

The minute we entered the main area, we were surrounded by grass almost at eye level, even though we were atop elephants. This makes sightings more difficult. Kaziranga is only open from November to April. The rest of the year, the monsoons make it too treacherous to allow tourists in. The same holds true for all other sanctuaries in Assam. In November-December, the foliage is dense and the grass really high. By February the grass is burned in controlled fires, so the new grass shoots can come up before the monsoons start again. So February-March is the best time to visit for sightings.

Kaziranga is home to over 80% of the worlds one hormed rhino population and over 3 safaris today, we must have seen at least 7-10% of the rhinos in Kaziranga. It was heartening to see baby rhinos too, which meant the population was doing well inspite of poachers still trying to sneak in. In fact, today morning, a Naga poacher was caught in Kaziranga with a special Chinese made gun that kills rhinos with just one shot. Chinese are the largest buyers of illegally and brutally obtained rhino horns for traditional medicines.

After the elephant safari we came back for breakfast and then returned for two jeep safaris before and after lunch. We probably overkilled it, but I absolutely love seeing animals in the wild and it was definitely worth the early morning wake up and evening exhaustion. We saw wild elephants, rhinos, deer - swamp, hog, sambhar and barking, wild boars, bison, monitor lizard and plenty of birds. This more than made up for the disappointment at Nameri yesterday. Kaziranga also has a tiger population, but sightings are extremely rare. We weren't fortunate to see one today and at least we weren't subjected to the con of "pug marks" as practiced in Corbett :)

Most people say elephant safaris allow you to get closer to the wild animals. But given the height of grass right now and perhaps our luck, we were able to get closer to them while on the jeep safari. Also its very difficult to capture photographs while atop an elephant because they are constantly shuffling their feet even when stationary, so the swaying movement is perennial.

We have already decided that we will do our best to be back here in February-March to see what it looks like when the grass is burnt.

Another highlight of our day was the awesome Assamese lunch at Bhatbaan - the ethnic cuisine restaurant at the Iora Hotel. We have tried Assamese cusine in Guwahati and quite enjoy it, but todays meal surpassed everything that we have eaten so far. Assamese food is very light and healthy. It focuses on fresh ingredients, simply prepared without much fuss. Mr Arun Daga and Mr Dulal Dutta the restaurant manager at Bhatbaan were extremely helpful in explaining the technicalities and finer nuances to us. Their staff is efficient, polite and ever smiling.

The Veg thali is extremely filling and even for a hard core non vegetarian like me, I wouldn't have minded if we hadn't ordered a side dish of chicken in bamboo shoot curry. They have a speciality of meat steamed in bamboo hollows which takes longer to prepare, so for these dishes it is advisable to place your order and hour or so earlier. Other items are all served within 10-15 minutes.

We returned here for dinner and had a wonderful North East Chilli Vodka Cocktail specially created by Mr Arun Daga who is the Resident Manager at the resort. If anything can cure my horrid head cold, it would be this and I'm sorry I didn't discover it earlier.

We head into interior Nagaland right upto the border with Burma over the next 3 days, so we don't know whether we will be able to update our pictures, twitter or blogs. But we will have them ready to upload once we are back under network coverage.

Day 2 - Nameri - Kaziranga

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 06:32:00 +0000

After a wonderful dinner and restful nights sleep (inspite of the raging thunderstorm outside) at Wild Mahseer, we headed out to the Nameri National Park early in the morning.

Nameri is the third largest sanctuary in Assam after Manas and Kaziranga, but it is actually part of the same reserved forest area that is called Pakhui Game Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, making it the largest in North East India. Nameri only has foot safaris and it is also the only sanctuary in India where you can do a foot safari.

To explore Nameri, you need a permit, which can be got from the eco-camp (also a lovely place to stay) a few kms before the river crossing. Once we procured our permit, we drove to the banks of the Bharali river and took a short boatride across in a canoe.

We were accompanied by 2 armed guards who also serve as spotters and guides within the reserve.

To our bad luck, although this is supposed to be the dry season, it had rained really hard for the last 2 days and the ground was all mucky and swampy. In many places, we could only walk across by balancing on thin, unsteady logs. Unfortunately, after walking for a couple of hours, although we did hear some peacocks and barking deer in the distance, we did not get to see any wildlife. The leeches in the forest were much luckier though, they got fresh blood to suck on and we ended our trek with freshly crushed herbal poultices on our feet when the blood wouldn't stop flowing.

My recommendation for anyone wanting to visit Nameri, is not to go if it has rained the previous night. The going is really tough and the chances of spotting wildlife are drastically reduced. We did see a "mithun" at the forest officers outpost though - a domesticated gaur.

It was disappointing to have woken up early, endured a bone rattling car ride, braved trekking across murky swampy trails and then not see any wildlife, but that is a risk you always take when it comes to dealing with the wild. Sightings are completely unpredictable.

We dropped our armed escort back at the permit point at the eco camp and drove back to Wild Mahseer, where the staff instantly lifted our flagging spirits with an excellent spread of Anglo Indian food. Chicken soup, chicken stew, a mix vegetable stir fry, pea chops, Macaroni cheese bake with hot buttered buns and a bitter lemon souffle for dessert.

After lunch, we loaded the car and headed towards Kaziranga. The drive passed by lush tea plantations until we came to a point on the road where we had manicured tea plantations sprawling on our right and the wilderness of Kaziranga national park on our left.

It took us about 2.5 hours to drive from Balipara to Kaziranga. Initially the raods were really bad and almost non existent. Then suddenly when we arrived at Upper Assam the roads improved dramatically, almost as good as the Mumbai - Pune or Delhi-Chandigarh highways. While the roads we traversed in Lower Assam were frankly quite terrible, they would have been non-existenet if not for the work of the Indian army which helps in protecting these roads which often traverse through patches of bodoland. Ever since we visited Leh, we have been unlimited respect for the majority of the Indian army that lives and works in such inhospitable terrain for pittances, just for the love of their country. It is because of them, that we can sleep peacefully at night.

At Kaziranga, we are staying at the Iora, which is a few minutes drive to the central range. We did see some hog deer while driving here, so we are hoping that it is a good sign of things to come tomorrow when we head out for our Elephant and jeep safaris.

Day 1 - Upper Assam - Guwahati - Tezpur - Balipara

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:11:00 +0000

With our new American Tourister bags packed and a quick prayer on our lips to every God/Goddess and angel who guides travellers, we set out from Guwahati early this morning.

We were filled with conflicting emotions, relief that we were leaving the cacophonic, chaotic, polluted city behind, anticipation of what was to come in the next 240 hours, excitement at finally being able to visit some places from our extremely long "need to visit" list and the subsequent thrill of being able to scratch them off our list, sadness and guilt that we had to leave our darling Bacardi behind (who was sulking & clawing at us the whole of yesterday) and an overwhelming sense of adventure.

Within a few minutes of getting into the car, our biggest stress point simply vanished. We have both done office group trips where the guide didn't have much knowledge and was only interested in pushing people towards the next "souvineir" shop or "handicraft" factory. Dipankar quickly allayed this fear by giving us lots of relevant information about our trip. He answered all our questions, intelligently, accurately and honestly and we had no more qualms about letting him take charge for the next 10 days.

The first roadblock we had to cross, was getting across the Brahmaputra. This mighty river flows across 3 countries with 1900kms in China, 825kms in India and 327km in Bangladesh. In Assam, there are only 3 bridges to cross over to the other side. We took the Saraighat bridge near Guwahati, as the other 2 bridges are 160 and 180 kms away in opposite directions. Given that this is a 2 lane bridge and vehicle breakdowns are common, crossing over this 1.3km stretch could take anywhere from 5mins to 6hours. We were lucky to do it in half an hour.

Once on the Northern bank, the road was practically non existent for the next 30kms or so, but then improved considerably. We were headed to Tezpur for sightseeing via NH 52 and stopped at NRL dhabha for a cup of coffee and Assamese style breakfast of Lucchi Torkori (puri sabji). Service was excellent, location was clean and more hygenic than a lot of city restaurants. They even have a seperate air conditioned family section.

Within 4.5 hours (including our breakfast break) we had covered roughly 160 km and found ourselves in Tezpur, after a photo stop at Kharupetia famous for its huge volume vegetable market.

Our first stop in Tezpur was the 6th century Da Parbatia temple dedicated to Shiva during the Gupta dynasty rule. Little remains of the original temple except a beautifully carved doorway bearing the twin sculptures of Ganga and Jamuna. The current Shivling is a much more recent installation.

Tez in Assomiya means blood. The name Tezpur name comes from the Harihar Yuddh which supposedly turned the city into a bloody warfield. Today, the city is extremely clean, green, calm and orderly. The mythology behing this nomenclature dates back to King Banasur - a Lord Shiva (Har) devotee, whose daughter Uma saw a vision of a prince in her dreams. Her best friend Chitralekha drew him from Uma's description and he was subsequentely identified as Aniruddh, the grandson of Lord Krishna(Hari). When these star crossed lovers met up, Aniruddh was discovered by an angry King Banasur and imprisoned in a prison of fire (agnigarh). Lord Krishna came to free his grandson and Lord Shiva intervened on Banasur's behalf, leading to the Hari-Har Yuddh (war) which converted the city into a city of blood. Hence the name Tezpur - Bloody City. Lord Brahma interrupted the warring Gods and forced a truce. Uma and Aniruddh were married and now Tezpur is also called the "City of Eternal Romance"

The Agnigarh today, is a beautiful park set on a hillock (supposedly on the same spot where the original fire fortress of myth, stood), with wonderful vistas of Tezpur from its summit. The Park has sculptures commemorating this story, lining its paths. There are also a few "live" installations demonstrating that Tezpur is indeed the City of Eternal Romance.

The other historic temple in Tezpur is the Mahabhairav temple. It is believed that King Banasur of the legend also offered his prayers and penance to Shiva at this spot beseeching his aid. The stone Shivling at this temple apparently grows over time. Dipankar who is from Tezpur said that he was disbelieving of this tale initially, but has seen it increase in height, over time, with his own eyes and is now convinced that it is true. It is currently the largest naturally ocurring shivling in India. It is also belived that an underground passage exists from here to Agnigarh.

After Tezpur, we were supposed to visit a tea garden and a tea factory in Balipara, but the workers have apparently gone on strike and its not safe to visit the area during agitation. So we'll check in the morning if we can actually do this before we leave to Nameri.

By the time we drove from Texpur to Balipara (about 40 minutes) it was 4pm and the sun had already started setting. We were dropped at the Wild Mahseer a beautiful heritage property (tea bungalow) in the middle of a tea garden. The main bungalow is over a 111 years old and the 4 peripheric bungalows are 50-70 years old. It was too dark to explore the outside of the premises, so we contented ourselves photographing the antique interiors, before we got down to the hard business of downloading pictures, sorting, editing, blogging and uploading. The staff here have kept us fortified with lovely freshly brewed black tea sourced from the surrounding gardens while it rains and thunders outside.

We have been having great fun so far and hope that you are enjoying this journey through our eyes. Drop us a comment if you have any suggestions. We are always open to them.

All set - to start our North East India Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:54:00 +0000

Brajesh & I are so excited about having won the "Be the Wanderers" contest and bagging the opportunity to travel the North East.

Over the next 10 days, we will drive over 2000kms : Guwahati - Tezpur - Balipara - Nameri - Kaziranga - Mon - Shangnyu - Longwa - Mon - Kaziranga - Shillong - Cheerapunjee - Shillong - Sualkuchi - Guwahati.

We are doubling back in between, because of the current situation in Manipur, else we would have completed an entire circuit.

Normally, when the two of us plan a holiday. One of us takes charge, the other gives his/her input and then we keep discussing it to make alterations if any and come up with an extremely detailed plan on how to spend every hour of each day. We start by 8am and go one till 10pm or so and try to pack in as much as we can.

Given our multiple interests of history, architecture, art, culture, food, theater, sports (Brajesh only) , nature, books etc etc, our holiday schedules are so gruelling that our family gets exhausted just by hearing our plans and then when we bombard them with photos on our return :)

So its been a huge problem for us to sit back and let The Wanderers take care of the entire program and scheduling and bookings for us. But now that we have seen it, we are quite happy with it. They have been able to include things, that we may not have been able to do, if we had set off on our own.

The program is not as tightly packed as we normally would do it, but it will give us the time to relax and reflect on each days experiences before turning in for the night.

However the 2 of us are always open to suggestions, so in case you feel that there is something we should not miss, a dish we should definitely try (dog meat and insects are where we draw the line) or a person we should meet - from among the places listed above, do drop us a comment and lets see if we can include that in our itinerary.

Brajesh and I have completely different approaches to packing. He makes lists of what to pack a week in advance and is normally packed 24-48 hours in advance. I refuse to even consider opening a suitcase until the last few hours before its time to leave. He stresses that he may leave something behind, for me as long as I turn off all the electric connections at home (except the fridge) and have my phone, laptop, camera, their chargers, wallet, credit cards and house keys, I'm good to go. At the end of it, we are both equally ready, but I know that if he ever has high blood pressure later in life, my packing habits would definitely be one of the aggravating factors. :)

Given that sunrise and sunset in this part of the country is much earlier than in the rest of India, we need to start early each day and its going to mean a massive change in my sleep cycle, so since I've just finished packing, I should start now and try and get 3 hours shut eye before its time for us to leave.

Stay tuned.

Rains in Guwahati on 21st October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:54:00 +0000

I'd wanted to pick up some things for our Diwali trip home the day before we were travelling. Fresh Bhooth Jholakiya, Gondhoraj lemons and the like. Unfortunately, just as I left home I got caught in the sudden, unexpected rains that seized the city of Guwahati for an hour. Even after the rain stopped the flooding did not recede until next morning. Ganeshguri and Zoo road had waist deep water in places. Here are some of the pictures that I took, when I was stuck for 3 hours in barely moving traffic.

Pankaj Udhas Ghazal Evening in Guwahati

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:36:00 +0000

Yesterday evening saw 2 musical programmes being scheduled in Guwahati. We decided to head to the Pankaj Udhas concert over the Coke Music Studio with Leslie Lewis, as we thought it would be a slow mellow evening listening to the mesmerising voice of Pankaj Udhas.

Boy! Were we mistaken!

Although, this had nothing to do with the performance itself. The invitation said 6:30pm, but introductory speeches started only at 7:00pm. The opening performance by Sunita Khound started only at 7:15pm, but it was fantastic and worth the wait. She is a gifted violin player and a wonderful vocalist. She played everything from ragas to item numbers on the violin.

Unfortunately, for her entire performance the lights were left on and the audience behaved as though they were at the GMC auditorium for a wedding and Sunita was just some background music. People were walking up and down the isles having loud conversations with one another, mobile phones wouldn't stop ringing and people just continued to pick up their calls and talk on the phones as though they were in their own homes.

However, by the time Pankaj Udhas was felicitated and ready to start performing around 8:15pm, the lights in the audience section were thankfully turned off and we hoped that the audience would settle down. Some of them did, but not all. People were strolling in at 9pm and then the simultaneous strolling out began too. Then there was a section of the crowd which went outside the auditorium to pick up snacks and inspite of all the notices saying "no food inside the auditorium please", they went right ahead and brought it all inside anyway.

So now added to the long "hello, how are you? good to see you" interactions with those coming in and the "good concert no? bye, see you tomorrow for lunch" interactions with those leaving and the mobile phones ringing and the one sided conversations on the phones, was added the tearing open of snack bags and the popping open of 500ml aerated drinks.

Annoyed looks at people around us loudly engaged on their mobile phones made absolutely no difference to them except perhaps to raise their decibel levels!.

With mobile phones these days everyone fancies themselves a photographer. I completely understand people taking pictures, and if the event permits it, I see no problem with that. BUT, at any event where the lights are dimmed over the audience, you DO NOT USE YOUR FLASH! Its irritating for anyone trying to enjoy the performance and for the performers themselves. Even the professional/newspaper photographers were guilty of using their blinding flash.

Pankaj Udhas said that he had been repeatedly coming back to Guwahati since 1983. Honestly, I can't think why. The audience was downright disrespectful and rude in their behavior. Hopefully he couldn't see and hear it on the stage, except perhaps when ALL the lights were turned on, so the CM could make an exit midway through the performance.

Repeated requests were made to the audience to not record Pankaj Udhas' performance. He himself made the request as it would contravene copyright issues and make things difficult for him. The ushers from Jettwings themselves were busy recording the performance, how could they have intervened to stop the rest of the audience that was doing so?

I thought that Delhi audiences were badly behaved when it came to live shows, Guwahati can be proud, they overtake the national capital in this one respect at least.

I was really shocked with this behavior. In general the average Assamese is polite and considerate except perhaps when on the road, behind a wheel and the occasional exception in the movie theatre. What I saw yesterday, defies all logic.

There is a general etiquette to be followed at any live show. Foremeost of which is:
RESPECT THE PERFORMER.

When it comes to a sit-down live show, then there are some basic guidelines to be followed.
1. Maintain silence as far as possible. The occasional turning to the person immediately next to you to ask "which raaga is this?" or "which movie is this from?" or "wasn't that a lovely movement by the tabla player" is fine. But it should only be audible to the 2 of you and not the person in front of you or to the other side of you.
2. Mobile phones HAVE to be turned off or on silent mode. Leave your phone on silent. You can always check messages and missed calls unobtrusively - in a way that the light from your screen does not disturb the people around you. If there is an emergency then quietly leave the auitorium and return the call outside. Do not start talking as you are walking, that is bad behavior too. And instructing the maid that Baba should eat 3 chapatis not 2 is NOT an emergency!
3. Do not bring toddlers to such events. If a child does not understand and obey "sit quietly", then they cannot be brought to such events. Wailing babies are definitely a no-no. Older children who you are trying to inculcate with a sense of culture and music is fine, if they understand "stay quiet" and if one of the adults in your group is willing to leave the auditorium once the child is restless or needs to go to a washroom.
4. No pictures, no flash. If the event allows you to take pictures, then go ahead and do so. If they request you not to, then don't. In darkened rooms, do not ever use your flash, it is blinding for others.
5. No food. Unless its supper theatre or a sit down dinner performance, its never ok to bring food into a performance hall. Some locations allow drinks to be carried inside and some do not. If the floor is carpeted, its not a good idea to dump your leftover garbage under your seat or the seat in front of you.

Respect and courtesy are the cornerstones of any community. Unless these 2 traits improve out here, I think we'd rather listen to Pankaj Udhas on our music system at home, than at a live concert as long as we live in Guwahati. At least we won't have to put up with the boorish behavior of people around us.

ISKCON Temple in Guwahati

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 04:30:00 +0000

The ISKCON (Lord Krishna is the main deity at all ISKCON temples) temple is located within the city, off Ashram Road and on Sarania Hills.

This is the smallest and simplest ISKCON temple I have ever been to. The walls are plain, no works of bas relief or paintings are up on them yet.

The only focal point are the single set of idols of Krishna & Subhadra. This is also one of the rare temples where Subhadra is depicted as the consort of Krishna (at the main idol)- an honour normally reserved for Radha.

The temple is located on top of a hill, so most days, its very quiet. Its not a tourist attraction, so there are very few people around and that just enhances the feeling of peace in this location. The view from the platform behind the temple is lovely, because you realise that you are quite in the center of the city, while at the same time above it all (both literally & figuratively)

Tirupati Balaji Temple in Guwahati

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:27:00 +0000

The Tirupati Balaji Temple in Guwahati was inaugurated as recently as 1998, near ISBT on NH 37 and just before Maniram Dewan Trade Centre.

The Temple is open from 8am to 1pm and then from 3:30pm to 8pm. Video recording is completely prohibited inside the complex and only photography of the buildings, gardens and complexes is permitted. Photography of the idols is strictly prohibited.

The temple is built in the style of the original Balaji temple at Tirupati. The first temple at the gate is dedicated to Lord Ganesh, the remover of all obstacles. Further down the path is the trio of the main temple complex with Lord Balaji ine the center, Goddess Padmavati (avatar of Lakshmi) to his right and Goddess Durga (Ashtabhuja -Shanti Durga avataar) to his left. There is a smaller temple for Garuda facing Lord Balaji.

The queues are of course miniscule compared to Tirupati. Today there was a lovely prasad of chhole tempered with mustard seeds and split urad dhal. So simple, yet so tasty. The famous Tirupati laddu prasad can be bought for 20rs a laddu.

Various artis and sevas are possible. Starting with the Archana for 50Rs which also includes a laddu and allows entry further into the garbha griha. The temple conducts mundans (151Rs), vehicle puja (150Rs) and even marriages (2500Rs).

The temple complex has sprawling lawns and is a green lung on the outskirts of the city, so there were plenty of families relaxing in the gardens.

Its a lovely place for an evening visit. The environs are very peaceful and soothing. The green cover makes it much cooler than the road just outside the gate.

This is not one of the historic temples around Guwahati, but you could include it in your itinerary.

North East India Trade Expo @ Maniram Dewan Trade Center

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:39:00 +0000

Hopped/Drove over to Maniram Dewan Trade Center today for the ongoing North East India Trade Expo that started on the 29th of September. 9th October is supposed to be the last day, but some banners at the location advertised that the expo would be on until the 13th of October.

Since it was supposed to be a North East India Trade Expo, I was hoping to pick up some local handicrafts and silks and also finish my Diwali and Christmas shopping. Unfortunately, in that respect, it turned out to be a disappointment. There were a few stalls seeling Assam silk saris, but the range that I've seen at Pragjyotika, Jagaran and Purbashree is so much superior and at much better value. There was ONE stall of Cane furniture and 1 or 2 with cane baskets out of a total of around 60 stalls.

Other than that, it was a lot of Home Shopping network products - treadmills, stain removers, roti makers etc. Cheap Chinese plastic toys, slippers from Delhi and Mumbai, synthetic carpets, Kashmiri wooden decorative pieces and stuff like that. There were quite a few jewellery stalls claiming that they were selling authentic precious stones, but I don't know who would buy precious stone jewellery from a short term exhibition.

The only stalls I did spend some time in were the Thai and Kenyan stalls and the pickle stalls and I did come away with a few pickles.

However the only reason that I felt the drive was worthwhile, was my visit to the Tirupati Balaji Temple next door.

Exhibition at NEDFI Haat - Guwahati - Intro to local silks

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 22:52:00 +0000

When I was passing by Ullubari, last Friday, I saw a poster at NEDFI Haat advertising "Water Hycinth handicrafts exhibition". So I stopped the car and walked in, only to realise that the exhibition had not yet started.

The polite security guard told me that the exhibition was starting from Saturday. Since the car broke down on Saturday, we visited on Sunday.

There was precisely 1 out of the 25 stalls that had a few earrings and chains made from dried water hycinth. However the designs looked too chunky to wear. I prefer the bamboo jewelry I've seen available in the city. Its more intricate and delicate looking.

The other stalls were selling mostly silk products. Eri and Muga are 2 varieties of silk, that are cultivated only in Assam. Mulberry and Tussar are also cultivated here.

At the stall run by Silkmark, it was interesting to see how the natural color of cocoons and the corresponding silk changed with the seasons and the color of the leaves that the larvae inside the cocoons feasted on.

There was a very interesting and enterprising man who carves utensils out of Bamboo and has been recognised by UNESCO for his totally natural serving cutlery. He is now working on a project to hand carve the tiniest cutlery (0.25") so he can get into the Guiness Book. We saw some of the miniature spoons he had carved - under a microscope - and were quite impressed.

His regular serving spoons (can be used on non stick vessels) were in the 100/150/200 Rs Range, but the carved ones were more expensive at 1500/- onwards.

There were a lot more stalls selling different silk products. But I'm not yet ready to buy myself a mekhela chador. So waiting a bit on that purchase :)

When we came out, we noticed that they had changed the name of the exhibition to "handloom & handicraft exhibition" - they must have realised the futility of the previous nomenclature.

1st North East Travel & Tourism Fair in Guwahati

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:57:00 +0000

Popped in today for the last of the 3 day "1st North East Travel & Tourism Fair" at Deshbhakta Tarun Ram Phookan Indoor Stadium.

We were hoping to get more information on travel options within the North East - as suggested by the name. The few brochures available at Guwahati airport had just whetted my appetite, not satisfied it.

This trip to the exhibition was quite fruitful, though I'm not sure if it was worth the 20/- entry charge for 20 stalls who would have all paid to be there.

There were a couple of stalls of foreign participants from Turkey, China, Kenya and Maldives. There were stalls for Delhi, and Kerala too. But we ignored all of them and headed only for the North East stalls because of the paucity of travel information for these areas.

Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur had stalls of their own and we gathered a lot of useful data and brochures from these stalls. Bhutan was the only foreign country stall we visited, because of its proximity to Guwahati. I was disappointed that there was no participation from Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim.

Even West Bengal had a stall put up by Ganga Kutir.

Anyway, I've come away with plenty of brochures to help me plan our trips for the coming months.

St Joseph Cathedral, Guwahati

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:25:00 +0000

St Joseph Cathedral in Guwahati calls itself a Co-Cathedral. I still need to figure out which cathedral it is partnered with.

This particular church is Roman Catholic, but there are many denominations practicing in the North East, so there are tons of churches around. (A google search for churches in Guwahati turned up 20 times as many churches as in Delhi.)

Mass on Sunday is at 7:00am in Hindi and Assamese. English service is at 8:30am and 5:00pm. Daily services are at 6:15am in Hindia and Assamese and 5:00pm in English.

Its located in panbazar near Cotton College Chemistry Department.
Map location

Attending mass here was very similar to attending mass back home. There was an atmosphere of peace and prayer in the church. It felt like a church, unlike the prayer group meeting feel at St Lukes in Delhi. Wish the choir had instrumental support, but perhaps the organist was on leave or attends evening mass?

After mass, everyone gathered outside to chat in groups and catch up on events of the week after praying at the grotto. I'm not someone who generally socialises after mass.

I knew as a "newcomer" , my presence would have aroused some interest within the community. What I wasn't prepared for was the friendly hellos, what brings you here queries outside. Murmuring some hasty but polite replies, I jumped into my car and sped off. I know, I prefer the anonymity of attending church in Bombay/Chicago.

Recce trip to Guwahati

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:52:00 +0000

Last month, we came for a quick recce to Guwahati. I had hoped to write about it in this blog, but by the time we got back, we realised our cat was down with jaundice. A hectic and extremely stressful 45 days of vet visits, hospital admission (can't recommend CGS Hospital enough), drips, liver tonic injections, etc followed in the midst of the chaos of relocating from Delhi.

I had blogged about a couple of things, but here's a round up - albeit a month late.

The main purposes of our recce trip to Guwahati were:
1. check out the housing options
2. check if there were vets familiar with cats and their treatment (over 90% of pet cats in India are semi feral and rarely innoculated, its been difficult to find vet's familar with cats even in the main metros)
3. check if cat food and cat litter were available in the city
4. check on basic groceries

The purpose of points 3 and 4 (common to every move) is so that I can pack enough extras of essentials which then come in our truck load of stuff being shipped, rather than paying excess baggage on subsequent flights.

Touchdown into Guwahati was beautiful, snow capped mountains, the majestic Brahmaputra, green cultivated and forest land were soothing to my eyes, over-strained by the concrete and pollution of Delhi.

We had heard a lot of comments about how Guwahati was more polluted and congested than Kanpur and Chandni Chowk combined. Having been here, I suspect people who made these statements have never been to Kanpur (I visit at least once a year).

Roads in Guwahati for the most part are 2 or 4 lane and while traffic isn't as indisciplined as Delhi, people do tend to stop in the middle of the road (to pick up passengers, fix a flat etc) and hence hold up traffic for a bit. But I still haven't had to deal with anything as extreme as Ashram chowk or Gurgaon crossing at peak times.

Our first stop from the airport, was at the famed Kamakhya Temple - one of the 58 Shakti Peethas across the country - to seek heavenly blessings before starting a new chapter.

House hunting was a challenge. The eternal argument of every move resurfaced - he wanted an independent house, I wanted an apartment - but we decided to keep an open mind and explore both options.

The bungalows that we saw got me into deep depression - poorly lit, in the middle of congested areas with train tracks and markets right next door, ground floor bathrooms with only wire mesh doors leading to the garden (covered with a pull-back flimsy curtain on the inside) . One 4 bedroom bungalow we saw, was completely missing a kitchen! Just space for a microwave on a platform next to the dining room! I know a scholarly friend in Egypt who would have been quite happy with this arrangement, but I NEED space in MY kitchen.

98% of houses do not have ANY kind of STORAGE. No cupboards in the bedrooms or even in the kitchen. You are supposed to put in your own. I have later heard, that this is a common practice across Eastern India extending to West Bengal and Orissa too. But I just can't afford to pack cupboards and take them with me on every transfer, what if our next move is to Bombay? We will have to end up living inside one of those cupboards!

The apartments we saw, were tiny and bathrooms were in a very run down state. Given that we hardly stay 2 years in a city and my dreaded weekly dates with electricians and plumbers in Delhi, I really do not have the patience and strength to deal with fixing up another house, just to find its time to move, as soons as I've just got it into liveable condition.

The problem of housing in Guwahati is that there is a very negligible population of corporate transfers and good quality houses are snapped up before the owner can say "available" So the hunt will continue after we return.

The company guest house is quaint and lovely, the guest house boys are very pleasant and eager to be of assistance. They have already introduced me to quite a few new vegetables, unique to Assam. The food was good and hence we did not eat out, except for one meal at Paramapara - Gateway Paradise - an authentic Assamese thali experience and the airport's Port Lounge on our way back to Delhi

After the disastrous start on housing, I hoped groceries would be better. There's a Big Bazaar and a Vishal Mega Mart in town. But I found that the better and cleaner options were 9 to 11, Tanz and a few other such independent stores. However even after checking out over 10-12 stores, I did not come across brown bread or skimmed milk, which means I will have to wake up and provide nutritious hot breakfasts for the hubby. Lets see how long these good intentions last. Already thinking of contacting friends in Nestle to ensure the distributor brings in a couple of cartons of blue wala doodh and peela wala doodh at the start of each month.

Other basics are rather easily available. Although, I will have to get back into my Egypt habit of checking expiry dates on every item before putting it in my shopping cart. Aquafina and Kinley water were not available at most supermarkets, nor did I see any diet pesi. But since Pizza Hut carries them, I'm sure I can find it upon a deeper search or another phone call to friends in Pepsi (these are the advantages of doing an MBA! - you have friends in most MNC's - who are probably resonsible for getting you addicted to their produicts in the 1st place)

Found a vet who seemed cleaner than my Delhi vet, he said he had feline rabies vaccines in stocks but if I needed fel-o-vax or anything else I would need to tell him at least a week in advance, so he could get it from Calcutta. Given our international moves, our cat has to be given the additional vaccine so we can transport her across countries. But at least the vet issue was sorted out.

So the final stop was to find cat food. Checked out a couple of pet stores (which didnt carry any kind of pet food - just sold fish and birds) and pet food stores -which were mainly selling accessorries and food for dogs.

One of the shops I went into, I ask the guy at the counter "billi ka khana hain kya?" (do you have cat food). He gestured towards the dog food and said "ye hi khilao" (feed her this only). Horrified, I reply "BILLI hain!" (She's a CAT!), He says "teekh hain, tho biscuit khilao!" (oh, ok. then, feed her biscuits) while pointing at some dog biscuits!.

Pedigree is available in Guwahati, so I'm sure we could talk to someone to ensure a supply of whiskas- but the little brat has hated the new formulation of whiskas (4 years back - a global change). She is a "friskies" addict and extremely brand loyal. Friskies isnt available in India, so I think this will be a good excuse for me to make a couple of trips to Thailand just to get her food - the hubby will never say no when it comes to his darling cat! However just so she won't starve, I've carried about 25 kilos of Royal canin wet food wet food with us, which should last a couple of months.

Cat litter was unheard of anywhere in Guwahati. Our princess refuses to use sand and I refuse to deal with the smell that comes from wet sand, so 75 kilos of cat litter is coming in the shipment too.

We're quite excited about moving to the North East. Its a region we have long been wanting to explore. However moving to aplace to live is very different from visiting on a holiday and having access to what once considers daily necessities is quite essential.. What I consider necessities, may be considered luxuries by others, but having them available makes it easier for me to slip into a comfort zone. What you consider necessities, may be completely irrelevant to me. That's what makes us who we are and as long as we aren't making anyone else miserable or unhappy with our needs, then I think its ok. What do you think?

Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 10 May 2011 23:28:00 +0000

The Kamakhya/Shakti Temple is supposedly built on the location on Nilachal Hill, where Sati's yoni fell when her body parts were scattered across India when Vishnu used the Sudarshan Chakra to break up her body to halt Shiva who was dancing the Rudra Tandava after disrupting the yagna of Daksh Prajapati (Sati's Father) Thus making this one of the 58 Shakti Peethas across the country. Kamakhya Temple has evolved into a major tantric center, perhaps because this was where her yoni (female reproductive organs) fell.

Here Shakti is known as Kamakhya - the granter of desires.

The temple is supposed to be very Holy and hence we decided to start our sojourn in the North East by visiting this temple and so we headed straight here from the airport. The temple is a couple of kilometres away from the cityu and lies on the route bewteen the city and the airport.

The complex houses many temples and also a place where ritual animal slaughter is carried out. Apart from the main devi temple, some other major temples of devi Kali, Tara, Bagala, Chinnamasta, Bhuvanesvari, Bhairavi and Dhumavati. Sitala Temple, Lalita Kanta Temple, Jaya Durga Temple, Vana Durga Temple, Rajarajesvari Temple, Smasanakali temple, kali temple of Abhayananda dharmashala and the Sankhesvari temple. There are five temples of Lord Shiva in the Kamakhya complex. They belongs to different forms of Lord Shiva like Kamesvara (Umananda), Siddhesvara, Amratokesvara (Heruka), Aghpra, and kotilinga (Tatpurusa). The complex also contains three temples of Lord Visnu. They are as the Kedara (Kamalesvara), situated near the northern side of the main temple, as the Gadadhara, situated in the north-western direction of the Kamakhya temple, and as Pandunath, which is situated in the eastern foothills of Nilachal also kinown as Pandu.

Since we were in a bit of a hurry and it was very hot, we only visited the main temple and we shall return to explore the complex again.

This temple is famous for the Ambubachi Mela held between June 22- 26. The temple isclosed for 3 days (for the Godesses Menstrual cycle) but on the 4th day a Tantric fertility festival is celebrated.

Entry to the temple complex is free, but you only get an outside view after queueing up for awhile. To get into the inside garba graha (sanctum sanctorum) there is a special ticket for 501/- INR. But even though the line is much shorter, the experience is humid, hot, sticky, chaotic. Pandits inside, jostle with each for one-upmanship.

In India, men don't normally have physical contact with women unknown/unrelated to them and this is very strictly upheld in temples. But here, I was routinely held at the shoulders and wrists by pandits supposedly trying to enforce discipline in the queue. It wasn't groping at all. But it made me very uncomfortable because I do not expect to be physically touched in this way inside a temple.

The line took awhile to get moving especially after doubling back on itself. Inside the garba graha was dark and claustrophobic. I was pushed to my knees by a pandit behind me and another seated pandit, smeared red vermillion on my forehead and insisted that I bend down and touch the Holy water at the bottom of the steps below me. I then relaised why most of the regular female visitors were dressed in maroon and red clothes (to prevent them from getting stained from the vermillion on the floors and all the walls around)

If I hadn't promised my Father-in-law that I would seek the blessings of the Goddess from the Garba Graha, I would have left the inside of the temple much earlier. If you aren't a devotee, I'd advise you to just take a look from the outer gates and just enjoy exploring the complex itself.

Preferably visit in the morning, so the ground isn't too hot (as you have to enter barefoot) I will visit again, but only to explore the other temples in the complex.

Note: List of temples in the complex sourced from http://www.kamakhyatemple.org/

Moving to Guwahati

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:07:00 +0000

My husband's job is moving him to Guwahati by 1st June 2011. I'm really looking forward to this move out of Delhi.

This blog like its predecessors - Whazzup Delhi, Whazzup Dubai, Whazzup Egypt, Whazzup Mumbai, Whazzup Hyderabad and Whazzup Mangalore will be part diary, part recommendations of little known gems, food, travel, eating out - all these will form a part of this blog. Join me on my magical journey across the mystical lands of the 7 sisters.