22nd December, 2012 Kolkata/Hyderabad-Guwahati
Finally the day arrived. The tour party consisting of myself (Anindya), my wife (Ananya), Arijit (Nachu) Debleena(Nachu’s wife). Sankha (Choto), Mahua (Choto’s wife), Soumyadeb (Piki) and Shakuntala (Piki’s wife) were ready to embark on the tour of our life.
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| Tour Members From Left (Arijit/Nachu, Debleena, Sankhadeep/Choto, Mahua, Soumyadeb/Piki, Shakuntala. Ananya and Anindya |
During a lunch meet in September at Peter Cat, Choto came out with the brilliant idea of touring Arunachal Pradesh in December. All of us i.e. myself, Arghya, Nachu and Dipankar (Mero) jumped to the idea and started the preparation. It took 3 months of grueling effort to arrange the tour. Unfortunately Arghya and Mero couldn't join the tour and additionally Piki joined the party from Hyderabad. Numerous rounds of mails, conference calls, persuations resulted in the entire plan be arranged from Kolkata and Hyderabad and much to our credit without any travel agents.
The Kolkata party i.e. Nachu, Choto and us(me and Ananya) planned to meet at the Kolkata Airport at 8.30AM. Eventually after the last minute hassles we met at 8.50. I forgot to give the parking ticket to my driver and it took a bit of running and arguments with the airport security to hand it over. The queue for baggage scan, check in and security check was huge and full of chaos. After spending some tensed time we were finally aboard Indigo flight for Guwahati. We reached around 12.20PM. After collecting the luggage we thought to wait for Piki and Shakuntala in the airport itself as their flight was a bit delayed. They came in from Hyderabad via Delhi. But then we decided to meet our cars and do the formalities while they arrive. Outside Karishma from Aagaman Travels was waiting for us with the two Tata Sumo Spacios. We met our drivers Dharma Das and Sanjoy. I've heard from Parag of Aagaman that Dharma had some association with the history channel as well. In the meantime Piki and Shakuntala arrived. We started for the main town and we picked up Debleena on route via Beltala, Dishpur. Once our tour party was complete we headed towards Hotel Orchid in the stadium area.
It was a was a nice small hotel with a maze like architecture. We 4 families were in three different areas of the hotel and the way to each other's room was a puzzle. We took 3 normal double beds and one deluxe double bed. We were super hungry and took our lunch immediately. The food was very good and totally bong. Soon after we started for the tour of Umananda Temple. Our initial plan was to visit Kamakkhya but due to time restriction and crowd scare we decided to skip it. Umananda Devaloi, is a Shiva Temple and is located at the Peacock Island in middle of river Brahmaputra. It is known as smallest inhabited Riverine Island in the world. Country boats that are available on the bank to take the visitors to the island. The mountain on which the temple has been built is known as Bhasmacala. After some negotiation we settled at Rs 1500 for a boat to take 8 of us to the temple. By travelling over the Brahmaputra River i realized a long desire fulfilled . Once aboard 7 cameras (only Ananya wasn’t carrying any) were in full activity. It took around 15-20 minutes to reach the island. The river was nothing like I’ve ever seen before with all the small rocky islands in it. Peacock Island was one such with some plantations and the temple. The temple was pretty basic with plenty of donation boxes around. But the view from the temple stairs was great as it looked at the Guwahati town from the river. Choto lost his cap and had to rush back to the temple only to find that one of the priests in the temple was wearing it. It was dark when we returned to the shore. We had some tea and headed for the main city markets for a round of shopping required for the trip. We bought our first stock of liquors from there.
We returned to the hotel and I went out and recharged the BSNL sim card I took from Aagaman. In the hilly areas of Arunachal only BSNL connection works and so I asked Aagaman o arrange for an temporary sim. It was a little confusing as I never dealt with BSNL line but finally I managed to recharge it for an amount of 200 bucks. We couldn’t wait to start our party and we started in Piki’s room. After some light drinking we took our dinner and went to bed. The first day forecasted the amazing tour we were about to take. Next day target was Nameri.
23rd December Guwahati-Nameri National Park
I’ve a peculiar habit of waking up early when I’m at new places. I woke up at 6 in the morning and went for a walk around the hotel. The weather was cold and foggy. The road in front of the hotel was almost empty leaving some morning walkers. Bought a news paper and came back for tea. After a nice bath and breakfast we started for Nameri. Today one of drivers Sanjoy was changed to Bhaben. I, Ananya, Piki and Shakuntala went with Bhaben while the others were with Dharma. I employed my iPod and we started for Nameri. We started around 9. The road was good and we travelled fast within Assam. We stopped in between for some tea. I called up Mr. Das at Nameri Eco Camp for our lunch as otherwise we would go hungry. In the road we saw a color full Assamese procession and also some domestic elephants. The last leg of our journey was along a stretch without any roads and it was a curtain raiser of the road ahead in the tour. Finally we arrived in the beautiful eco camp. The camp consists of a few huts and a few tents. We were sad to see the crowd over their but happy to know that they were in for a picnic. We couldn’t do a river rafting as per the plan due to the delay in reaching. The rafting on the river Jia Bhoreli can be done only till 12PM from the camp. We took possession of our two huts and one tent. Nachu took the "bhai bon" tent while I, Piki and Choto took one of the huts. Our spouses were in the other hut. The huts were made of bamboo straws but it had all the basic amenities like electricity and western toilet. The evening was idle and we travelled around the camp. The camp was deserted by then. We went for acquiring the jungle permit in the office beside the camp. Later we sat beside a camp fire and we spend a great time with singing, chatting, photography and of course some booze. Mahua, Choto and Piki sang some nice songs. We met a family from Mumbai. Their idea of Rabindra Sangeet was AB’s version of Ekla chalo re from the movie Kahaani, which was pretty disgusting. We had some strange conversation with the elderly person from that family who tried to go into arguments about a lot of things including the origin of the work FUCK (Fornification under Consent of the King). However we forced ourselves out of the conversation as Choto was the first victim of our little party. After he recovered and Nachu killed some noted gazal singers, we had our dinner in the dining place. After we retreated to our respective huts we went to sleep after a round of songs played from Choto’s mobile. Choto's penchant for asking "Keno" started with questioning the medicine given by Nachu.
24th December Nameri - Dirang
Today we woke up around 5AM for the safari. Nameri Park has only a jungle trek on foot. Two Forrest guards accompanied us while we started for the trek around 6AM from the camp. After walking around 20 minutes we came to the shores of Jia Bhoreli. The riverfront was out of the drawing books. The river flowed with its delicate bends amidst the valley of jungle and snow capped mountains at far distance. The colors were majestic. We took a country boat to cross the river. The water was crystal clear. The boat was rocking with our every movement and it added to the thrill with the morning breeze. After crossing the river we crossed the sandy river beach. The sand was difficult to walk on. We passed through the jungle camp where we saw a domestic elephant and a sambar. Then we went inside the perimeters of the dense jungle. It was my first experience within jungle and as per the guides Nameri was far denser than Kaziranga. A strange feeling of being followed by something from the woods accompanied us throughout the safari. We could see some strange flora and some beautiful birds while travelling. We came across one of the older watch towers. Unfortunately we couldn’t see any animal during our trek and finally we came out to the jungle camp. Nameri is mainly known for its rich collection of birds but it takes a lot of patience to be a bird watcher. Nachu had his practice going when he prescribed some drugs to one of the guides. I hope he will allow us in next time. We came back to our camp at around 10 and were dead tiered. However we quickly took our breakfast and after settling out the bills we started towards Dirang. We stopped at Bhalukpong where our Inner Line Permits(ILP) was checked before entering Arunachal Pradesh. We bought some booze and fruits at the border and found the liquor to be very cheap. We stopped in the afternoon at Sessa to take our lunch. The first taste of the famous maggi of Arunachal quite costly (Rs 50 per plate) but was necessary. We were entertained by a half drunk elderly person in the hotel. We started again and after a prolonged journey reached Hotel Pemaling at Dirang at around 9PM. It was freezing cold and we were struggling. The preety receptionist Poonam was helpful but couldn't arrange a room heater for one of our rooms. We upgraded two of our double beds with deluxe triple beds. This time we gave the double bed room to the Choto family. We felt a little comfortable after we wore our cots wool inners. The boy’s room was without a heater and we were freezing. After our sumptuous dinner we sat at the ladies room for a while to drink some wine and whisky. Nachu tried each and everything to take the wine out of the bottle and then put the rest in. Ultimately we gave in to the tiredness and went to sleep soon. The cold was biting and we were all shivering.
25th December Dirang-Tawang
Merry Christmas to us. Woke up early as usual and when I removed the curtains from our room the view of the Dirang valley was breathtaking. The hotel is located at a cliff and the entire Dirang valley was visible from the room. We took some snaps and got ready for departure. After breakfast and another round of clicks we started for Tawang. The road all along was very bad. We stopped at Tipi Orchid Museum but it was not worth the time. We quickly wrapped it up and started for Sela Pass. Midway we had a forced hault as we couldn't see the other car behind us. Another halt was due to blastings taking place in the mountain. We reached Sela Pass around 3 in the afternoon amidst chilling temparature. We were 11700 feet above sea level. We ordered Maggi in the lonely shop on top of the pass. The hot container on the fire inside was heaven to us as we gathered around it to feel the heat. The maggi was lifesaver and it never tasted better. When we resumed our journey we saw the beautiful Sela Lake just after crossing the pass. It was almost entirely frozen. After some gorgous views and terrible roads we finally reached Tawang at around 8.30PM to the hotel Gayki Khan Zang. It was the best hotel in the town but we had a few arguments with the owners about charging same rate for lower grade rooms. But all the negotiation and threats from Shakuntala went into vein. Eventually we settled with whatever we had and after dinner we had our daily adda. Nachu was missing as he wasn’t well and went to bed early. We had a prolonged adda with all our good old stories of NHS. It was like travelling back in time to 1999-2000. Time and again our dear “Tintola Tol” gives us enough material to spend innumerable hours together. It always seems that we never got out of the NHS mould. The difference here was the presence of our spouses who equally enjoyed the stories. We went to sleep around 1.
26th December Tawang-Sangster Tso
Next day morning we started for Madhuri Lake. Bhaben da’s car wasn’t starting in the cold so we all hopped in Dhrama’s car. There wasn’t any actual road in the path and for us who were riding at the back of the car; we could feel each bone of our body. On our way we saw a few bunker’s from the ’62 war with China. The feeling insde the bunkers was a bit scary with the darkness and history. Dharma took some oil from a house where we were obsessed with a couple of kids. After visiting a number of lakes in between and nachu naming them (Katrina, Parineeti etc), we reached our destination around 1. After getting down from the car we took the wrong road and were stuck in front of a stream. Nachu put his signature behind a bush as we started for the correct route. But Mahua felt sick due to her breathing problem and while me and Piki found the road the rest treated her and took the car to the lake. The lake was almost entirely frozen but the view was breathtaking. Trunks of trees were potruding from the lake and we came to know that the trees were alive. After spending some time over there we started our journey back. On our way back we stopped at a place where another tourist (from Kolkata) car was stuck in the roadside pits. After much drama it was finally pulled out by an oil tanker and we resumed our journey. We went straight to Tawang market in search of shops and pork. After visiting a couple of shops we went to our lunch cum dinner to a restaurant named The Dragon. We ate some nice chilly pork before the momo had some uncooked meat which wasted the entire dinner. We went out of the restaurant to find that Dhrama was gone with his car. We were terrified with the cold and darkness as the entire city went to sleep by 7.30. Fortunately Bhaben da came with his car looking for us and we took refuge inside. We found Dharma on our way back and had quite a heated argument with him. Later Choto lost his lens cap and took Dharma’s car to the restaurant but couldn’t find it.
27th December Tawang-Bomdila
Today was a busy day. After breakfast we started for the Tawang monastery. Choto was happy as the lens cap was found in Bhaben's car. Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh is the largest monastery in India. It was founded by Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso in 1680-1681 in accordance with the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama. We were fortunate that during our visit there was a morning prayer started in the monastery. Hundreds of lamas mostly children dressed in their red robes rushed to the prayer hall and covered the door with a colorful curtain. We were lucky to be allowed inside. Once inside the rhythmic hymns and chiaroscuro atmosphere took us in a world where time stood still for thousand years. It was like we were in a trance. We tried to capture the mood with many pictures but nothing can arrest the actual time, views, feelings. We were offered butter milk tea with a strange smell and salty taste. Many of the young lamas were snoozing and their neighbors tried to keep them awake. The deity and the decoration were typical Buddhist traditional. After spending more time than we allocated, we bid adieu the amazing atmosphere with some scribbling in the log book. Once outside a young lama obliged to my demands to let us click some snaps with him. The view from the monastery of the Tawang town was marvelous. The visit to the monastry was surely one of the high points of the trip.
After resuming our journey we stopped midway in Tawang market to pick up some dailies and continued towards Jang waterfall. This is also known as Nuranang Falls and is 100 meters high. The car stopped at a junction from where the road goes down hill to the base of the falls. But we decided to stay there and click. The view was awesome with the fall, the mountains and the crystal clear Nuranang River which originates from the Sela Pass. After a round of photography we resumed our journey towards Bomdila. En route we ate at Sela Pass and had tea in the evening in another place. Dharma’s car was showing the effects of the adulterated oil taken the last day and was stopping a number of times. Then finally it stopped moving at a place midway. The atmosphere was majestic with the almost full moon and the Kameng River flowing below. However after a round of scare and Dharma’s unmistakable mastery we resumed our journey and eventually reached Hotel Shipyang Pong in Bomdila around 9.30. It looked like we were the only guests in the electricity void ghostly hotel. After the initial issues with room distribution we took our dinner and then gathered for our daily adda till 2.30 AM. Nachu expressed his desire to build a house like the hotel lobby with a half bedroom for the receptionist in the Dirang Hotel. Hope his dream come true someday.
28th December Bomdila-Kaziranga
Today was a relaxed day. Probably the first time in the tour. We lazed around the hotel and started for Kaziranga at around noon. We reached Bhalukpong around 5 and took our lunch with Momo. Our drivers collected to pork they promised to feed us that night. We traveled through some earthen roads under the full moon and after a unnecessary halt due to a stuck vehicle and another ATM halt we eventually reached the Nature Hunt Eco Camp at Kaziranga around 9PM. We already had our calls with the manager Auvik and he arranged for our rotis. The place was similar like Nameri but of smaller size. It was a sequence from the dreams with the jungle atmosphere, the full moon and the basic arrangements. We hijacked one of the bonfires and sat around that chatting and drinking. In between we also made arrangements for our 3 safaris next day. Dharma da came and handed over the pork at around 10 which we gorged for the next half an hour. The cooking was awesome and probably the best pork in my life under the circumstances. The sad feeling of the tour reaching its pinnacle was slowly growing in our mind. We retreated to our tents around 12.
29th December Kaziranga
Very early morning call. We were ready by 5.30 to start for our first of the two safaris. We cramped in one jeep to reach the western gate of the Forrest. From there we went to the Elephant ride point and the crowd was like a picnic. Each of the elephants took 6 passengers along with the mahout. We went with the car combination. All my concerns about my first time elephant ride were demolished to find the process quite easy. It was early morning in the Forrest and the morning sun with the thick fog made it a dreamy environment. The first view was of a deer in the bush. Then came the high point. In a vast grassland we heard elephants shouting. We saw a couple of rhinos charging one of the elephants carrying few visitors. Out mahout told that those were from a different side of the river and are very dangerous. The can run below the elephant to topple them or can also put their horns in their belly. In both the cases all passengers will be killed by the elephant or the rhinos. They pair of rhinos then contemplated the idea of charging towards our elephant before deciding to run away. After that round of adventure we progressed in hope of other animals. Our elephant showed it’s romantic side when it tried to arrange for its date with another wild one in the Forrest. But with much cajoling from the mahout it resisted its basic instinct and took us back. On our way back we saw a “ma genda and beta genda” resting inside a bush. Pure bliss. We had a couple of arrogant ladies on the elephant whose shouting must have scared the rest of the animals we were hoping to see. It only shows the lack of civic sense even in the deep jungle. Anyways we ended our elephant safari with our hearts satisfied by the flora and fauna of Kaziranga. When we met with our other group we came to know that they had a shorter safari (30 mins instead of 45 mins) as their elephant was scared because of the charging rhinos. Everybody apart from Nachu was happy with the elephant ride. The "Prakreeti" from top of the elephant didn't impress him much.
Then we waited for our next safari in jeep in the same region. Without much ado we boarded two open jeeps and started our jeep safari. On our way we saw a number of rhinos, bison, elephants and birds. We stopped at a watchtower where skeletons of a number of animals like tortoise, elephants, and bison were kept in display. We came back to the starting point after a couple of hours. While waiting for Dharma to arrive we saw an additional attraction. A domestic and injured elephant was being bathed and treated by a number of mahouts. We watched the entire process including the elephant feasting on a banana tree. Our luck was really running for us during the entire tour. Then we rode our ride back to the camp. After spending some leisurely time in the camp we had our lunch with some beautifully cooked food. This was the best lunch in days as we had only maggi in our menu for the last few days. Soon after lunch we started for our last safari in the central region. The queue to enter the Forrest was long and finally we went inside around 3.15. Soon after we saw an elephant with a sad history of mental illness and our guide told us that elephant only listens to his mahout now. In the meantime the other was chased by a wild elephant. While they fled in fear we stopped our car and watched the elephant to continue its majestic movement and cross the river in front of us. Again the luck was with us to visit such a wild and unexpected sight. Then en route we heard a cry of Debleena then a phone call telling that their car wasn't moving. We decided to move behind that car for safety.Then came the moment we were not prepared for. Nature called one of us and we rushed to the nearest watchtower only to find no usable toilet. Then after his most memorable natural experience under the close watch of a rhino in the other side of a water body we started for the exit. The ladies went out for some shopping while the lazy gents lazed around the camp arranging for the last night together. We had the best duck meat that night. We chatted and drunk lamenting the end of the tour for long before retiring for the night.
30th December Kaziranga-Guwahati-Kolkata/Hyderabad
Much to our unwillingness we started for Guwahati early morning. We dropped Debleena in Dishpur and had a hasty but beautiful lunch there. We arrived at the airport to meet Karishma and Parag from Aagaman Tours. We bid farewell to our last two members of the team Dharma and Bhaben and proceeded for our respective flights.
Like all good things the tour also came to an end. Nachu's batting prowess in every pitch and weather combinaion, Choto's inquisite 'Keno', Ananya's 'Yahaan pe gondar milta hai', Mahua's soul searching songs, Das couple's love with their proffession and medicines, Piki's 'jolatonko', Shakuntala's hunt for justice, Dharma da and choto's platonic relationship, Bhaben da's amicable nature -- all became happy memories. Usually after every tour I feel excited to return to my home to my most comfort pad. But this was an exception. With each other we were at home or at our 'Tintola Tol' throughout the tour. It was a perfect world with the people on whom we can depend, who can make every moment exciting. We couldn’t bid each other farewell with smiling faces as the process was painful. Leaving behind so much good memories and going towards the mundane normal life full of responsibilities, competition, deceit and pollution was not something we were eagerly looking for. The only silver lining was the hope that this is just the beginning and we promised to keep it going each year. Looking for the next idea - may be Goa may be Kashmir may be Madhya Pradesh. Looking for additional team members. Looking for the next tour to surpass this one.
