29th October - A brief and whirlwind tour to Dakshineshwar was all the time that five hours in the city of joy could have provided. There was not even enough time to reach for the Belur Math and had to sadly leave for Guwahati by the evening flight.
30th October the meeting started with the bigwigs talking and reminiscing about their experiences in the northeast. None of us had ideas about what was there in store for the day. The principal secretary was there as well. Mr. K B Saxena came up with a question for the audience.
Should we go for surveys and settlements in the hitherto unexplored and unsettled areas of northeast. I had never been to such areas but still I had a thought or two to share with them……
The conference was dragging along at a sluggish pace with issues related to ' surveys and settlements. One of the esteemed guests had raised this issue to the chagrin of many and which meant that practically nothing else could be discussed in the morning session. The group broke for lunch. When the news reached us that there were bomb blasts in Guwahati. Surprisingly the blasts took place at the collectorate where Shailendraji and myself were part of the northeast consultation. 150 people died on the spot while about 100 odd were injured. The parking where I had waited (while Shailendraji went to thank the collector Mr. R C Jain) was almost blown up. To watch this place on the news with blood smattered all across and on the faces of victims made my hair stand from their roots and the consultation was suddenly the last thing on everybody’s mind. The situation had actually become so volatile that sitting 10 km away from the main city many people started fearing for their life and wanted to make good the escape as soon as possible.
Most of the' participants fled the scene before one could understand the gravity of the situation. One of the government officials Mr. Rupak Mazumdar was frantically calling up his family members. Looking at him I thought that fear for one’s family can make even the strongest of human beings weak. I thanked my stars that I had no family at that point of time.
But then I remembered that my parents might be worried about me. So I decided to ring up my mom from a borrowed mobile. (Pre-paid mobiles don’t work in the northeast). Drowsy from the noon siesta, mom said ya beta, what is it?
Mom I just wanted you to know that I am safe here and don’t worry about me.
Safe from the bomb blasts mummy!
Ok beta. Take care!
What a waste I thought of effort and tension L
Soon it was clear that no further conference etc for the next day would be possible and therefore tourism plans began to be hatched.
The post lunch sessions dragged on in the absence of government officials and with a lot of haggling again on whether should we go for surveys and settlements or not?
In the evening somebody told us that there is a helicopter service for Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh but one needs to get a permit for the same. Also that one Mr. Y Giri was going there tomorrow. My friend from last time’s visit Mr. Anupam Chaudhary, the circle officer had told me that Tawang was one of the largest monastery in the world and one of the better tourism options apart from Kaziranga which is flooded usually during this point of time of the year.
I went up to him to enquire about the schedule and got quite a rough reply that this is a very difficult proposition.
So collector sb and myself decided to go to shillong instead. One of the hidden agendas was also to get the permit as that was ruled out of question in Guwahati itself.
The drive to Shillong included sharing notes on the marriage efforts of his daughters and law and order situation in palamau tiger reserve. After having a look at the trademark waterfalls and a sumptuous lunch at the police mall, we decided to proceed to the DC Arunachal pradesh’s office.
4 out of the 7 states in the north-east have permit system which mean that one has to haggle for 3 days before one can enter them. These systems have been put in place to keep out illegal immigrants out of these states as this threatened to change the demographics of the region.
My companion the collector of ranch/i was of the opinion that we should move elsewhere rather than staying back in Guwahati which was a waste of time and so we decided to go after the district commissioner in the evening even after loosing our way twice. When we went to her office, she was out shopping with her husband at 4-o clock. Collector sb was quite disappointed and decided to play his last card. He rang her up and asked why was she out of office at 4-o clock. Taken aback at having being taken to task, she agreed to sign it if we could send the form o her residence. Uncertain about reaching Guwahati on time, we went to her residence and somehow managed to get the permit....
Next morning we managed to reach the airport at four in the morning.
Surprisingly Mr. Giri was also going along with us as he had been delayed time and again and he was supposed to make an urgent evaluation of some government programme. According to Pawan Hans staff members, the rickety helicopter was in really bad shape and it could not accommodate more than 17 members. Collector sb asked me to book the tickets for return but we were waved off by the fearsome betelnut chewing booking clerk that the tickets would not be issued from here but are to be booked at the Tawang Office.
It was 2nd of November today He was having a return ticket on the 4th of November from Guwahati. I had thankfully one more rest and had booked my ticket on 5th of November.
After a few moments of anxiety and endless 5 hours of waiting, it took off at 9 am and flew over hill after hill covered with lush evergreen forests. Before moving to the hilly region it also showed us the sparkling beaches and waters of the Brahmaputra and the river islands in between.
Followed by the river span was the checkerboard rice fields inundated with the regular floods that mark this region. This was also one of the reasons why we did not go to the more obvious looking choice of Kaziranga national park that was under completely flooded at the moment. The season also meant that there were lot of flash floods, washing away of bridges etc which we were not aware of and which was going to make me pay dearly.
The tourism secretary of Assam and Arunachal was also accompanying us. Seeing my more than eager approach to click the Brahmaputra, she asked me to come to noisier front while she went asleep at the back seat where I was sitting. Apparently she was going there to rescue some people stuck there. We were far too excited to bother about all this stuff at the moment.
The farming systems of shifting cultivation as seen from the top did not bode well for the future of this landscape. Ere we moved into Bhutan and I received a welcome message from airtel Bhutan!
Another country added to the short list at the moment.
After half an hour of peeping over the hills, we came to the Himalayas. The hills from far not only looked majestic but also invited the explorer in me to go deeper into it.
The chopper hovered over the valley briefly before the huge monastery of Tawang got visible. Smaller gompas were also visible on the other hilltops and the whole settlement looked like a fairy tale. Collector sb whispered in my ear that I should also get into the line as soon as possible
On getting down after finishing the photo session we proceeded to the booking clerk that was already surrounded by 15 odd army personnel and 5 lamas. All of them seemed to be haggling over something.
When collector sb went into the gathering and returned back, he was pale. I also almost turned pale on hearing the story.
Apparently there was a huge landslide on the road between Tawang and Tezpur and therefore the connectivity had been absent for almost 10 days now leaving passengers no choice but to avail of the relatively cheap helicopter service!! With the result that there were no vacant helicopter seats for coming 7 days. To think of it that we had unknowingly got into the mouth of trouble was quite a funny and nerve wrecking feeling at the same time.
This was more for collector sb than I was as he had to attend a meeting and there was no way that he could extend his visit. I went up to the booking fellow sitting there and enjoying his moment of importance and pleaded all kinds of excuses but he just wouldn’t budge. It was then that we realized that the tourism secretary had actually come to rescue the people (almost 150 who were marooned here).
At that instant, it seemed completely hopeless as Mr. Giri also left for his job and we were left to fend for ourselves at the airstrip. Since we were also third in the begging order, there were already two people who were doing our job for us.
One jawan’s father had expired and his fellow army men were busy begging with him. Another girl was also thinking of going back to Guwahati but she was not sure if she would be able to get back to her home Imphal as Guwahati itself was witnessing some kind of a deadlock. The army officers were somehow able to convince the pilot to take one more person aboard.
Just then one more fortunate twist came as somebody told us that there would be a third flight today. Ultimately the girl made up her mind to wait for some time and sold her ticket to collector sb.
I offered my profuse apologies to collector sb for having brought him into this unforeseen trouble. Though in my hearts of hearts I knew that he was as eager to come with me and do some tourism here and that he was deserting me. But this was not a new experience in the sense that had been left alone by friends in middle of journey lot of times partly because of my risk taking behaviors.
I was very sure that having come this far, I wouldn’t mind going by road even it means trekking a bit to cross the landslides.
Having bidden him a sad good bye, I decided to proceed with my tourism. Being very short on time, I decided to hire a hotel soon and also a vehicle that could take me around.
The place had a few surprises and the first one was to land up in a marwari hotel. I was so hungry that when he brought poori and alu-ki-sabji I was happier then surprised and gobbled up at least 15. The Gujarati family that accompanied me on the chopper told me that this is one of the most sought after destinations as at the moment kaziranga is flooded and rest of the places are far too unsafe to move around freely. This place being very close to china was safer due to a very heavy army presence.
The marwari family told me that go to Rajasthan once every year and a closer look at the place revealed a complete temple with deities coming straight out of Jodhpur temples! To think of these people sitting almost 3000 km away from their homes and still creating a home away from home. To think of it that people like me keep looking for places nearer to home so that we can stay in touch with the family!
I was in far too much hurry to plan out anything and straightway went to the bus stand to hire a van. The driver advised me to try out the lakes but I was far too edgy to see the world’s second largest monastery. So what if I could not go to potala palace Ladakh. I could still go to the second in line.
The monastery boast of 400 houses closely lining the imposing shrine. I never knew that there could be a small settlement inside a religious building. The whole place being so cold also carried an air of cleanliness. The silk drapes near the imposing figure of Buddha looked mystique. I came out and pleaded with an extremely geriatric monk to let me have a look at the museum inside. The relics and utensils had titles, which made years look like minutes.600 –1300-year-old etc.
After looking at them, I couldn’t help remember the movie featuring Brad Pitt (seven years in Tibet). When I cam out, I thought of going to the roof and met a young monk (even younger than me given that have outgrown my age). I asked him what would he do in this youth by donning the orange dress. How will he get married etc. He said that most households tend to send one of their kids to the monastery and it is upto their free volition to get taught here before they return back to the mainstream life. (I was wondering how many youth in Bombay or Indore would like to become monks at the age of 20 odd!)
Ere I returned back to the bored driver to ask him to take me to the lakes. He was not very hopeful but still decided to comply. The entry route to these lakes was towards the china border and therefore highly sensitive area. The total distance to lakes was 1 kilometers and the route being dangerous due to snow and incoming army trucks from the other side, all the tourists were allowed to enter the route only before 11 am in the morning.
Having reached up the army check-post I tried every trick in the book to convince the commandant to let me through. Even tried to use my regional cards (as am able to draw relations with almost every state in the country) but they just wont budge.
Disappointed we decided to move back and see some more monasteries. (Almost 20 odd in the whole area). Ani Gompa precariously perched over a hill was a monastery of nuns and seems to be otherworldly in its detachment from worldly pursuits.
On the way back we found that two of the monasteries were celebrating holidays, as the monks were absent. Having peeped from every possible window in these, I concluded that they were actually mini versions of the main Tawang Monastery. To please me the driver told me that there was a distinct possibility of me seeing a lake on my way back and therefore I shouldn’t loose heart.
I visited the soldier’s memorial which paid homage to the forgotten heroes of our country and not many people will know that the whole region had actually been taken by china (Called NEFA) at that point of time and Tawang was the point where the Indian army repulsed the attack One sardarji whose name am forgetting single handedly held the Chinese platoon at bay for long hours before backup arrived.
Having covered almost all the places worth the name by 4 in the evening I decided to move out and be on time in Guwahati for the return flight. The return journey was expected to be almost 14-15 hours and I was in no mood to take chances. I booked the vehicle and since the evening and twilight come over at this place by 4.30, I made good night at 8 PM after ringing Neelimaji and Mom about my well being as well as the consultation exploits.
The news was no good. As mentioned earlier at the helipad, there was a landslide somewhere on the road and there was a walk of 2 km between the two roads as the connecting road had been completely washed off.
When we started off at 5 in the morning the news was that the road had been improved a little bit and one doesn’t have to walk all the way.
Being a latecomer, I had been relegated to the back seat and was quite uncomfortable sitting behind some 4 holidaying youth and 2 school kids. These youth had actually visited the famed lakes near the china border and their fantastic descriptions of the lakes only added insult to my till now relatively uneventful tour.
The sumo swerved and winded through the serpentine roads that connected this piece of heaven to the hell that most of the cities in India have become. Every turn brought new and astoundingly beautiful landscapes that were surpassing each other in beauty.
We were doing good time. At a restaurant saw dogs that looked fluffier then the bears that we have in our areas. The temperature had been uniformly hovering around 5 degrees and I thanked the heavens for having splurged at the Connaught some time ago for puma raingear.
As luck would have it, Sela pass drove away all tiredness and dejection and the beauty of the snow capped peaks cannot be described in words. The boys sitting in front of me were remarking that all lakes were the same but I managed to click almost 100 odd snaps during the 15 minutes interval that I stayed there.
The driver wont let me stay there for long warning me of the delays ahead and frustratingly we had to move out from this heaven after a snapshot to heaven.
It seemed as if the driver had an inkling of what was waiting for us down the road to Derang and Bomdila. Before we could reach the next point in our journey, there laid on road a huge hurdle in the form of a Pine tree at the foot of a huge landslide. At that moment I could not understand the gravity of the situation…
The whole side of the hill had come down crashing on the road almost in front of us. With it, it had brought a huge Pine tree that was lying like a barricade across the road. The whole mud was actually reinforcing it against the concrete blocks that are built to line the roads on hilly tracks.
It was already 2 in the noon and the last vehicles supposed to be leaving from the aforementioned trek area were just 2 hours away. Both sides of the landslides got vehicles lined in a matter of minutes. Most of them wanted to help as were carrying army jawans as well. Surprisingly the landslide had not stopped as yet and every now and then, stones and pebbles would start rolling sending the volunteers scampering off.
Ultimately a few people took the responsibility of just observing the falling pebbles as a mark of any further landslides. A team of almost 30-40 youth tried their best to move the tree but the mammoth tree at least 50 feet long and as thick as a bison across just wont budge. Its unique position meant that any efforts to move it seemed like pushing against concrete.
Some people gave up hope. Others started swapping vehicles. Some others called up volunteers from Dirang. Sadly there was no petrol there and therefore none of the vehicles had the courage to make double trips back to Tawang on the available. So most of the drivers also seemed to be loosing hope of making to their destinations.
As human beings especially from bigger cities have shown time and again, some opportunists grabbed hold of the limited opportunities (2-3 spare vehicles) and wanted to leave. I also tried my luck given that my catching the flight next day was now in jeopardy. The four people from my jeep also jumped onto this jeep but when one of them was instructed to get on the top of it, he suddenly got very demotivated recounting the drunken driving of the driver down the Sela Pass!
Somebody from army happened to call up the army that was working round the clock 50 km away and after almost an hour of useless pushing around of the tree, blasts were carried out on the tree.
Within an hour, the crowd managed to clear sufficient way for jeeps to pass by thanks to the dedication of the many jawans who were on their way home. It was already 3.30 PM and now Bomdila was 2 hours further. At 4.30 the driver also wanted to have lunch at his favorite place. By 5 it was already getting dark by the time we reached Rupamur from where I had to change another vehicle for Tenga.
To my dismay already a group of 300 odd people was stranded there. The ferocious river had carried a 100 feet chunk away. Army had created an alternate route which people had to walk.
But now it was already dark. Some people formed human chains so as not to loose their dear ones to the river. After crossing the patch, army trucks were carrying people to the site from where jeeps for Tezpur were plying. Given the rush of people, 3 trucks were just not sufficient.
Some people decided to walk the 2-km road to the taxi stand. I pleaded with the army people to also allow the ambulance to be used. First the jawan was hesitant but later went to the doctor and returned with an affirmative response. We picked up ladies and children on the way who were already dead tired after daylong journeys.
But the nightmare had just started as the night was closing on us. The whole taxi stand was clamoring with people who wanted to reach to safety as soon as possible.
News had come in that there was a bandh in Guwahati and the whole of Assam the very next day. The two school kids barely into college wanted to reach their hostels in Tezpur.
The last jeep fellow again relegated me to the end but so were the opportunist quartuplet of mumbaiya trekkers. This time some army people were in the comfortable position. Some who were not that comfortable decided to sit on the top or just hang at the back as it was unthinkable to stay overnight at any of these places who were not even villages.
The river anyways doesn’t choose good places to break roads I thought aloud!!!
By the time we reached a dinner place my knees had gone numb as the seat infront was almost about to come off its hinges. But more was in store that night as one of the jeeps stopped midway and 3 more people were packed into our jeep already stuffed with 14 people. Somebody finally took pity on me and swapped seat with after my 15th complaint and abuse mixed into one.
I had never thought that this way would be so long while flying here in the chopper. After 3 hours of torturous travelling we reached relatively plain areas of Assam.
The driver was feeling afraid now, as this area was infamous for elephant raids to the fields at night. But thanks to my stars we reached Tezpur by 12 at night.
All of us thankfully alighted from the wretched jeep and were saying good-bye to each other in this time of pain when suddenly the last and only roadways bus heading for Guwahati appeared and the conducted announced that he has only 2 seats left. The 20 odd people in our jeep started looking at each others faces ere they made a mad rush for the bus. I also followed the mumbaiya trekkers reluctantly but surprisingly got a 5-inch space on the first seat to lean on.
But by this time I was so disheartened that for once I thought of breaking the journey as the flight was on the noon next day and was only 6 hours from Guwahati now. But reaching the airport in a bandh situation was quite tricky and thought that may be it would be more advisable to reach there at night itself.
But after 10 minutes when the bus stopped somewhere, I was now almost at the edge of my senses and hopped down from the bus. I asked a riksha fellow where could I get a better bus. He replied Tezpur is also bandh tomorrow as the bandh is applicable to Assam and aap gadi main se kyon utar rahe ho babuji??
Good sense prevailed over me and I ran behind the bus that had started moving again now and somehow managed to climb back in. But now that 5-inch space was also gone and had to stand for another hour before somebody took pity on me.
At 2 at night the bus stopped at some place and decided to swap my semi-standing position for a better bus. This time the mumbaiya group followed me and we sacrificed our tickets for some padded seats to give some relief to sore buttocks. One of them belonging to Guwahati originally advised me to get off earlier than the city on a chauraha from where the airport was closer.
Naively I accepted their advice only to prolong my nightmare. Delirious after 22 hours of rough road travel, I was dropped at a godforsaken square from where the Bordoloi airport was 12 km, The whole road was lined with colleges and educational institutions which had seen during our last month’s trip here,
Shailendraji and my shopping spree had meant that we had started the 30 km drive to the airport only 50 minutes before the scheduled time of departure and the driver had brought us within 20 minutes driving and honking like a madman through the streets of Guwahati.
This time I was going to be full 12 hours ahead of schedule and therefore started my walk to the airport. Before start the walk I just consulted a police beat officer if there was any chance of any lift etc. He was amazed at my temerity and told me that I should get to the airport before dawn as after that time, even they cannot save anybody from the violent mobs that shall throng the streets.
I was walking with only a small carrybag on my shoulders but the 12-km walk seemed to me like a loosener compared to what had undergone during the last 24 hours.
To my relief a truck was heading this way and thankfully agreed to give me a lift. The driver asked “ kahan jaa rahe ho??”
I replied “the airport”…. Accha hua bhaiyya aap mil gaye. Aaj to lagta ha band hai?? (Thanks brother that u have come for my help. Is it a band today??)
Hoga hi humare 300 log mare hain aakhir. Koi kaam nahin hona chahiye, tabhi ye sarkari log sudharenge…(it better be, after all have lost 300 lives, these government people need to be given such treatment)
Given his drunken babble, I chose to sit quietly for next 15 minutes. He apparently was carrying some sand to some place. When after some time no green boards announcing airport approach road were visible I asked.
Airport kitna door hai?? (How far is the airport?)
Who to peeche reh gaya (that is left behind)
To roka kyon nahin?? Why didn’t you stop I demanded??
Aapne ye thori bola tha ki flight pakadni hai aapko. Humko laga aap yahin age rehte honge!!! Waise jaada door nahin hai sirf 3 km hi peeche hai.
(But u never told that u have to catch a flight!!!!!!)
I chose not to waste my energy any more as was already low on it and started the walk back. Vehicles whizzed past me and was barely able evade them in my tiredness now. After a walk of 2 km, an auto came and I negotiated with him reluctantly.
To my utter dismay he took a u-turn and drove the rickshaw 100 meters to stop in front of the terminal. I was actually walking behind the airport all this while!!!!! He demanded 50 bucks.
I was angered at the unfairness of the whole thing at 5 in the morning. A hawaldaar was standing and watching. I called him, now that I was at the airport. But contrary to expectation he also agreed with the auto fellow and I shelled out the 50-rupee note for 100-meter drive!
It was 4 in the morning and the airport was yet closed like it was 2 days ago. Close to 80-90 people were already sitting out side the airport with their luggage and most of them had an unknown fear in their eye. Some were even sitting on the parking road outside. There were no flights operating in the night anyways.
I chose a relatively clean pavement on the road and fell for sleep before I could thank my spirits. When I woke at 6 in the morning, the crowd had expanded to 200 and the airport finally opened.
When I finally entered the airport, an equal number was waiting inside. I again chose a clean area and slept underneath a shop. People including Ladies with children were squatting all over the space leaving almost no space even to walk around the chairs.
When finally I boarded the flight at 1 PM I was under the expectation that had boarded Kingfisher and was waiting for a kinglike treatment. I was left to face the red when the airhostess informed me that this was Kingfisher Red- (the cheaper version). There was no facility of edible on this 2-hour flight to Calcutta for free.
In this entire running around, had forgotten to eat since last noon’s lunch at a village hotel. The whole morning had been spent just sleeping! I demanded the sikkimese beauty if she had anything to eat!
She said sorry sir we are carrying only chocolates on this flight and each one costs 50 bucks,
Bring me all the chocolates that you have! I thundered!
Let me check sir, she replied.!!! I was sitting at the end of the Boeing and was popping my head time and again to look at the waitress while the pilot announced Mt Everest and Kanchenjunga peaks passing beneath us.
She returned with a sad look and a 6-inch bar of 5 star with her. Sir this is the only piece we are left with now, as we could not refill in Guwahati. We are left with almost nothing on board now.
The 30 hour long travel for a three-hour tourism trip was the most taxing had ever undertaken!
I was really treated to a 5 star vacation that would never leave my memory J
