VISIT TO THE NORTH EAST

 On a fine morning on 7th September 2024 our family set out its first ever visit to the North East for a short and brief stay .  We were heading for Silchar (my daughter in law Debasree belongs to this place).  Their family has been inviting us to visit and we were informed that the right time to visit them is September -October when the rains have subsided.  We were thrilled to this  maiden visit and so were they.

The only issue is getting up at early morning which I generally hate but no option as our flight was at 8.30 AM from Bengaluru.  We have to leave the house as early as 5.30 am to reach the Airport.  I got up as early as 3 am and did not know what to do 😀😀.  We left at 5.30 AM for the Airport me , my wife and daughter.  My son & daughter in law had left for Silchar two days ago.  There is no direct flight to Silchar and we have to go to Guwahati  and change over.  Bengaluru to Guwahati is about 3 hours and we took Indigo. 

The name of  Silchar goes back to the time of the British rule. Ships were docked on the banks of river Barak, during the time of the British. A market was developed at that place which served as a major place of trade and commerce. As the bank of the river used to be surrounded with stones, this place  as a result, came to be known as Shiler Chor which means  bank of stone. With time people started pronouncing it as "Silchar"

Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is second largest city of Assam after Guwahati in terms of area, population and GDP. It is also administrative capital of Barak Valley division.^] It is located 343 kilometres  south east of Guwahati. It was founded by Captain Thomas Fisher in 1832 when he shifted the headquarters of Cachar to Janiganj in Silchar.It earned the moniker "Island of Peace" from Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. Silchar is the site of the world's first polo club and the first competitive polo match. In 1985, an Air India flight from Kolkata to Silchar became the world's first all-women crew flight. Silchar was a tea town and Cachar club was the meeting point for tea planters and  a hub of rice, tea and paper industries. It has a river, a university, an airport and a national institute of technology.

The food we had ordered in the flight was a better one, for a change.  We landed around noon at Guwahati  airport.  Neat airport not so big but not too small too,  Our next flight to Silchar was around 2,30 PM or so and we need to go through the security etc again for no reason.  We just went around Guwahati airport .   Lots of crowd all tourists were seen around going to different places.  I was expecting a smaller aircraft to Slichar as the flight duration was hardly half an hour,  But it was an airbus and packed. we landed exactly 45 mins at Silchar .  The Silchar airport was very small in size .  It was just about less than 2000 Sft.  We had just to walk from the tarmac into the airport.  Then only we realized how hot the place was.  For a Bangalorean  any place is hot 😀.  We collected our baggage and could see my son, daughter in law and her brother in law outside just from the baggage counter .  I understand that no photography of the airport allowed as Silchar Airport is owned by the Defence. 

Bengali & Manipuri (Meitei)are the official languages of Silchar.Assamese  is the State official language. My daughter -in-law is a Bengali but they are settled in Silchar for a long time. However, we found all of them speak Hindi fluently.

We were ushered in from the airport in Innova and they took us to a Restaurant nearby for our Lunch as their house was a little far away.  En-route from the Airport to the Restaurant we saw  both sides lush green  justifying 8 months rains there.  We reached the Restaurant.A decent one,  We had soup, roti subzi rice etc,. We were really hungry.  After lunch we checked in to a good Hotel where they had booked us.  Checked in and   slept for sometime.  Freshened ourselves and set out to Debasri"s house for our dinner.  It was like any other city , roads were narrow but good . We went to their house and they all seem to be excited to receive us.

We were treated to a sumptuous dinner on a Thali .   It contained 4 to 5 subzi and it seems alu  is their favourite vegetable.  My son loves it.  Also lot of leafy items in the food.  Very good for health and  a bowl of rice .  Paloyi is one such leaf which my daughter and wife liked it so much.  Over the rice bowl a Big Nimbu ( Gandhoraj) is placed   You are supposed to squeeze the Nimbu and it adds to the fragrance and it did.  I found Curd was missing.   I understood they dont get milk like elsewhere So they don't t eat curd. Instead they had Misthi Doi . a kind of sweetened curd.   I also understood to my surprise that in Assam they don't cultivate wheat and so all eat rice only.  It was a tasty food and we spent quality time there.  We were so much in love with Paloyi that we stopped the car enroute to the airport to buy it.

                                                                            Paloyi

We retired back to hotel and had a nice sleep that night.   Next day we got up and had complimentary breakfast at the Hotel.  It was not elaborate but nice  consisting of simple juices, soup, bread omelette, eggs, idly , poha, tea/coffee.   My favourite dish is, whenever I am travelling, double egg omelette with bread  toast.   I taste those things which are not made at home.  I tried idly but it was like Assam rifles . very hard to crack.  I left it.  Coffee was good.  .We again went to the Sambandhan"s place for lunch. Delicious lunch with rice and variety of vegetables.   They were so hospitable .  Again Paloyi was there.  Their house is situated at Ambica Patti .  I was surprised about the name as you find "Patti" etc in Tamil Nadu only.  After some chilling , we left back to the Hotel .  One thing I found to my surprise that in Silchar general medium of communication was Hindi and could hardly hear people speaking in Assamese or Bengali.  Like when you visit Tamil Nadu or kerala you can find Tamil /Malayalam as the main medium.  This is what I felt.  May be with the influx of outside people now coming in this has changed.

Rahul , my Son's brother in law had planned to take us in the evening to ":Shon Beel" a place about two hours from our Hotel .  It is one of the largest  lakes in Southern Assam situated in Karimganj Dist..  The length of the Lake is about 18 kms and the width is approx 15 km. It is famous for its fishery  and is a major producer of fish for the District.  It is also the second largest wetland in Asia and the largest in India.  The beauty of this wetland is that it is filled with water for about six months in a year and rest of the months (dry season) it becomes a paddy field.  It covers 4388 hectares during dry season and 9800 hectares when filled with water.  

We  all were in two cars proceeding to Shon Bheel.  Both sides full lush green and weather was a little pleasant than what was in the morning.  It was a wide road and we reached around 5 pm.  Still it was quite sunny.  From the main road , we had to go into little bit narrow road but good roads.  Crowd was there and we could see lot of boats around the Lake.  The water was very clean and flowing.  Rahul knew in and out of this place and he found a known boat guy .  The boat could seat around ten people.  There were no wooden seats and one has to crawl down to sit on the boat surface .  It had a Shelter like any other boats.  Me and my wife were very comfortable to get into the boat as recently we had used these boats on our trips to Andhaman.  It was engine boat and the boatman  pulled up a rope for the  engine to start.  It started with lot of smoke and you could feel the diesel smell. We were all sitting inside on the boat surface and gradually except me all others hopped onto the top of the boat and were enjoying the ride.  It was not looking like a Lake but backwaters of sea.  

                                                      "Shon Bheel"

 THE 

It was a big round and cool breeze all around.  At one point Rahul asked the boatman to stop the boat in the middle of the Lake and we could see beautiful sun set.  Rahul then distributed what he called as "Singhade".  I was wondering how can anyone enjoy singhade which you get in Delhi with pointed tear end fruit of green color and used to be tasteless.  There came "samosa " .They call "samosa" as Singhade in North East.  It was so tasty and much needed in the middle of the Lake.

                                              It was getting dark and so we decided to go to the banks of the lake.  Once we landed , we were hungry and we spotted a good tea stall (there were many)  and had tea and pakora there.  Nice much wanted Tea.  By the time we finished all these, it was already 8 pm and started back to our place.  Rahul took us all for dinner at a very posh Restaurant in Silcher and we had a great dinner there.  It was full of travelers and the Restaurant was packed.

Dinner at Silchar

Their ancestral village 

This is theirl house where they used to live,  It is about 30 kms from Silchar.

After a hearty dinner we reached  our Hotel .  

Sadhana shared a beautiful parting message to Debo"s I( Daughter in law)family :

This was such a fun, memorable, and sumptuous trip! We had the best that life has to offer: family, flora, food. 

Thank you for giving us such an incredible time and taking care of every little thing! @⁨Sharmistha Purkayastha⁩ @⁨Rahul Harish Bil⁩ @⁨Debo Hari⁩ and uncle and aunty. 

Next Day morning after breakfast proceeded to the Airport to catch a flight to Guwahati .  

The flight was fully packed and it was airbus.   WE reached Guwahati in 45 mins time.

Guwahati is a sprawling city beside the Brahmaputra River in the northeast Indian state of Assam. It’s known for holy sites like the hilltop Kamakhya Temple, featuring shrines to the Hindu deities Shiva and Vishnu. To the east, 18th-century Navagraha Temple is an astronomical center with planetary shrines. Umananda Temple, dedicated to Shiva and covered with engravings, stands on Peacock Island in the river.

  Since we were served Lunch in the flight, we proceeded straight to already booked " Home Stay" ( it was sadhana's friend 's Home stay)A sprawling three bed room house about a km from the airport.  It was damn hot. We checked in and refreshed  ourselves.  It had the facility of a dining table , a kitchen with gas stove, coffee powder, Tea, milk , and water and some biscuit packets.  A fridge was also there.  All rooms AC fitted.

The same evening we had booked to go into Cruise .  We went to Alfresco Grand Cruise.  It is   a vast cruise on Brahmaputra river.  It costs Rs.1700 per person including dinner.  

                                                                     The Cruise

                                                                on top deck of the Cruise

                                                                

                                                                   inside the Cruise

The cruise could accommodate about 200 to 300 people.  They served us tea and starters in the Cruise.  WE went on to the top of the Cruise deck and enjoyed the scenic beauty  It was amazing to see such a vast Brahmaputra river.  There were cultural shows songs , dances etc and all enjoyed.  The cruise did not go a long distance but only a km or so and comes back to the starting place.  It has a very slow pace,  Dinner was reasonably good and we all enjoyed the evening.  

We went back to our "Home Stay" and had a sound sleep  

Next day morning we got ready to go to Kamakya Temple .  We had booked 7 AM slot.  

Kamakhya Temple at Nilachal hills in Guwahati, Assam is one of the oldest and most revered centres of Tantric practices, dedicated to the goddess Kamakhya. The temple is the center of the Kulachara Tantra Marga and the site of the Ambubachi Mela, an annual festival that celebrates the menstruation of the goddess  Structurally, the temple is dated to the 8th-9th century with many subsequent rebuildings—and the final hybrid architecture defines a local style called Nilachal. It is also one among the oldest 4 of the 51 pithas in the Shakta tradition. An obscure place of worship for much of history it became an important pilgrimage destination, especially for those from Bengal, in the 19th century during colonial rule.

Ten Days back we had booked on line tickets for all of us , a VIP Darshan costing Rs.501 each.  

We reached the Temple around  7AM.  There were about 50  steps approximately, leading to the temple site.   It is not on a much height.  Both sides of the Temple have shops and you walk into the temple  with all shop keepers pestering you for buying their darshan offerings, like any other temple.  But the difference here is they don't bother you much.  We were attracted by a shop keeper selling darshan items .  He had a chappal stand inside the shop.  He told us to keep our chappals safely there and said no money for chappals but we have to buy the darshan offerings from him only.  We did that and walked on .  

After climbing the steps we saw lot of devotees and equal number of Pandas chasing them 😕in a sprawling temple site surrounding .  We reached a place where the queue starts and found about 50 people both men and women  young and old.  , mostly people from outside Marathi and North Indians.

Both sides of the queue are houses and shops where some vendors selling tea.  You could also see guys selling goats (small ones) for rs.2500 as offerings to the Devi.  We also saw pigeons sellers with pigeons in the nets for similar offerings.  The place was dirty and littered with plastic covers , with tea cups, water bottles strewn everywhere.  This is the case of places where public throng and no civic sense either to the temple authorities or ourselves.  We stood at the end of the line and we could her people saying that we need to spend atleast some 7 hours to have a darshan.  There are two darshan slots one at 7 AM and the other at 11 AM .  Understand that they issue VIP tickets only for 250 persons per slot.  Don't understand the meaning of a VIP ticket.  It is like any other darshan as people can easily afford.  The queue was moving at a snail's pace and people getting added to the line.  Senior  citizens who cannot stand for long sit near the door steps of the houses.  It is a very narrow lane hardly 10 ft wide.  

In Hindu culture, the Kamakhya Temple holds immense importance due to its association with Goddess Kamakhya, who is believed to embody Shakti, the divine feminine energy. Hindu mythology considers Shakti as the primal source of creation and power. The temple is considered one of the Shakti Peethas. A very powerful Goddess and that is why it is crowded.

Apart from VIP darshan you have free darshan also .  However we could not see them from where we were standing.   The temple timings are generally from 5.30 AM to 1 PM and then from 2.30 PM to 5,.30 PM

it was already 11.30 and the "Q" was inching slowly .  We are not used to standing for that long.  WE had not taken breakfast and only living on Tea from the nearby vendors.

As we moved on slowly , we found that some temple men in uniform regulating the crowd and one lady officer seated in front of the building overseeing smooth entry into the building. .  The crowd was regulated from this point onwards.  we could hear people saying that they had to catch the 5 pm flight back home and were restless as it was already 11.30 and did not know how long the darshan could happen.   We knew this so we had kept this day only for darshan and our flight was next day. We also noticed some agents trying to fleece some people asking for as much as rs.4000 to enter this building which could save some hours of waiting.  Finally, we entered the building and saw empty seats in a row which could accommodate at least some 5o people.  We sat in the first row as we entered.  It was well lit with fans etc and we became sort of comfortable to sit.  My son Harish arranged some "Shingadhe" (Samosas) which was very tasty.  After another hour or so, we were asked to come out of the building in line and ushered in stairs to the opposite building where we had to stand for an hour or so.  It took us to a narrow path where people would not be able to cross over you.  

Finally we had a good Darshan of Devi Kamakya.  When you book a VIP ticket your Panda name is also printed there.  He was nowhere to be seen till we entered the Garbagruha.  He suddenly appeared and tokk us around inside .  

Having had a good Darshan we proceeded to a Restaurant for Lunch.  We had a good lunch with rice etc and no rotis. However , we enjoyed.  We returned back to Hotel and took to sleeping as we were all dead tired.  

                                                      Kamayka Temple

Next Day our flight to Bangalore was around 2 PM and landed in Bangalore around 6 pm .  Happy to be back after our first ever trip to the North East.

                                            On our way  to the Airport in  Guwahati

Since we had only 4 days at our disposal, we could not  visit places like Meghalaya, Cheerapunji and Kaziranga.  Next time God willing.