Dibrugarh, Assom

Hello,

Bed tea was at 05:30 hrs. Last night Raju had given me some kind of Ayurvedik Churna and it seemed to have some drastic effect on me. As usual Phadke Ajoba was ready before any of us. We had breakfast and left the beautiful resort on our onward journey.

On our today’s schedule was Majuli and to camp either at Dibrigarh or Tinsukia.

Majuli is approached from Jorhat. There is a jetty 10 kms away from Jorhat at a place called Nemati from where one has to cross the Bramhaputra in a ferry boat. Mojuli is the largest riverine island in the world with an area of about 880 kms. Here, here are twenty two ‘satras’ or ‘maths’ of the vaishnav sect. It is said that there are bhajans and keertans going on here.

The people we had met yesterday had told us that we can get a glimpse of the Assamese culture at this place. As a matter of fact we had earlier decided to give a slip to this place but after hearing things about Majuli from the trio we changed our mind and had decided to visit Majuli.

We reached the jetty at about 11:30hrs. The next ferry boat was only at 14:15 hrs, which would not come back today. So if we had waited and gone to Majoli we would have had to stay over there for the night and return only tomorrow morning. At the jetty we met a Maharashtrian family, Mrs. and Mr. Mendhe. Mr. Mendhe works for ONGC and is posted Nazira, Assam. He had moved around in this area and he told us that there are no suitable places to live on the island, which actually was the last of our concerns. He also said that there is nothing much to see on the island other than a temple and the ‘satras’. Raju also had spoken to the local boatman and he too had said the same thing as Mr. Mendhe. To be very honest, I was not at all impressed by the temples we had visited during this trip and if it were to be only the temple there to see then I was not too keen on visiting that place, however if other crew members had said that we should go then I would have gone along and tried to enjoy it too. We must thank Mr. Mendhe for giving us excellent guidance about roads and directions for our further journey from Assam in to Arunachal Pradesh where he had traveled.

In view of the  timing at which we had reached the jetty reports we got at the jetty,  and the journey ahead of us, we decided not to  visit Majoli and move on instead.

On the way we saw birds like the kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher which Raka said was quite rare to find, Saras, which we photographed.

From here we reached Shibsagar. This was the capital city of the mighty Ahom Kings then known as Rangpoor, who came here from the present day Myanmar . The Ahoms ruled Assam for 600 years. There are several lakes here the biggest one being Jayasagar. There is also another lake Shivasagar which is spread over an area of 130 acres and it is from here that the name of the place originates. On the banks of this lake there is a temple complex in which there are temples of Shiva, Durga and Vishnu. The temples here are called ‘dol’. It is said that the Shivdol or Shiv mandir here is the biggest in the country having a total height of 180 ft and a width of 195 ft. In the sanctum sanctorum the Shivling is at a level below the ground level in a pit like formation and it is difficult to see it easily. The temples were kept quite clean and the whole complex of the temples was well maintained with manicured gardens. Again I was really not very much impressed by this temple as well. I did not get ‘that’ feeling of positivity. Must be my problem! After seeing the temples we left here for Dibrugarh at 16:00 hrs.

As we were traveling, we noticed some kind of entertainment program going on. I backed the car and we made enquiries. We were told that this was a ‘Bihu’ dance competition. Bihu is a traditional dance form of Assam. The performances by the dancers were excellent. We sought permission from the organizers for video recording of some part of the dances which they readily gave. We video recorded some of the dances. The organizers invited us to dinner but we politely refused and proceeded on our way to Dibrugarh which was about 15 kms away from here.

We reached Dibrugarh at about 19:00 hrs and checked in to Hotel Little Palace. This is quite a good hotel. We had a small discussion about the journey here on in Arunachal Pradesh. The areas we were going to travel in for the next few days are going to be quite difficult since there are no clear markings on the maps of the roads to these places. Also the road conditions and accessibility of these locations are not known to us yet. So it was decided that we will take things as they come, make enquiries as we go along and take appropriate decisions from time to time.

We had dal khichadi tonight for dinner. I have to retire for the day now.

Good night and see you here again tomorrow, of course subject to availability of internet connectivity!