Guwahati

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Today was our second day at Guwahati.

We had breakfast at Ginger and called for the Hotel Taxi to take us around Guwahati. As we were waiting for the cab to arrive the weather changed suddenly. It became cloudy and a heavy storm set in. The winds were so strong that it was difficult to stand steady. The pots of plants which were tied to a railing fell down and broke. The storm died down in a short while but it had wreaked havoc in the city as we could see later in the evening on the local TV Channel.

The taxi arrived at about 11:00 hrs and we left for a sightseeing tour with driver Vinod.

The first place we went to was a museum, Kalakshetra. The museum tries to show case the cultural heritage of the North Eastern states. The museum was opened at the hands of the then chief minister of Assam, Praffulkumar Mohanto on 02/02/88. A section of the museum shows the various dance forms of the region like Jhumur, Bodo, Bugurumba, Bihu etc. In one section were displayed the traditional dresses of the various tribes like Jemi Naga, Karbi, Tai Atone, Taie Turung, Rabha, Kuki, Singpo etc. who are the original natives of the North Eastern states. There are other galleries where things like masks, musical instruments, weapons, etc. are displayed.

At kalakshetra there is an open air theater where the traditional dance forms of the Seven Sisters are performed.

I still feel the museum really had nothing much to offer in terms of giving an insight of the culture of this part of the state. May be this could be my perspective since museums really don’t interest me.

From here we went to “Vashishta Aashram” or Bashishta Ashram as people here say it. The legend goes that in ancient times in the last phase of “Dwapar Yug” the great sage Vashishta identified this place then called Sandhyachal to meditate and pray to Lord Shiva. At the end of Dwapaar Yug and the beginning of Kali Yug he took Samadhi here where now there is this temple. It is also said that this is the only aashram of a sage in the Himalayas and is a very important place of pilgrimage.

We then proceeded to the Balaji Temple. This is built in recent times. The idol is a replica of Balaji at Tirupati. The temple area is beautiful & well maintained with manicured gardens.

Our next destination was the famous Kamakhya Temple. The legend here is that Lord Shiva angered at the sight of the charred body of his newlywed wife Sati decided to destroy the world. Lord Vishnu intervened to stop Shiva’s Tandava, the dance of destruction, and in doing so the body of Sati got dismembered in to fifty one pieces which landed at various places. Each place where the pieces landed is called a “Shaktipeeth”. It is said that that the Yoni (female genitalia) of Sati’s disintegrated body parts fell here at Neelachal. This is considered to be the most revered and important Shaktipeeth. This place is famous for “Tantrik Upasana” or performing of Tantrik rituals. This is also called Yoni Peeth. On the Ambubachi Mela festival, which is considered to be the end of menstrual cycle of the Devi (goddess), thousands of goats are sacrificed here.

As we entered the temple after a wait of about half an hour we saw an idol which the priests there say is that of the goddess in brass however there is no deity in the sanctum sanctorum which is a dark cave like place, where it is said that there is a large stone in the shape of Yoni (female genitalia). Actually one cannot see anything there because it is very dark and the stone is covered with flowers. I wondered if it was deliberately kept dark?! Raka said to the priest “yahan toh kuch dikhatahi nahi hai” (nothing is seen here) which upset the priest.

After coming out of the temple we went to a small eatery where Raka had chaumemin and the rest of us had coffee. Just after this temple at a higher level on this hill there is a Bhuwaneshwari Temple. From here one can have a bird’s eye view of Guwahati. It is really beautiful. Only Raju went in to the temple while the rest of us were busy taking photographs.

We had had enough of seeing temples and sightseeing. Also it was about 16:30 hrs and my car was ready after servicing at the dealership which we had to take delivery of before the dealership closed for the day. Raju & Phadke dropped us at Abhishek motors and proceeded to the hotel. Raka & I took delivery of the vehicle and we too reached the hotel.

As was decided in yesterday’s meeting each one of us had to perform the responsibilities given to them. I decided the route for tomorrow and handed it over to Phadke and Raka for navigation tomorrow.

We planned to leave at about 06:00 hrs tomorrow so that we can visit a couple of more places around Guwahati and proceed to Cherapunjji.

We had dinner and now have to go to sleep.

See you tomorrow at the same place with more news.

Good night.