Assam Diaries Part 1

I have thought of Assam many times in the past. Assam tea hoardings and ads are thrown at our faces. Assamese people thrive in Bangalore. But the thought of ever actually visiting Assam was always deferred as the distance and cost are huge. 

I had been to Assam, once, in 2015. It was a work trip and hence I didn't pay anything from my pocket. I had been to NIT in Silchar for campus recruitment. 

Finally, we planned a family trip to Assam. Our trip was from 14 May 2022 and we booked the flight tickets a month in advance on the 4th of April itself. Just the flight tickets (Vistara onward flight and Indigo return) cost us Rs 50,000/- for four of us including my 4-year-old daughter. That amounts to Rs 6000/- per person one ticket. 

This is the problem with going to certain places in India. Going to Guwahati will cost you the same as going to Nepal or Maldives as far as flight cost is concerned. Nepal/Maldives ticket charges are the same! Might as well do an international trip at the price of a domestic one. But I am so obsessed with traveling to all states of India, at least once before I die, that we took it with a pinch of salt. 

Of the 8 nights, and 9 days of the trip, we had planned 50% of the duration for Meghalaya. 

Our Vistara flight was at 9:30 a.m. It is a three-hour journey to Guwahati from Bangalore. The first impression of any state always comes from its capital city. As we landed in Guwahati and took the cab to the hotel just 8 km away, on Mirza Road, it felt like a village. Dirty, not developed enough. Rundown houses line the roads, some unfinished, some unpainted, old worn shops, and bad roads. The initial imprint on our minds was one of squalor. Knew right away we would not be able to spend too long here. We would want to get away as fast as we could. 

If Guwahati was not the Gateway to the North East, as it is famously called, we would not even land here. In the future, if we ever have the fortune to visit Arunachal Pradesh. which I truly want to see, Guwahati is only going to be a "cannot avoid" stopover to catch the next flight to Tawang, the capital of AP. 

Here are some of the things I found to be interesting or unique or just different from my city:

      Tea made in a large bowl                           Sugarcane cart 

 

Chicken sold in cane cage on a cycle                Fooding Only!!

The worst aloo paratha of my life eaten in Paltan Bazaar. There are different versions of it - from thick maida to ones deep fried in oil like you fry a puri. Aloo paratha fried like a puri.

That BIG piece of Aloo 

Aloo Paratha - Assamese version

Can you believe our joy when we found idlis in Guwahati? That too butter-soft ones? With yummy chutney? At just Rs 40 per plate? It was a South Indian restaurant in Paltan Bazaar frequented by every Kannadiga, Malayali, Tamilian, Mahashtrian, and Teluguite who were fed up with the puris made of maida.

At the Planetarium, here is what we saw. This, I thought, was completely unfair. No show in Hindi! Not a single one! 

Huge bags! Big enough to carry a child in it! Rs 200/-

 

  

In the picture on the left:

The varieties of tea available in this one shop. Look at the flavors - Mango tea! Choco tea!

In the picture on the right: The price of the different kinds of juice varies according to the quantity given and quantity is clearly mentioned in milliliters!  

So many options in local transport! Plus buses and taxis.

     

The broom: couldn't help but notice the first one

 

common variety

The paintings on the trees near the Dighulpuri Park area reminded me of Kakinada, a district in Andhra Pradesh. It has a road where all the trees are painted beautifully. It is a nice way to beautify a street and add color and life to it. But I am not sure if the paint harms the trees in any way.

The last I heard of this was in the story of Shravan Kumar who carried his parents like this to fulfill their last wish. I can't believe it is still widely used in Northeast. Saw this on a busy street in Guwahati, the capital city.  

The Meghalayan version of aloo paratha with moong dal halwa Rs 75 was so yummy. That gravy is a staple in both Assam and Meghalaya, it accompanies both puris and parathas.

Christianity and Meghalaya

95% of the world's Hindus live in India. 

Hindus in India comprise 80% of the country's population. 

In a supposedly Hindu majority country like this, Meghalaya is a state where Hindus are a minority! 

In fact, Hindus are a minority in 3 of the North-Eastern states - Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland. At first, I found it incredulous that Hindus are a minority in these states. Then I learned that all of them are Christian majority states with 75% (in ML) to 90% (Nagaland) of the population being Christian.

In fact, in 2010, the ML government declared Christianity as the state religion!! Do we have officially declared state religions in other states?

Mizoram did not hold any International Yoga Day event! They said they are a Christian state. 

I thought India and Indian states are secular. Am I wrong? 

In India, only the Hindus are the "thekedaars" of secularism. We should not be surprised (but rather concerned) with Mizoram's rejection of Yoga. Secularism, tolerance, and acceptance work only when the majority population is Hindu. Once the demography changes to Islam or Christianity, the assertion of an Islamic state or Christian state is pronounced and quickly asserted.

In Meghalaya, Hindus are just 12% of the state's total population and are present in very few districts and in very small numbers - West Garo Hills (19%), East Khasi Hills (18%), and Ri-Bhoi (12%). This is according to the 2011 census. 

Now, a decade later, I am convinced the numbers must have dwindled further. 

Interestingly, the Chrisitan number has been steadily rising. In 1901, the Christian percentage was a meager 6%. In the first census of 1951, it had grown, almost quadrupled to 25%. In 1991, it had risen to 65 and as of 2011, it stands at 75%. What a meteoric rise, I must say. 

It was only after I returned from our Assam-Meghalaya weeklong travel that I found out the Nartiang Durga Temple, one of the 51 Shakti Peethas, is in ML. The other Shakti Peetha in the North East, in Assam - Maa Kamakhya Temple - is very well-known. Why is Nartiang Durga Temple not equally famous? Hardly very little is written or known of it.

So how did Meghalaya become Christian?  

Some pictures from my trip.

This is the house of the first Christian missionary who came to Meghalaya in 1841 to convert people to Christianity. 

Lavish, isn't it? And note the year 1841 !!!! Even today in the year 2022, it took us huge amounts of cash reserves and effort to plan the journey to this remote and far, far away state in the extreme north-eastern part of India. Even with flights, roads and overall better connectivity in today's times, travel to ML is still a lot of effort.

And above is the first church that was built.

Today, 75% of the state is Christian. Who does the credit go to?  To this man - Thomas Jones. He came to India at the age of 31. Because he had a vision. To convert people to Christianity. To lead the sheep to the Shepherd. To bring the lost people to God. Of course, to the Christian God. The one and only savior of lost souls. 

Even today, the state is thinly populated. Language is a barrier even between two Indians. The locals speak a few words of English and a few words of Hindi. "Yes, OK, Chai, Khana" rudimentary English, and Hindi. In 2022 we would find it difficult to live and survive here with relatively better roads and electricity. How did Thomas Jones and his ilk survive - the language, the rains, the isolation, the food, the rugged terrain, the 'lost in a no man's land desperation'? The Lord's blessings, of course.

Have I heard of any Hindus going to uninhabited villages of the world to convert the indigenous population to Hinduism? Hindu missionary is not even a word. Islamic missionary is not a word. Christian missionary - now that is a word. The words 'Christian' and 'missionary' always go together. Like the words 'Muslim' and 'Jihadi' do.

How strong must this calling be and the finances that backed it? The kind of political and monetary support he received! 

We hardly saw any temples as we traveled through Shillong and Cherrapunji over a period of 4 days. But Churches were everywhere. If not a full-fledged church, you could be sure to find a huge cross being dug into every hill and every town square. In some places, we found entire hillocks turned into a cemetery with a well-constructed road being made for approach.

In 1841, I wonder how this place was. No roads, no school, no electricity, no shops, no means of transport. And yet, here comes a man, all the way from England, with the express purpose of converting the poor tribals, or as they would like to put it "spread the message of the love of Jesus". 

How did Thomas Jones manage? And succeed? 

Answer: His incredible commitment to the cause of conversion.