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!  

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

 

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.

Madurai

Every visitor's first stop in Madurai is the Meenakshi Amman Temple. It is dedicated to Goddess Parvati (Meenakshi) and Lord Shiva (Sundareshwara).  The entire city is built around it. 

This magnificent temple was built between 1623 and 1655. But when Malik Kafur (a muslim king) looted the temple of its valuables, it was rebuilt by Vishwanath Nayak.

It has four towers and the South Tower holds the record for the ninth tallest gopuram at 170 feet! It has nearly 1511 statues carved on it! It is also the busiest entry point to the temple as it is the most auspicious. Many people had warned us that people get lost once inside the premises and wouldn't know where to exit! If you look at the aerial view of the temple, you will know why. One cannot but be amazed by the grandeur and scale of this temple. Now there are sign-posts everywhere and staff to guide.  
   

The pillars are beautiful and I was ensnared by the carvings on each one of them. 
The garlands in the picture below was the result of a special prayer performed by the priest. It was a surprise to us. The general practice is the devotees go around in a line and get just a few minutes of darshan of the deity. Tanvi was excited to see us like this - like we had just gotten married! 

Madurai is a historic city and was ruled by the Pandyas, Cholas, Madurai Sultanat, Vijayanagar Empire, Madurai Nayaks, Carnatic Kingdom and the British. It will soon be developed as a smart city under our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi's Smart Cities Mission.   

There are many stalls, restaurants and shopping centers right outside the temple. 

Look at the assortment of fried snacks - in so many colors too!

We tried the cream colored tender coconut. We don't usually find it in Karnataka. It tasted just as good as the regular green one.

Our next stop was the Thirumalai Naicker Mahal. It is a 17th century palace built in 1636 by King Thirumalai Naicker. He belonged to the Nayaka dynasty who ruled Madurai from 1623 to 1659. An Italian architect was commissioned to build the palace. 

The palace was in two segments - Swargavilas and Rangavilas but only Swargavilas has survived and that too only one fourth portion of the original palace remains today. 

We then went to see the Gandhi Memorial Museum. It was originally used as a sports pavilion to view elephant fights and was built by Rani Mangammal in 1670. It was convereted to a museum only in 1955. Mahatma Gandhi first adopted the loin cloth as his dress when he saw some agricultural laborers wearing it. It was in Madurai, in 1921, that he took this decision. The bullet-ridden cloth that he wore on the day of his assassination is placed in the museum. 

By the time we finished these three places, the sun was roasting us. There were so many more temples to see but the weather was a dampener. We did not have the energy or the inclination to see anything else. We had left the hotel at 10:30 and by 2:30 p.m we were exhausted by the heat. We ran to the hotel for lunch and to chill in the AC. 

By late afternoon, it rained heavily and the temperature dipped. It was also time for Sathya's beer hunting expeditions! Finding beer in Tamil Nadu (TN) is a real task. He had struggled to get some beer even in a big metro like Chennai. Liquor shops are not easily available and the concept of the whole family sitting together for dinner while the man drank is unheard of. No 'Family Bar and Restaurant' here. There are only hole-in-the-wall shops with grilled counters that you need to queue up to and they give you your bottle - without bag or even paper. It makes you feel like you are buying medicines! 

A van driver took us to one such place. Since it had rained that evening, the streets were completely water-logged. People waded through the mini swimming pools without flinching. There were parota stands, TENS of them, almost adjacent to each other, on both sides of the road. Dosai, vadai and idly -  the standard fare. That is both breakfast and dinner item, by the way. No other options or variety available. Pongal is another constant - in the breakfast menu. I prefer pongal that is slightly spicy. Here it is more like dal and rice cooked together with just a pinch of salt. Sathya loves the Tamil style pongal and was relishing it. The vadais are really small with generous sprinkling of pepper seeds. You become busy extracting them while you eat. By the fourth day of our trip to Madurai & Rameshwaram, I was sick of idli, dosai, vadai and pongal. I was effectively cured of my idli obsession, the comfort food of my hungry first trimester pregnancy days. 

We went to the hotel with our "loot" but were asked not to carry the bottles openly past the lobby lest we offended the other guests. So we rushed to our room, got our backpack down, hid the bottles in it and went up. 

We stayed at Sree Devi Hotel in Madurai. It is near Madura College. Rs 2000/- per night. Courteous staff, overall good service. But in the end, we got a shock. They had charged us for two days instead of one. Here, the format is not the usual 12:00 a.m check in and 11:00 a.m check out. It is check out the next day at the time you checked in. We had checked in at 9 a.m and checked out the next day at 10:30. And yet he had cunningly charged us an extra day thinking we wouldn't notice or check the bill. In fact, he hesitated to show or give the bill. When we insisted, he was exchanging glances with his colleague. He surely didn't expect us to demand the bill. And we did not expect to be cheated like that. 

We did get the money back, though. 

Sagar in Shimoga

We went to Shimoga during the long Independence Day weekend (12-14th Aug'17). We spent one day each in Shimoga, Sagar and Thirthahalli. 

Shimoga is a district we had not explored before and is only a 6 hour drive from Bangalore via Tumkur. We checked in at Akash Inn just to rest for the night and paid Rs 2200/- through the travel website "Booking.com". It is a really good hotel. Oh! You must try their poori-sagu for breakfast, the sagu is delicious, unlike anything I have tasted before. (Aside: a tip - don't stay at Jewel Rocks. It is pathetic - both the service, the food and the room facilities. I had stayed there on an official visit and didn't like it one bit. Same price as Akash Inn, by the way). 

The next morning, we set out straight to Sri Sigandur Chowdeshwai Temple.  The drive was pleasant as it was monsoon season. Luckily, it didn't rain throughout the 3 days of our trip. The weather was cool, the roads surrounded on both sides by rows and rows of arecanut plantations, rice fields and thick forests.

You will not feel the strain of driving at all. The drive, mostly on NH 206, was one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip.

While in Sagar, how could we have missed a detour to Jog Falls? I still wish I could see the Jog in full fury, froth emanating from the bottom, the falls in its majestic glory as seen in some movies like Mungaru Male which was shot here. 

The  hydro-electric power station at Jog Falls with the multiple layers of the Western Ghats in the background

We heard from the locals about Shridhar Swamy Mutt in Varadahalli where the samadhi of the Swamy lies. Sri Shridhar Swamy is a revered saint in this part of the State. The Theertha is a holy pond with water that flows 24 hours a day and no one knows the source of the water. It is known for its skin cleansing properties. People take a dip in the pond to rid themselves of any skin disease.

We also went to the most talked about place in Sagar - Honnemardu (Golden Lake) located on the backwaters of the Sharavathi river. It is beautiful and is known for the most spectacular sunrise and sunset views and covers an area of 50 km by 80 km.

Honnemardu is supposed to have kayaking, boating and other water activities. But when we went, there was no boatman and the boats were all resting. I guess he knew few would venture out into that hell-hole of a road and come thus far. Or perhaps, prior booking was needed with one of the adventure camp organizers. Anyway, there were only 5 cars that visited the place that particular day.

The road is so bad, so bad that you curse yourself and every Internet page that talks about how scenic Honnemardu is (which it is, no doubt) but skip mentioning its pathetic road. You vent your anger at the public servants who have slept off and not turned around even once to see the disarray. The neglect and apathy is shocking especially since Honnemardu is the first thing Google throws up when you search Sagar or Shimoga. You don't even have any road markers to help you. We stopped at a place where there was a car and a bike parked and a small, mud-trodden pathway among the bushes that led somewhere. We stopped and blindly followed it and found the right place. If that car had not been there, we would have driven further because there really is nothing to guide you or no human face to talk to. 

Jaipur - The Conclusion

On the flight back home, none of us felt the sadness that we usually feel when our holiday ends - neither me nor Tanvi nor Sathya. We all felt this just once before after the Chennai trip. We had been through this rare feeling of not missing the place or the holiday when we had returned from Chennai.  And now it happened after the Jaipur trip. 

Did it have to do with the hot weather of Jaipur? Well, Hyderabad was hot, hot, hot too. But when our Hyderabad vacation ended, we were in tears. We literally dragged our bodies back home. We loved Hyderabad.

So what was it with Jaipur and Chennai? Why didn’t we cry hoarse that now we had to return to normal life, the daily grind and routine? That our short, 5-day vacation, sudden and unplanned had ended? 

Food? It could be the reason. I actually got fed up with roti, hundreds of varieties of it - hard, not easily digestible. And the aloo in everything! A simple South Indian meal was such a rarity and such a luxury here. Rs 140 per plate - just papad, rasam, rice, palya.

The weather was definitely another. 

Most importantly though was the noise in Jaipur. The men seem to place their hands on the horn as soon as they exit the gates of their houses in the morning and do not, mind you, do not remove it until they reach the gates of their houses in the evening. Those darned fingers are pressed tight to their horns. The honking does not stop. No sir! This crazy city is far from romantic. Itna zyada honking - unbelievable sound levels. 

And all this while, we used to be annoyed by the honking in Bangalore. Compared to Jaipur and Agra, Bangalore is still taking baby steps in the race for "The City with the Maximum Noise".

I remember reading the travel account of a foreigner on Quora. He had said India is high on decibel levels so much so that when he returned to his country, he wondered if the city had any living people on it anymore! It seemed so eerily quiet! The loudspeakers blaring devotional songs, the processions, and the honking - he immediately felt the vacuum.

Nevertheless, here are a few things that will stay with me when I think of the city of Jaipur. 

The row of shops with their names written on the walls. I had never seen this method of naming in any other city yet. And I  found it quite unique.

The flavors of Rajasthan at just rupees fifty for 300 grams!

The street outside Sisodia Rani Bagh - the Jaipur Bikaner Road

The Monster Paapad. Can't remember if it was priced at Rs 5 or Rs 10 only that it was really cheap.

The block printing work on the fabric in progress right outside the Gram Udyog premises

We bought two skirts here - one for me and one for Tanvi. The treatment the customer gets here is something you have to see for yourself. It's really hard to say 'no' to the persistent staff. When you use the last resort and say, "Not enough money", they immediately say, "No problem. Pay whatever little you can now, write your address and we will mail the product to you. You can pay later." We used that option just to see how the whole thing works and true to word, the delivery arrived right on time.

Below is the place where numerous movies have been shot showing the hero and heroine runring across the street, with the pigeons leaping into the sky. I wanted a shot of the pigeons in flight but they were all too busy eating. This is right in front of the Albert Hall Museum. 

You must visit Albert Hall if you are interested in history. It is the oldest museum of the state (was opened in 1887) and houses a wonderful collection of paintings, artifacts, monuments, ivory carvings, crystal works, metal sculptures and all things used and sourced by the kings back in the days. 

We didn't use any tour package to explore Jaipur. Like all our family trips, it was a self-exploration. We had made a list of places not to be missed and added a few after we went there. Sisodia Rani Bagh was one such last minute addition. We are glad we saw this beautiful residence of the Queen.

It is very well maintained and has few visitors. So it's a welcome patch of green, of peace and quiet in  an otherwise noisy city. 

Birla Mandir is another tranquil spot. The pure white, marble structure is beautiful in its simplicity. The Birla Mandir is present in many other cities as well like Delhi, Bhopal and Hyderabad, all of them built by the Birla business family. So if you have been to any of the other places, and don't have enough time, you can skip this one. 

The iconic Hawa Mahal. The stretch of road on which it stands is a very busy, crowded one today. Built in 1799 in red stone, it was meant for the queens and other ladies to watch the street processions and to escape the prying eyes of the public. It is supposed to have 950 windows!

I loved the forts, the palaces, the gardens, and the roads. The infrastructure is really good. So strange that a city with such good infrastructure has very few companies and people have to migrate to other cities/states in search of employment.