Adventures of the natural kind in the foothills of the Himalaya

I was invited to attend the platinum jubilee of 2 squadron of the Indian Air Force (IAF), the very first squadron I joined as a new bride to my now late fighter-pilot husband. I had never been beyond Kolkata; now I had an opportunity and my daughter Meghna was more than willing to come along. Our tickets were booked and we set course.

Hyderabad-Kolkata-Guwahati was the first leg of our journey. After landing at Guwahati airport, we were driven to the Kamakhya temple, one of the 51 shakti peetha of ancient Hindu mythology. It is situated atop a steep hillock called the Nilachal and one has to climb stone steps to reach the sanctum sanctorum. The ancient Kalika Purana says that when Lord Shiva went berserk after the death of Sati (Parvati), he is said to have danced till the body broke up into several bits. The Kamakhya Temple marks the spot where her yoni (vagina) fell after Shiva’s dance with the corpse. It is obviously very important for the locals. There were newlyweds and newborns seeking the blessings of the Mother Goddess.

After spending two hours at the shrine, we set course for Shillong, aka Scotland of the East, a little more than 110 km away. With the lower hills of the Himalayas in the background, the Northeast has some of the most beautiful landscapes in India. The dense forests, lovely waterfalls and caves are attractions of uncluttered simplicity. We saw the most stunning sunset at 5.10 pm and, within 40 minutes, the roads were pitch dark!

Stories of the many wildlife parks including the small Pobitora Rhino Sanctuary and the Natural World Heritage sites of Manas National Park and Kaziranga National Park sent a shiver down the spine—what if we met some of those magnificent beasts along the way? No such luck! We checked into a charming hotel, complete with arches and wooden interiors. I learnt that the hotel used to be a family residence. With spacious rooms, lovely green lawns outside, cottages dotting the property and the hills, the view was picture-postcard perfect.

On the second day of our trip, we were scheduled to visit the Living Root bridges at Mawlynnong, tagged as ‘the cleanest village in Asia’. So, after a Khasi (one of the many tribes of the Northeast) lunch, we visited the magnificent bridges—four ficus trees planted over 100 years ago have actually been made into a living bridge that is still growing and evolving. It was an amazing phenomenon!

Then, we drove to Dawki on the Bangladesh border, which is marked by a single stone barrier. As it grew dark, we walked down to the ghats and found the ferries bringing customers back home. We were told that many a Bangladeshi fisherman brings his catch of hilsa (a river fish very popular with Bengalis) to sell across the Padma River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra. Thus, the locals get their fish at throwaway prices! The day concluded with our drive back to Shillong and a modest dinner before we retired for the night.

Next morning, we visited Don Bosco Museum, which showcases the immense diversity of the Northeast. Be ready to walk up seven floors! After lunch, we set course for a small IAF unit at Digharu, where we stayed one night and woke up to find mist shrouding everything. At 5 am, the badminton court had one orange light that embraced the place in an eerie halo.

We set off for Pobitora, in Mayang in Assam, on the fourth day of our trip. The wildlife sanctuary is famous for the one-horned rhino. The drive is a short 15 km away on a dirt track. Although we were all ‘shook up’, the sight of ghostly trees emerging from the mist more than made up for the bone-rattling journey. How do you describe the feeling when a rhino looks straight at you and seems to ask, ‘What are you doing on my turf?’ And while our young guide appeared to be very comfortable in the presence of the tusker, it was heartening to know he carried a gun, just in case!

We returned to the guest house at Mayang, where breakfast had been laid out on a patio on the Haduk Beel, an enchanting water body that surrounds the sanctuary. Then, we headed for the Air Force station in Tezpur, and were pleasantly surprised to find another visitor to the platinum jubilee celebrations, Pinki Datta, in the vehicle. It was lovely to catch up on old times. We reached the Air Force station after four hours on the road.

After two days of watching some exhilarating flying and the amazing Akash Ganga team, the celebrations came to an end as did our holiday. A few of us pressed on to explore further north. We drove up to Bhalukpong, which I am told used to be a little sleepy town on the border with Arunachal Pradesh. Now it is bustling with activity.

We found two charming Marwari women manning Haseena Bartan Bhandar, a shop selling kitchen utensils. The two women, married to two brothers, couldn’t be further from home in Rajasthan. They smiled and one of them said, “We are happy here. The people are very good and we have made many friends. We have also learnt to speak the language!” We then got back to the road on our way to Guwahati, where our chariot awaited—our flight back to Hyderabad.

Text & Photographs by Shyamola Khanna

January 2017