Travel to the the land of red river nd blue hills

Assam, gateway to the northeastern part of India, has a major portion of its area under forest cover.The two things that first comes to our mind are - Tea and the one-horned Rhinoceros, found in large numbers at Kaziranga National Park.

My cousin and I planned a trip to have a glimpse of Assam.

We reached Dibrugarh by flight which took off from Kolkata and started our journey towards Duliajan which is 50 Kms away and got our accommodation arranged in the OIL guest house. We reached there by afternoon.

Duliajan, headquarter of Oil India Limited (OIL), is a PSU undertaking of crude petroleum and Oil industry, one among the navaratna companies. It is a thriving industrial township set amidst lush green perennial foliage, a remarkable feature of this part of the country.

We decided to have a look around the township the day we landed. The next day we started our journey early morning with a rented car to our first destination ‘Tilinga Mandir’, in the Bordubi region of Tinsukia district, not more than 7 Kms from Duliajan.

‘Tilinga Mandir’ is strong in its mystical and spiritual front as any other temples in India and the world. ‘Tilinga’ in Assamese means bells. A big banyan tree is loaded with various sizes of bells of brass, copper, bronze, aluminium tied on different trees in the temple premises.

The fame of the mysterious banyan tree and the rock under it reached its zenith when people realised their wishes are coming true after worshiping there.

The refreshing sound of bells jingling accompanied by the muffled chanting of prayers leaves us rejuvenated and cleansed.

The journey started on a spiritual note and a must visit place, one could see the unnerved faith of the people in this modern era too.

The next destination was Digboi, Oil City of Assam, via Duliajan, 40 Kms away and reached by lunch time.

Digboi is the world's oldest operating oil refinery, technical marvel of the past and present and is the first oil well drilled in Asia. This place still retains the British ambience, complemented by the clubs and Golf courses nearby.

We visited Digboi oil-field (NationalOilPark), not just an oil-field, but an oil museum and a wildlife sanctuary of surpassed beauty. We couldn’t believe that we were standing near the continent's oldest oil well.

The next place we visited was the WarCemetry, standing as a symbol of the heroic battle during the World War II days when the belligerent Japanese fought by the people to safeguard the people in a strange land far, far away from home!!! We spend some time there, and prayed for the bereaved souls.

Next place to cover was the Golf Course, considered to be the best in the entire upper Assam, where all the important tournaments are held.

After visiting these places, we decided to travel back to Duliajan and start our journey fresh, early in the morning to Sibsagar via Dibrugarh, which is around 110 Kms away.

On the way to Dibrugarh, the largest tea exporting town in India, we could see tea gardens on either side which stretched like carpets of green bushes. Women and men stand in the shade or sun, plucking the leaves at a surprising pace and tossing them into the conical cane baskets they carry on their backs.

After having breakfast, we proceeded for Sibsagar. The first major town we came across was Nagaon, the rice bowl of Assam, grabbed our bottle of "Agar" perfume, indigenously produced there and even exported to the Middle East. The landscape on the either side was picturesque. We reached there by 3 in the afternoon, insisted on having the regional delicacies, which consisted of rice and a mix of regional vegetable curries. Among the most exotic Assamese dishes are the Kharoli Tenga, Tenga Anja, Khorisa and Khar. For snacks, we relished the traditional Assamese Pithas, Jolpan and a variety of Laddoos.

We resumed our sightseeing after a siesta. Sibsagar, 'the ocean of Lord Shiva', Assam's principal centre of tea and oil, regional headquarters of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, having the distinction of having the highest number of oil fields in Assam. We choose to see the most remarkable landmark of the town first, 200 year old 257 acre Sibsagar tank.

Then we proceeded to see the Majestic monuments like KarengGhar,” a seven-storied palace”, TalatalGhar, “with three underground floors”, and RangGhar, “the double-storied, oval shaped amphitheatre unique in Asia”. We crossed the Namdang stone bridge, carved out of a single boulder hundreds of years ago, over which a busy highway still runs today.

After the day’s tiresome journey, we decided to sleep early. Our stay was arranged in Hotel Brahmaputra.

Next morning we started our journey towards the Bustling Town of Jorhat to world renowned Teklai Experimental Centre, specializing in finding new varieties of tea and therapeutic effects of green tea.

 From Jorhat, we visited Majuli, the largest river island in the world on the Brahmaputra. There were islands within islands in Majuli and like a capricious woman quickly changing her mood; the landmass kept changing its shape after every summer. Its beauty reminded us of the shifting reality of rainbow, a mesmerizing view!!!! We got our accommodation arranged in the Government Circuit House and decided to sleep early. The next morning we started our journey to the most awaited place, Kaziranga.

The 369 Kms drive from Jorhat to Guwahati via Kaziranga National Park along National Highway 37 is one of the most enjoyable road trips in the state of Assam.

The route to this national park is full of wetlands and tall elephant grass, which is scenic; we found men and women fishing in the beels, children diving into the inviting water on a warm day, coconut sellers hawking their wares by the roadside and boys on buffalo back in paddy fields. In the near distance, the blue hills of Arunachal Pradesh beckoned.

As our vehicle was successfully encountering each mountainous bend, the plains were welcoming us and the ethereal sight of verdant Assamese countryside was a breath of fresh air.

Kaziranga has earned international recognition by virtue of being the world's only habitat of the rare and endangered one-horned rhino. We reached Kaziranga by afternoon and decided to go on a jeep safari. Tigers which are natural enemies of rhinos were also there in sizable numbers. We had our stay arranged in the Forest rest house.

Next morning we decided to go for the elephant safari. We headed for the western end of the Park.

upon the backs of the elephants was a balancing business, sighted lots of birds on tree tops right at the beginning of the trip. It was then that we saw the place was not only about rhinos, which was mistakenly thought to be. Kaziranga came to earn no less than a voyage for us. Experience of a lifetime in a way!!!!

Next day by afternoon, we started our journey towards Guwahati, the last stop of our Assam odyssey.

The city, with its bustling markets and variety of new age restaurants, offers a truly cosmopolitan ambience. The name is a combination of two words: Guwa meaning areca nut and Hat meaning market. Apart from silk items, Assam is famous for cane and bamboo products.

We discovered that a temple called the Kamakhya exists; where the object of worship is the female Organ of generation of Sati, the consort of Lord Shiva! ,8 Kms west from the heart of the city. As Kamakhya is associated with fertility, many childless couples also throng the temple every day.

Then we proceeded to Sualkuchi, an hour's drive from Guwahati famous for its golden silken thread. We saw the evolution of silk from its cocoon stage, all the way to its traditional Mekhala Chador, the two piece saree, worn by women on festive occasions.

We could witness the most important festival of Assam, Bihu, coinciding with a phase in the farming calendar. We could see people dancing along with the enthralling beats of Dhol and Pepa (buffalo hornpipe), brisk stepping, flinging and flipping of hands and swaying of hips, representing youthful passion and 'Joie-de-vivre', singing love theme songs. People were wearing traditional attires like Dhoti, Gamocha and Chadar, Mekhala. 

 

After dancing & singing, we proceeded to the hotel and started packing as our flight to Kolkata scheduled the next morning. Our mind was engulfed thinking about the homely, charming people who had offered us warm hospitality. In our Travel to Assam we discovered the unknown path where we had miles of wilderness, uneven topography of the land, full of hills, plains and rivers and beauty personified. Our fantasies became reality; we were captivated within the ultimate charm of nature. The journey that started as a dream, had come to an end, felt as if it got over as the blink of the eye. We wished to relive this dream again!!!!!!