Day 5

After getting up at around 6:30am we had to leave in a jiffy to catch the 8:00am ferry. After going to Nimitighat it was worse than the previous day. The muck was more and driver could not take the vehicle there. So now we had to walk all the way to the jetty through the muck! We removed our shoes and kept them in the vehicle and moved on bare foot! After negotiating our way through all that muck we boarded the ferry. It was drizzling and cool air could be felt inside the ferry. We were in high spirits. Soon we had our breakfast consisting of all dry eatables. After around half an hour our ferry started on its 10 km voyage.

The river Bramhaputra is known for flash floods but it looked quite pleasant now. The water was not clear due to the rain and the turbulence but still it was good. We were enjoying the boat ride. Cracking jokes and chewing chocolates. We encountered a guy from TATA consultancies. He was carrying out a survey on company’s behalf which consisted of various shortcomings and improvements suggested by the tourists and the locals. After chatting with him for around half and hour or so he bid us adieu and went over too other people on board. An hour and half long journey took us to the Majuli Island.

The scene on the island was much worse than the scene at the Nimitighat. The muck was much much more over here. But over here our driver Mr. Nobu- a local, was a skilled one at driving through this terrain. He assured us that he would take us safely and he kept his promise. After driving our way through that hell we were in the main market. Over here as was the ritual we stopped for tea. But wonder oh wonder we had samosas here! It was felt so nice to have it here.

After devouring a couple of samosas we were on our way to “Satra”. Satra is like an ashram where men stay right from the age of 2-3. There is a ritual in people in this area that if a family has more than two boys than at least one has to be donated to the satra. Then the child spends rest of his life in a Satra. The one we went to was the biggest Satra in Asia. This place is enriched by the nature. It was like being one with nature. The ambience and the aura of the place was awe inspiring. Then we saw the museum of the satra. We were overawed by the artifacts in it. There were swords and kayaks used by the ancient people. Scriptures, books, and lots of more stuff were present here. After seeing this we moved on to go to our destination on Majuli island-Tribal village. But as we got out of the satra we saw a small hutment. Over here, there was a “so-called baba“. He was 93 years of age and ate cannabis only! How horrible and disgusting was that. More over he was wearing nothing and his modesty was covered by some dense dirty long hair that he was cuddling on his lap. After seeing this awful place and awful person we moved on.

Tribal village was just a couple of minutes away. Over here we saw those trademark bamboo stilt houses. Saw the lifestyle of the tribal people. But now their condition is improving. They no longer move around naked or in bare essentials. After witnessing all this at close quarters we had to go back now. So we were moving towards the jetty when Mr. Nobu discovered that there were two vehicles stuck in the muck and so after pondering for a couple of minutes he gave us an alternative. He asked if we would be ready travel in a kayak! This was something new and we had not planned this at all, so we all were game for it. So after weaving through all the small lanes and by lanes of Majuli we reached a point where there was a small pond of water and a man with his kayak was helping people cross the pond. The distance was very small. Not even half a minute. So we got in the kayak-3 people at a time and crossed the pond. During this Mr. Waghware slipped while getting out of the kayak but by gods grace didn’t have any injury. So after this incident we boarded the ferry nearby carefully. By the time we got in it very much resembled a local train in Mumbai, Same crowd, same smelling peoples, same chaos and the trademark-being late. Baba, Mr. Date, Mr. Parab and Mr. Tekwani were on the roof of the ferry! They traveled the whole distance sitting in a winger placed on the roof. Even the roof was crowded. I was busy reading a murder mystery that I had got from Baba’s library. We had traveled for one and half hour while coming here, but now it took us two and half hours to travel the same distance. When we got down we came to know the reason for this. The ferry was carrying three times the people it carried in our previous journey!

So again after walking through all that muck we reached our vehicle. Washed our feet in a nearby pond and boarded the winger. Soon we were on our way to our roof of the night- Khaliabor Manor. It was another one hour drive till there-r so we thought. So we had some eatables and were resting. I was dreaming about a palace with a king size bed and a great green lawn. I was woken up by a screech of brakes. Now we were besides the entrance to Kaziranga national park. In our travel brochure, it was said that we would be staying in a 19^th century bungalow in the middle of tea gardens in Kaziranga forest. So we thought that we would have to enter the Kaziranga reserve from here. But when we called up the place they told us that we don’t have to get in the reserve but drive further down. When enquired they told us that it was near Jakhlabanda-the place were our vehicle had its fuse blown off and which was another 60km drive from here! This was too much now. I again decided to get my 40 winks. So in no time is was in dreamland. When I woke up this time with a thud I came to know that the baggage on top of our vehicle had hit a bulb while entering the gate of the manor. When I got out of the car and into the manor it was a great sight. A dimly lit huge corridor was awaiting us. Soon we unloaded the baggage from our vehicle. The owner of the manor Mr. Prashanto greeted us warmly and so did his staff. When he showed us our rooms we were dumb struck. It was as I had dreamed. There was a king size bed and also a vast pasture outside. But the only problem was, we required four rooms and he could provide us with three only and one was made available in a hotel 5km down the way. So we decided to adjust in here. And moreover we were just in love with this place. We had our dinner here and chatted with Mr. Prashanto about our plans for the next day. We were supposed to go for elephant safari, but he advised that rains already getting on it would be risky to go on an elephant safari. He suggested that we rather go for a jeep safari. We took his advice and cancelled our elephant safari plans. After having dinner we toured the manor. It was simply huge and magnificent. There was a huge reading room equipped with chimney and all. It was so very nice. The bathroom was king size and I had a nice wash in the bathtub. In no while after I hit my king size bed I was in dreamland again.