Day 6

After having a warm and cozy sleep it was very difficult to get up. After some time baba called me and I had to leave the bed. After completing the daily chores I walked up into the lawns around the manor. It was a perfect day for photography. So out came my camera. There were some beautiful flowers around. It was a delight to have these favorable conditions so close to comfort.
Soon breakfast was served. After having boiled eggs for breakfast we chatted with owner of manor. He was telling us about the resort he is developing uphill. He was building an infinity pool there which was going to be the major attraction in that area. So we decided to go to the site. It was a beautiful there. We could see the mighty Bramhaputra River below. It was flowing with an audacity that commanded awe and respect. After spending some time here we moved on to the tea gardens. During this time Mr. Date had catastrophe! He mistakenly deleted all the photos in the memory of his camera. It seemed like we were going to lose some memories. It was a beautiful experience in the tea gardens. The trees were not so big. We also visited a Kamakhya mata mandir in nearby. Over here we even performed aarti in Marathi. There was a guy name Ravi with us. He was acting as our guide and translator. He was telling us various things about tea gardens. We interacted with some of the tea plucking ladies there. They gave us there baskets for snapping some pictures. It was great the way they plucked the leaves and all. We tried it but failed utterly. Soon it was time to head back to the manor.
Once in the manor we spent some time resting in the lounge and on the lawns. After having our lunch we had a small afternoon siesta. In late afternoon we were moving towards Kaziranga national park for jeep safari. On reaching Kaziranga we found two jeeps waiting for us. We soon boarded the jeep and were just into the forest when our jeep stopped. On right side of our jeep around 50feets away was a one horned rhino! We never expected to spot one so easily and so early. In another jeep in front of us there was a foreign tourist family. The amazing thing about them was that the guy in that family was carrying a camera with its lens so big that even a bomb canon would be ashamed of itself! Soon they went the other way. We were spotting rhino is the tall grass around. Even some elephants were present there. But we could not get a close fine look as they were hidden in tall grass. But we kept on moving. After traveling for around an hour and finding nothing specific we decided to retrace our tracks. While going back we had a wireless message saying that one rhino was on the road and to be careful. On hearing this we moved swiftly towards that spot but with caution. We were disappointed to see the rhino just moving into the grass. We were disheartened. But soon fate had something else in store for us. Just a few feet away there was another rhino! He was almost as if posing for the shutterbugs. It was awesome. I think I got almost 20-25 pictures of the rhino. It was breathtaking. For the first time I have seen some wild animal so close in his natural habitat. The animal commanded respect. After about 20 minutes he moved away. We went ahead towards a watch post nearby. From here we could see the banks of Bramhaputra. It was a fine view. We were mind-boggled. There were animals in the swamp on the other side of the river. We could see them move but could not make out as to what they were. They looked like swamp deer. Over here there is a watch post. Just besides it there is a stack of skulls of rhino, wild buffalo, and deer. It was awesome. The teeth in the skull were like just out of a horror film. Even a normal photo of them looked like a macro picture. After spending some time here we moved on. Now the sun was almost setting and it looked as if it would rain any moment now so we hurried back to our waiting car and moved towards the manor. Once in the manor the rain started pouring. I was sitting in a small closed balcony type room. Reading a novel in that dimly lit room and then feeling the actual thrill from the novel in reality. After spending a good hour and half we moved on for dinner.
After the tasty dinner we toured the manor at night! It was like a guided tour. The changes that are carried out in the manor now and many other things were shone to us by the owner. He was an amicable man. So the night ended with a group photograph with him and us sleeping pretty in our warm cozy beds.

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.

Day 4

Wake up call at 3:00am. Today we had to go to Majuli Island. It is the biggest river island in the world. To reach there we had to drive 100km. in the morning when we were about to leave it was raining heavily. We surprised to know that our driver did not have any trampoline to save our baggage from getting wet. So in the morning we had to wait till the rains reduced. So we left our hotel at 4:30am. The morning was moist and weather was cool. In the vehicle during our journey everyone was having fun. Songs were being sung and jokes cracked. We were having a whale of a time. And again the calamity struck when we least expected it. At a railway crossing our vehicle stalled. Thank good ness there was a garage just next to it. So we spent a good hour in the garage trying to find what was wrong. Some of us also visited the Jakhlabanda station nearby in the meantime. So after pondering over the vehicles problem it was diagnosed that the fuse was down. So we replaced in seconds and were on our way to Majuli.

During this we drove through the terrains of Kaziranga National Park. It was nice and huge. We even saw a baby elephant! But then horror struck when we read a board saying Nimitighat 30km. This was the place from where we had to catch a ferry to go to Majuli Island. It was almost 4:30pm and last ferry was at around 5:30pm. Our driver then drove like mad and we reached Nimitighat at 5:15pm. But alas there was loads of muck in our way to the jetty. Driver refused to down as he was worried that the vehicle might get stuck. So we missed the ferry. We called our tour manager and he arranged a hotel for us in Jorhat- a horrible small town. Our driver had no idea where this hotel was. We stopped at a petrol pump and asked for directions. Over here we met a guy. He was a musician-guitarist. He told us that he has played for a studio and was the player strumming the chords of guitar for Bollywood flick “De Dana Dan”.

When we reached our hotel it was one of the worst places I have ever lived in. It was simply DISGUSTING. We dumped our bags in the hotel and got out to look for a hotel to have dinner. First place we visited was a small hotel which was not able to fulfill our requirements at all. So we found another hotel named Jay-15. This one was better “looking” than the previous one. So we opted for this. The food was horrendous. Preparations not good and rates over the top! But the high point was when the guy was trying to sell us two extra rice plates which we had cancelled and they hadn’t served. His argument was as the entry was made in the so called bill-having no VAT number-the order had to be paid for. Moreover he was charging us with money for services like no fan or AC, no lights, no ventilation! We told him that if he provides us with a proper bill containing all the details we would readily pay. Coming to know of his blooper and not ready to go of his extra buck that he would have gained he was disgruntled. So he cancelled the services cost but taunted us that we are not worthy of going to any restaurant! This was the boiling point. We just gave it to him in our Mumbai style! We told him that he should close this hotel and start a pav bhaji selling cart. Just imagine 15 Mum-“bhais” getting on a Jorhati hotel manager! It was chaos. After pouring our hearts out to him about the quality of his hotel we left the place. We reached our hotel and went straight to our beds.

Day 3

Wake up call at 6:30 am. Today we were to visit the Mawsynram caves. But our first place to visit was Elephant falls. It’s a picture postcard waterfall but the chaos created by the public makes it loose its sheen. This fall has three points of view. The first one is ok but not good. The second one is fine but not overwhelming and the third one is not allowed to anyone! So after climbing down a fleet of stairs, we reached the base of phase two of the falls. Clicked some photographs here and turned towards prime location of the day- Mawsynram caves. It was a 44 km journey from Shillong to Mawsynram. The driver being a new to this area we had to stop at intervals to ask for directions. We were driving through hills and valleys. On the way saw pretty tribal villages. They were small but well kept and maintained. A peculiarity of houses here is that every house has a many potted plants and almost every plant has loads of flowers on it. It feels so nice to look at these houses. Many women carrying new born kids on their back made a nice picture. After a drive of about 3 hours we reached Mawsynram caves.

Mawsynram cave is a silent place. It has a claming effect. In spite of being naturally carved it is overwhelming. A “ling” of Lord Shankar is formed out of stalagmites here. The naturally formed “ling” is huge in size. After praying we traced our way back to Shillong. On the way we had a punctured wheel-twice. We got back to Shillong by afternoon. In Shillong our driver was looking for a garage to fix his spare wheel, but it being a Sunday all the garages in the city were shut down. We had to go to Majuli next day which was a 100km drive so our vehicle being ready was our utmost concern. Our tour plan said that today evening we were to visit the Shillong city. So our driver arranged three taxis for us. We first visited the cathedral of shillong. It is the biggest cathedral in the North-East. After spending some 15-20 minutes here we moved on to next destination that was Wurd’s lake. This is a nice place but again marred by the crowds. From here we went to the golf rink of Shillong. It is more of a park than a golf course. After spending some time here and chalking out plan for the next day we moved to the police bazaar of Shillong. Over here we had lunch at a Hotel named Broadway. It was nice and had no wall in side they had mobile partitions which were placed according to the requirements of the customers. Had a nice cozy dinner and returned back to Hotel.

Day 2

We woke up at 07:00 am and were ready by 08:30 am. Today we were going to visit Cheerapunji and Shillong peak. But our great driver overslept and we were delayed by an hour. Meanwhile we were clicking photographs in the surrounding area. We started of at 09:30 am towards Shillong peak. It was our first destination in Shillong. It had started drizzling now. But by the time we reached peak the rain was gone with the wind but fog stayed on. The view was nice from here. We overlooked complete Shillong city from this point. Photography galore we were capturing every frame worth capturing. But ad mist this all mist played spoilsport. Mr. Date along with his family dressed up in the traditional khasi outfits which were available on rent there. Now we were taking all sorts of photographs of them in different poses. We even clicked some pictures with them sitting on some sport bikes nearby and also as warring with another guy who also was dressed up in khasi outfit. After spending a good hour and half here we moved on towards Cheerapunji.

It was a three hour drive from here. The weather was getting worse. Now it was raining heavily. We were chatting and joking in the vehicle. Mrs. Waghvare and Mayuri were entertaining us with there pleasant vocal chords. The beauty of the nature around us was simply breath taking. There were huge pastures of land and small villages along the width of the road. Then as we proceeded we were among the mountains. There were tall mountains and valleys around us. Nature was at its best. Many stone quarries were along the sides of the road. Mica was abundant in these mountains. Many rivers flowed alongside us. The fog in here was a hindrance in our way. It reduced the visibility to great extents. Sun was playing hide and seek. When sun came out of the clouds we climbed out of the vehicle and took some pictures and continued with the journey. So it was all hunky dory.

Our first point to visit in Cheerapunji was Noakhlakai falls. These are the forth tallest waterfall in the world. The story goes that a widowed lady remarried. She had a daughter from her first wedlock and she loved her very much. But her new husband was jealous of this daughter. So he killed her and cooked her flesh when this lady was not at home. When she returned she didn’t find her daughter at home so she searched everywhere. Later on she found the fingers of her daughter in kitchen. She felt guilty about leaving her daughter alone at house. So she committed suicide by jumping off this waterfall.

The waterfalls are absolutely wonderful. The water falling from the cliff into the small lake at the bottom was just amazing. After spending some time here doing some shopping for spices we moved on.

Our next stop was Mawsmai caves. These caves are an adventurers dream. There is a feeling of mystery in them. The carvings formed by the hand of nature are intriguing and have a beauty of there own. At first one of our groups went there to check if they are worth seeing. But they didn’t seem as fascinating as we expected them to be. It was mainly due to huge crowds creating chaos there. The water dripping from the rocks above made it all the worse. People playing around in that stagnant water only made the situation worse. Due to it the water awfully smelled. Unable to bear this we just took a few snaps and got out. But still our inquisitive self was not sufficed. So we went to the other end of the caves- the place from where we got out- the exit of the cave. And started our journey back inside from the opposite end. It was nice and now we could feel its real untouched beauty. After spending some quality time here we headed back to Shillong.

The rain had lessened. Nature in its complete glory could be witnessed now. Skies were clear. Perfect for photography and sight seeing. Our winger had got wings and gliding on the roads. We were traveling among the hills witnessing the beauty of nature. Just when we were nearing Shillong we saw an air force museum. Having plenty of time in our kitty we decided to have a look.

We enquired the gate. They let us in easily and soon we met a guy who used to be in Thane! After chatting with him for some time we entered the museum. At the entrance there was huge rocket launcher ready to take down its target. On the left hand side there was a life size chopper. Once we entered the museum there were portraits of all the aero planes and helicopters used by the air force through out its history. There was a model of unmanned plane which was used for target practice. There was a sense of glory and achievement about this place. We saw some photographs from archives about the signing of surrender documents by Lt Gen Niazi. The heroic deed of Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon brought tears to our eyes and also made us proud that our country produces such brave sons. Various awards and mementos won by the Eastern air command were show cased here. Uniforms of various ranks in air force were displayed here. Miniature models of airplanes being currently used were very nice. Some bombs used by the planes and also machine guns which are installed in planes were displayed here. After seeing this all we moved on to other side of the road. Here were two huge planes kept for display. We posed in front of it for some pictures. We could also see the cockpit and the various instruments he has at his disposal. By now the sun was on its way to the other side of the world. So we decided to proceed towards our hotel. A ride of 15 minutes took us to our destination.

After having soup we decided to visit the police bazaar. It was dark and night life was blooming on the streets. Various restaurants giving out the smell of their delicacies was alluring. After roaming around for sometime we went to a hotel called City Dhaba.

This was a very pretty hotel. It was huge and the ambience over here was mind blowing. Over here we met a waiter who had been a waiter in Andheri in Mumbai. The place was full by this time and we were munching on the delicacies being served. Once we were done with our dinner we called up our hotel and asked him to pick us up from here. By the time he came there was a power cut and it had started raining like crazy here. So we hoped in to our car and were soon in our soft beds.

Day 1

Plans for this tour were being drafted from our Elephanta caves trip. After rigorous planning by Baba and Mr. Prakash Date the tour was finalized and bookings carried out. Date was fixed as 16^th of April 2010.

Day 1:

We started of from our place at 04:15 am. We had arranged for a vehicle for journey to airport. It was supposed to arrive at 04:30 am but it arrived a good half an hour late. We picked up Mr. Vishnu Tekwani on the way and later picked up Mr. and Mrs. Waghvare from Mulund.

Journey in the wee hours of Mumbai was pleasant and traffic nil. So we were ruling the roads. In next half an hour we reached the airport. Once we reached the airport we were joined by Date family and Mr. Suresh Parab. Greetings were exchanged and we proceeded towards the check in. After going through the security procedures and the regular airport formalities we reached the gate. From here we were taken to our plane by a bus. Everyone was excited as we had hardly done journey by an airplane.

Once in the airplane, we got to our seats and were waiting for the plane to take off. But it was not to be. We were anticipating at every announcement that it would be the call for take off. Every time we were disappointed. It may be because of our impatience but the wait seemed never ending. Added to it a Bengali couple who claimed to be claustrophobic was creating a lot of chaos. They were just quarreling with the flight attendants to open the hatch of the plane. The plane was a good hour late by now. It was disappointing. They were saying that it is always the planes going to Kolkata that are delayed! Meanwhile the pilot had announced that we would be taking off in 5 minutes. This announcement cooled off the things for sometime but that couple was just not ready to stop it. They were quarelling with attendants even after the flight had taken off.

Once in the sir we could see the slums surrounding the Mumbai airport. There was also sea and buildings that could be seen. The weather was nice. Day was sunny enough. We could see clouds and pieces of land peeking in between them. After watching this for around half an hour we could see nothing more other than the clouds. A journey of two and half hours took us to Netaji Subhash Chandra Basu Airport in Kolkata. Over here we had a halt of 40 minutes. During this halt we roamed around in airport and also took some snaps. We tried to convince the flight attendant to let us have a sneak peek in the cockpit. He agreed but only when we reach Guwahati airport. We were excited about it now. Once the plane took off from Kolkata we celebrated Mayuri Date’s birthday. Had a nice cake and also gave a piece to the flight attendant. He was damn surprised. Later on he even celebrated her birthday again by arranging a cake and making her stand on the seat itself! It was fun. After around 50 minutes in air we landed in Guwahati. Over here we went into the cockpit. The machines instruments and the devices were damn confusing. Every other machine had a LED light and was making some strange noise. There were radar displays and many other machines. We talked to the pilot name Steven. He seemed to be a jolly good guy and had pictures taken with us. We made him feel like celebrity. After finishing with this all we boarded a bus again to take us to the airport. After picking up our baggage we proceeded towards the car park. Over here we met Mr. Jitu. He was our driver cum guide cum tour manager. Actually he was nothing of it. He was the owner of the vehicle i.e. winger. But his driver was on holiday. He was coming for the first time to Shillong with us and hardly knew any roads.

After loading our baggage on the vehicle we moved on towards Guwahati city. Over here we did some shopping in a store called “Silkalay”. We went to the Kamakhya Temple but there was a huge line and the next line was to be started at 03:30 pm so we decided to offer our prayers from a distance and move on. So after praying for a nice and memorable journey we move out. There were lots of goats and pigeons around the temple. There is a ritual of sacrificing the goat to the deity. We even saw a young goat being taken for sacrifice. After witnessing all this we moved on towards our next destination Shillong-Capital of Meghalaya.

The road was not so good but we all were cool with it. There was chatting going on, laughing, joking all in all everyone was having a lot of fun. Once in the afternoon we decided that we won’t wait for lunch any where rather will proceed to Shillong directly. In this part of the world sun rises at around 04:30 in the morning and sets at around 5:30-06:00pm. At 07:00 pm in the evening it becomes pitch dark over here. The weather was pleasant with a light drizzle. We were enjoying the journey along the mountains and valleys. We stopped for tea in the evening at a small store. While everyone else was having tea and coffee I and Mayuri were having roti and chapati. From here Shillong was another hour and half away. Shadows were getting elongated and we were driving through the small villages and tea plantations.

It was around 07:30 pm when we reached Shillong city. Over here it was pitch dark now and most of the shops were shutting down. We decided that we would have our lunch first and then move on to the hotel. So it took us another half an hour to find a nice decent restaurant. After having dinner there we moved on to our hotel. Name of our hotel was Bonnie Guest House.

We reached at the hotel at around 09:00 pm. It took us some time to park our vehicle then we were allotted rooms. Over here our room allotment was such that three rooms were made available in the first wing while the other single room was in the other wing of the building. This was not good as we were in a new unknown city and it would be more secure being together. So we some how persuaded the guy and he gave a luxury apartment in the same wing. Everything was thus settled and we called it a day.