Assam by Tinat: October 2013

Pristine Waters!

Just a couple of hours away from the city of Guwahati and I never thought this would be the right place to write and compose. A place which whispered rare secrets which were visible only if you allowed your heart to take over your mind. And I did just that! For the first time in my life, I just let me be myself! Time seemed to stand still and I just allowed my heart to do whatever it wanted to do, without reprimanding it. It teased me to no end and made me write lines, which were magical!

Chandubi, a place which is most often populated during winters, more so because people like to laze around the huge placid lake, dream endlessly, while they ate oranges. But deciding to go during a time when there was just us and no one else, was heaven. There were moments when we could almost hear ourselves breathing as we sat in the Assam Tourism lodge, which was very close to the Chandubi Lake. An hour after we arrived at the guest house, it rained heavily and the electricity went dead for a fairly long time. Soon, an hour later, when the sky cleared and the full moon came through, the place was transformed into a fairy-land, with glow-worms performing for us as we sat glued to the scene. As Kalita, the care-taker lit a candle for us, I sang endlessly and a while later, I just couldn’t help but compose, as usual, a poem, the lines of which came straight from the heart.

Dinner was sumptuous and Kalita divulged the secret of the tasty meal of lentils, rice and vegetables to being cooked over firewood. I remember greedily helping myself to four servings of lentils, with a dash of fresh lemon and green chillies.

Everyone decided to hit the hay early. But not me. I stayed up to write. Maybe I would get a second place like this, but I wanted to make the most of the present situation. It was well past midnight when I slept.

I woke up to Tirus’ sharp shout, “Mom, wake up or we are going to leave you!” I jumped out of bed, brushed and got into something before Tirus decided to leave me.

We drove down to the Chandubi ghat, where a boat approached us. Sanjay and Vijay, with friendly smiles writ across their faces, took us across the Lake, which left us awestruck. There was just this bounteous, breath-taking, scenic landscape all around us. And apart from the gentle resonance of the oar on the water, there was a stillness and comforting calm, which involuntarily made us whisper to each other.

The other bank had this relaxed, lazy Rabha village through which we walked and saw things, which left us richer than we expected.

Having grown up in a concrete jungle, Tirus would squeal with delight seeing his natural surroundings. As he walked past fields of rice he kept asking questions to Sanjay, who walked ahead of us and kept answering his queries, never for once thinking that they were strange or queer.

At the end of one turn in a field, we were in for a lovely surprise. Right in front us, flowing from a huge rocky crevice was a waterfall; the Anne Falls. Tirus, after much coaxing and cajoling, decided to have a taste of the ‘natural shower’, which the Sanjay-Vijay duo made in a fraction of a second as they stuck a bamboo split in half in one of the cracks in the waterfall, so that the water smoothly flowed through it and fell into the small lagoon, where by the time Tirus was expectantly waiting for the icy cold water to hit him. As it did, he jumped and screamed in joy!

How could a village tour be complete without meeting the oldest man who actually started the settlement and also without watching what was being weaved at the loom?

As we took the walk back and then the ride this time in a covered boat across the lake, I realised to my contentment what wonderful guides we found in Sanjay and Vijay, untrained in tourism management but who would put most trained guides to shame. Their soft, unassuming nature blended so well with the placid lake we crossed and ‘uncrossed’.

We went back to the lodge happy as happy could be and after lunch, slept for hours, without a care in the world.

Another evening when the moon rose red and large and the fire-flies danced even crazier than ever. Again, another evening of my feverish writing. Oh, I wished I could stay here forever! I could probably come up with endless chronicles. However, this night I decided to sleep early and wake up late!

I was the first to wake up. As I tiptoed to the veranda of the lodge, a crisp morning greeted me. I meditated, prayed, read, sang, wrote and in no time, Tirus was up and playing cricket.

Lunch was again a delectable spread. We told Kalita how we are going to miss his food.

As we drove back through dense green foliage, tea gardens, rice fields, markets, then the city to reach home, we felt our spirits soar. We were ready to take on the world with a new found energy. Two days of a holiday; timeless and priceless!