Tea break!

Putting the exploratory shoes on

Its a new city and I don't even know the half of it. The only places I went out yesterday were the food joints which all seemed to have good stock of Roshogullas! Speaking of, this city is a complete goner for mishti (sweets), chaat food and Tea. Wherever I look, people would be munching either one of those 3. I decided not to be the odd man out and had Roshogullas after my meals! Yes I was on a mission to reduce weight during these vacations, but there is always a tomorrow for diet, isn't it? So I decided to spend the Sunday meaning fully and dug up the DSLR from my bag. Glad that I bought the battery charger as well which I thought I lost it. Agenda was simple, keep walking on the road till there is an obstacle.

Roads struggling to keep up with the dense overgrowth

My first stop was temples. Like any other Indian city, there were lots and lots of temples. There was a Hanuman function, Bagheshwari temple, Ram temple and so on. And with so many temples come so many people. But these temples have a completely different architecture from what Ive seen till now. All of them come with provisions for Rain!

Hanuman Temple

Bagheshwari temple Gate

Bagheshwari Temple

Ram Temple

Ram Temple

Ram Temple

Moving along, within half a kilometer, the town was over. It gave away to lush green tea plantations. Later I got to know that those were part of a private tea estate called Birjhora tea estate. Also along the road were ducks, cattle and open fields.

Ducks

Police Radio Hill

Tea Estate

Sipansila hills overlooking the estate

They just never seem to end

cattle grazing the plains

Some more Tea

I wonder if there were as much tea drinkers in the world

I could walk only 2.5 kilometers when I encountered a river which when I traced now, flows into the Brahmaputra river. Looking at the low water levels, I can now understand the monsoon has not really started. Also at the river I met a few casual policemen who figured out I was alien and started with the usual questions. Upon asking the policeman how to climb a nearby hill, he replied you cant go! a man was murdered there. The rain, murder etc are all casual stuff for these people. I took a photo of the policeman as courtesy and turned back.

The River that flows into the Brahmaputra

Tea gardens on both sides

The policeman who was rather shy

Good thing was I got some really nice shots of sunset and I was just in time back home before dark. Now dark is 5.30 pm here as the days start early and end very early! Oops, its almost 10.30 pm (midnight) gotta sleep!

Sunset off the Bagheshwari Hill

Good to see most of the villagers use bicycle

Sunset

Back Home, or Office should I say

Asom - The land of Tea, Rain and abundance

The female whom I've never seen, announced that the Train will stop at New Bongaigaon for two minutes. It jolted me awake as I was travelling in Rajdhani express and if I happen to miss my stop, the next stop was Guwahati which was a tiring 3 hour journey back! So I quickly stuffed whatever I thought belonged to me in my bags and ran towards the door. Totally there were 2 passengers getting down in Bongaigaon and the second one was me. Two minutes was more than enough.

New Bongaigaon Railway Station

As I entered the town, the mountains immediately caught my attention. Also what I saw was rain and thunder. While looking up Bongaigaon, I saw that Assam is the central state of the Seven sisters and land-locked on all sides. It receives all the rivers from the Bhutanese mountains and there are large number of rivers through Assam which drain into the brahmaputra. No wonder there was so much greenery around. This was the start of the monsoon season and it peaks in May-July. I was expecting humid and hot conditions but the greenery and chillness made me think if this was Kerala.

The White colored rivers draining into Brahmaputra

I had a two month internship at an organization called Sesta, which is an NGO which helps in development of rural section through assistance. The executive director Mr Aswini had given me clear instructions to reach the office and after a 4 km short ride in an Auto reached the place. The moment I got charged(read cheated) Rs 150 for a 4 kilometer ride I realized this is very much like home. The first glance of Sesta was impressive and serene. There was greenery all around and it was a 3 bedroom Bungalow which they constructed into an office.

Sesta Office Bongaigaon

After freshing up and instructions from Aswini about the internship, I got the news that I was to live in this bungalow for 2 nights all alone! Generally, I am not one to be scared, but the constant lightning and thunderstorms were not helping. Moreover, the spiders and all sorts of flying insects were feeding my paranoia. Somehow it all got nullified with the tiredness from the train journey and within minutes I was snoring with dreams. The kind of dreams I get during overnight camps in treks to the mountains.

Some Pictures of the office:

Kithen with infinite supply of Assam Tea!

Thou shall rest here

WorkPlace

Some awards by Sesta:

World Bank

Development Assistance