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