TL;DR: This blog is part-1 of my backpacking+paragliding pilot course experience that happened at the start of 2020.
The first part talks about my backpacking to Majuli. The second part would talk about my paragliding pilot course in Dirang. The third part would be about hitchhiking from Dirang to Guwahati (Over 35 hrs of some crazy and spine-chilling experience, literally)
It had been almost two years since I backpacked, the last backpack was a loop around Rajasthan and covering most of the UNESCO forts. This time I had clubbed my backpacking along with learning an adventure sport, paragliding. Unlike other backpacking trips, this time, I had read a little about places to visit as Ihad to do some prior planning. I picked Majuli, and I didn’t decide any other as I had to head to Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh where I had to be for paragliding pilot (P1, i.e. Beginner and P2, i.e. Novice ) training.
About Majuli:
Majuli is the largest river island in the world. It is situated on the Brahmaputra river. Some experts believe that in the next decade or so this island might disappear owing to excessive sediment discharge. Keeping this Aside, Majuli is a vibrant, pristine, and surreal place to be. The people are so warm and welcoming (Experienced it, will talk in a while). You can read more about Majuli online. I am keeping the intro short :).
Day 1: Jan 1, 2020
Reaching Majuli:
I flew from Bangalore to Jorhat, the nearest airport to reach Majuli. I hitchhiked to Nimati ghat, from where you can get a ferry to Kamalabari ghat, Majuli (Approx 1 hr 30 mins Journey). I met a local who was heading to his hometown about 20km. We had a good chat about the tribes and culture of Majuli.
Once we got down from the ferry, he offered me to drop by the nearest village where I could find someplace to stay overnight. He dropped me to Garamur, a decently big community in majuli and about 10km from kamalabari, the ferry junction. I found a homestay nearby. The homestay had bamboo huts resembling Mising and Deori tribe shacks (two of the three main tribes in Majuli, the third tribe being Sonowal Kachari).
It was getting dark (the sunsets at around 5 pm) and getting a little cold too. Uncle (Owner) had lit up a bonfire, and the family members and other two backpackers joined along.
There was a lot of social unrest going around. Recently there were shutdown and protest due to constitutional amendments related to citizenship that had recently come into effect. In 2016, I was backpacking when the Indian Government had just announced demonetization, and there was a cash crunch all around, that time too it was a slack period for tourism and the helpless people making a living from it. (Link to photoblog. https://www.facebook.com/shivram.dega/media_set?set=a.1207418332668257&type=3 . Might need a FB login ). Tourism had taken a setback at Majuli, and a handful of tourists were around during peak time. The owner talked about cancellation happening till the next ten months and most foreign nationals backing out. The talks on various topics went on till midnight. It was the first time I was observing myself being so addicted to the bonfire. It’s one hell of addiction, especially when its cold and clear sky to stargaze (Saw the Orion hunter constellation). Though it was a long day (had woke up at 3 am to catch the flight) I still felt energetic.
Day 2: Jan 2, 2020
The Namghar day:
I woke up to the birds chirping and bright sunrays entering my hut. You could feel the fresh air gushing down to lungs and rejuvenating. I went around the homestay’s backyard — A farmland, and a small fish pond. People in Majuli have a small pond behind their house and practice pisciculture. It’s mostly for their daily consumption. Rice and Fish is a part of their staple diet.
After a delicious breakfast, I set out to see around Majuli. I rented out a scooter and rode slowly at around 15kmph indulging in the beautiful flora and fauna. Spotted a white-breasted kingfisher, a lesser adjutant stork, and some wild geese on the way to Samaguri Satra (Famous for mask making)
I took a pit stop at a weaving showroom that was set up by the women of Mising tribe. It had all the local tradition stuff on display, mostly produced at the shop. Also, they had all the machinery/tool used in weaving at the showroom, and those were locally made. They were quite vocal about local, and maybe they had no choice.
If you come across and meet someone from the Mising tribe, they would insist you visit their home, offer you Apong (Traditional wine brewed from rice at home) as a welcome drink. If you refuse to have some, It might offend them, kidding :)
A Satras is a centre of culture, art, literature and classical studies. Every Satra has a Namghar (prayer house).
I reached the Samaguri Satra. The priest gave me some prasad (offertory) to eat. Next to the Satra was the oldest mask making centre. The person gave me a walkthrough about the history and an overview of the process of mask-making (Needs a lot of patience to make one, and is made year-round for festivals). I also tried a few masks, and the owner was kind enough to click some pictures of me :)
Next was to see the making of earthen pots at salmora. On the way to salmora, I met a young lad riding his bicycle on a dirt road towards salmora village. He guided me till salmora (remote and muddy path for like 3 km). Santosh was a resident of salmora, he had been to a nearby post office (around 10kms from his home) and was on his way back.
On reaching salmora, he introduced me to a local who made earthen pots at home. On his request, the person gave me a demo of pottery. You can watch the timelapse video above.
After that, I went around salmora, you will find that the whole village is into pottery. There are open furnaces all around this small community that make earthen pots.
Next, I headed towards Dakhinpat Satra (One of the oldest and famous). Just after a few hundred metres, I saw Santosh standing by the road. He insisted me to have tea at his home. His mom made some ‘lal cha’ (Red tea) and offered some betel & nut (The leaves were fresh from his backyard garden). After thanking him for the much-needed refreshment, I headed to Dakhinpat Satra.
On the way, I saw a ferry signboard and led to explore that. I reached Afolamukh ferry service (The lesser-known ferry service usually taken by the locals staying eastward side in Majuli.).
I went around the bank and found a fisherman having his fishing setup, requested him to show a demo of his fishing setup. Watch the above video
After taking some dirt roads, I reached Dakhinpat Satra. A well-maintained Satra. As soon as I entered Namghar, I could feel some positive vibes. Spent some time sitting in a corner and absorbing tranquillity.
Next was Uttar kamalabari Satra, one of the old and prominent Satras near kamalabari town. It was a scenic ride with large paddy and mustard fields on the sides (For some reason the ride reminded of the remote hippie island, Hampi) to Uttar kamalabari Satra. Spent some time seeing the design and paintings in namghar and relics used in worship.
Next up was Auniati Satra, one of the most well-known Satra in Assam. There is also a small museum with artifacts from the 1700 AD. The Namghar here has scriptures written on leaves that could be hundreds of years old. There was no one in Namghar at that time. I sat in a corner with my eyes closed and was in that state for about 40–45 mins. I came to conscious hearing the loud sound of the bell rung to remind of the evening worship.
It was getting dark. I quickly gathered myself and made a move to my next destination “New kamalabari Satra”. I reached here after about 15 mins. The prayers were over, and people were leaving home. I quickly visited the Namghar. It was quite dark. So decided to get out and visit the last Satra on my list, Garamur Satra. It was pitch dark (5:30 pm) when I reached the priest was about to close the Namghar. He allowed me to get in to spend some time. He also offered me some prasad (offertory).
I headed back to the homestay. Riding in the pitch dark patches, I turned off my headlight and rode slowly in moonlight night and flashes of light from one-off vehicles coming in the opposite direction.
It was such a delightful day. Reached the homestay and had “lal cha” made by Aunty. Uncle had started the bonfire in the backyard today. We had some fun conversations, delicious dinner, and jovial talk with Jadav Payeng (The Forest man of India) over a phone call (The owner knew him) under an open sky with shimmering stars. A night that I wished never passed.
Day 3: Jan 3, 2020
Journey to Dirang via Tezpur:
I was contemplating to stay back another day and visit some more parts of majuli (The interior and tribal places in Majuli, i.e. Bijoychapori , Siyalchapori etc.). It would be sort of risking my travel to dirang, given the social unrest, I didn’t want to take a chance.
After having some (Read hogging, screw diet ) delicious puris and curry for breakfast, I bid goodbye to the family and fellow travellers.
It started drizzling when I got into the ferry, and it seemed like the rain gods crying that I was leaving. That last sentence was a little puffery, and you can expect to have frequent drizzles/showers in winters as well, keep a poncho, handy :).
About 2 hrs 30 mins of upstream ferry ride led to reaching Nimati ghat, Jorhat. I quickly ran to get hold of a shared auto that took me to the Jorhat bus stop. Luckily I got a bus that was just leaving to Tezpur (It was about 1 pm). The hogging helped me; the bus wasn’t going to stop anywhere for lunch. The buses from Jorhat to the nearby cities mostly run till 2 pm (So if you are travelling to another city make sure you leave early as the upstream ferry ride takes much longer depending on conditions).
I reached Tezpur around 5:30 pm. I stayed nearby the main bazaar. I went around the streets for a night walk, the shop’s shutter by 9 pm. I could feel the temperature being much lesser than majuli, signs of mountains nearby. There are shared taxis to Dirang that leave early morning at 5:30 am. You need to book at least a day before you get there. I had to halt here for a day.
Day 4: Jan 4, 2020
Walking around Tezpur:
The next day ventured around Tezpur on foot mostly (Walked about 20 km and a couple of hitchhikes), visiting a bunch of places. I also booked my tickets to Dirang (Got a seat next to the driver ;) ).
Talking about Tezpur, It deserves another blog of its own, someday hopefully. Here are a few pictures of some of the places I visited. I did have a great time and experience meeting new people in Tezpur.
Day 5: 5th Jan, 2020
Enroute Dirang:
I am always excited to travel through the Himalayan mountains (Enjoy most of it by foot though). We started our journey at around 6 am in a Tata Sumo. I was listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s “Talking to Strangers”. An hour into the drive I could see the mountains approaching, I could feel butterflies in my empty gut, literally, yeah I have severe motion sickness, and I forgot to have the Dramamine pills. A few minutes into the tipsy turvy roads, I was all out in an hour. I hydrated and had some khattu (Some local fruit that prevents nausea) at a pit stop, moved into the backseat and then dozed off. Next, I remember waking up at bomdila (at about noon) an hour away from Dirang. Reached dirang and then a vehicle from Institute came to pick me from the dirang market.
All set for the paragliding course starting next day ( 6th to Jan 15 2020). Before I got going into the next experience of flying, I took some time to reminisce about the time spent in Majuli.
I would go back to majuli soon someday. For me now — Namghar is a metonym to tranquillity and Majuli a harbinger of warmth and glee.