Bakkhali: Little Escape

First things first

Wahida, Sunny, Hitesh, Poonam, Amlan, Masood, Reema, Kiran, Brijesh, Ankush, Swati, Shilpi, Nagarjuna, Kasturiah, Anjali, Kunal, Poulami, Santanu, Shyam, Ashish, Richa, Aneesh... Thanks a ton for letting me join the party and bearing me through out the trip. Needless to say it was one of my most fun outings till date. I felt a lot more welcome in the party than I had initially expected and a company of a few more made it worth remembering :) I had no idea that I will get to meet so many wonderful people at one go. You guys rock! ALL OF YOU!! \m/

Well... hello!

This year January, Bishan, Deepak and I were there at a place called Bakkhali, a beach nearby Kolkata. But we were there only for a couple of hours (detailed in the post Kakdwip, Bakkhali and Us) and were regretting the shortness of the span we got to spend. But a few days back, a whole battaleon from my office planned an entire day there and didnt mind counting me in. And about this post... well, this is my very own personal account of the outing.

To avoid being stuck behind at the queue at the NH-117 Namkhana ferry jetty, we started at the ungodly hour of 1 in the morning. 23 people, one minibus. It took us two and a half hours to cover the distance from Salt Lake to Namkhana. The empty roads helped us speed up but the sudden and frequent zero-visibility fog  at made us slow down as compensation. Masood and I were in the front seats, he hammering the Kolavari di song on my eardrums and I giving him my shut-up gazes but at the same time we both were enjoying the opaque fog which would suddenly appear from absolute nowhere at regular intervals.

After many such ups and downs in our speedometer, we finally reached the Ferry ghat at 330 in the morning and to our surprize, we got to know that the ferry service starts at 7am and not a minute before. My camera performs remarkably poor in the night shots. Among the some dozing some loitering co-passengers, I had to wait for some natural lights to show up.

After it was 5 in the morning, I came out with my camera. This place you see above is the Namkhana Ferry Ghat. And the colour that you see here is close to the original colour that was there. I knew what was coming with some more light.

I waited over the jetty...

The small harbour comes to life even before the sun rays touches it. It gets filled with fish traders and their trawlers.

But as a single-day tourist (that I was that day), I could afford to overlook the daily hardships and concentrate on the scenic offerings. (Is anyone of you able to see the horizon?) Well... After a wait of three and half hours we were on the other side of the canal. The soothing sun from the window was doing a marvelous job in putting my night long awake eyes to sleep. I have never experienced this: Dragged to a comfortable sleep with the sun flashing on your eyes. Wow!

Aaa... I will shrink down the majority of our stay at the Bakkhali beach to just a summary. I wont detail much on how we were shocked to see the sea in its most tourist-repelling state (absolutely no waves, a visible piece of land after some distance in water and nearly a 6-8 minute walk on the sand to touch that waveless water) or on how the battalion of 23 accommodated in a single (15 x 20 ft) room or how we all took our beach-look avatars and first headed for breakfast and then hit the waves. I wont even start on how "yukk" it was to taste the first mili-litre of natually saline water after nineteen years or how devilish freezing the wind felt when we stood up in the water in wet clothes (and how damn good it was to just sit neck deep inside the relatively hot water). I wont try to recollect how badly I was hurting my own throat trying to shout in the water along with a few of those who feature in the first paragraph of this post. No doubt it was crrrrazy but I will tell you about them later... But what I will never tell you about is how cruelly funny the sea can become when it comes to someones favorite sunglasses...

Anyway, after the beach adventure and a good lunch, I headed for the beach again to capture something more. I had no clear idea what I wanted to shoot but I started.

They don't put small umbrellas in your drink but surely a lazy and relaxing evening at a beach goes hardly towards perfection without a Daab paani (tender coconut water). Although I didn't have one myself, but I found his silhouette speaking of the essence. 

I don't know fortunately or unfortunately, I was alone with my camera (and the mp3s in my phone) when I was in the beach. While taking a short stroll and looking around to see things that wont be visible after its dark, I found these two little girls.

It is probably in human nature that nothing gives him more happiness than the belief that he is free. The very first look at a beach stretching from the left most corner of your eyesight to the rightmost itself implants that sense. People become poets, lovers, believers. And I guess, nothing matches the limits of happiness when a bucket full of uncorrupt imagination is thrown in the midst of a beach full of sand. Yes... he thinks, he creates, he is happy, he is free.

Ahhmm! :) I guess the beach does have a little magic... I don't think anything else made me (me!) write down the above paragraph. And just like the way I have told it a numerous times... You have to BE there to feel it. No way else you will know what exactly this blogger is trying hard to describe.

And once you are there, you wont need words to feel it...

Huh! :)

Till next time,

Cheers :)

P.S.: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)

Photographer: Satyajit Ray

Hey Guys...

This is one of those posts where the plan is something but the result is something else. Well, the entire Nissan account from my office was out for a day off at Nirala Resort, Deulti on the 16th of Nov, 2011. [please Google the words which are bouncing by]. And summarizing the trip, I would say it was fun and my camera sat happily in its little bag the whole time we were there. But I had to take it out on our way back.

Nilanjan, Riyanka, Ritabrata and I were the only ones from South Kolkata. leaving our picnic bus at Rabindra Sadan, we started walking to take the metros. Rito, although, preferred a cab and left. While crossing the Nandan area, the rest of  the three realized that the place was exceptionally crowded. That day was the second to last of the Kolkata Film Festival this year. Naah, none of us went inside to watch any of the 'world movies'. A few more steps and we were in front of the Gaganendra Shilpa Pradarshanshala [Gaganendra Art Exhibition Gallery]. Above its entry gates the banner read "Photographer: Satyajit Ray". You don't get points to guess what we did next :)

To my surprise, using cameras inside the gallery was not prohibited. Although I personally feel that camera should ideally not be used in such exhibitions, but the 'blogger' part of me was happy to be able to click so that he could share those photographs by Mr. Ray which were not seen till now. Below are a few of them. [No jabbering here, just imagine a  slow and quiet walk in the gallery. See you near the exit :)]

 

For a versatile personality like that of Mr. Satyajit Ray, it is not at all surprising that he will be roaming over the entire globe in search for 'something better'. I cant dare comment on what he looked for in anything, but as an avid fan of his creations, I can say that the way he has portrayed human and human conditions in his films, it touches you somewhere or the other or at least makes you compare your own conditions with the scene going on the big screen.

The photographs on the display were taken from a wide range of places. From Vienna to Darjelling. From Rajasthan to Rome. From Calcutta to Paris to America. From Sikkim to London. There was poverty, there was glamour. There was street, there was supermall. There were sketches, there were doodles. Although the world knows him as a film maker, we here, have known Satyajit Ray as a story writer, photographer, lyricist, music director, painter, biographer. He was the complete artist for me.

There were some photographs of the legendary face of Bengali cinema, Uttam Kumar too. Unfortunately, I could not get a presentable shot of him but Nilanjan sure did. By the excitement I could see in him (and also in me) when we were leaving the gallery, I was convinced that the debate-loving, art-critic race of ours still hold an unconditional respect for those icons who have defined the whole culture in their times, in their own ways.

Huh... That's all I have got. 

Till next time,

Cheers :)

Stockholm Diary: Weekend #1 - Hmmm...

Long story short: I was at Sweden, the country. From Mahalaya (Sept 27th, 2011) to Diwali (26th October, 2011). But the catch here is, I was on what they call a 'Business Visa', so I had to do more of 'business' stuff than something we all are more interested in.


Anyway, Hi :)
Honestly, I have decided not to jam pack my posts with huge number of photographs anymore. As a feedback from Shubhadipa, keeping it short helps the readers. I have broken down the whole trip in four weekends and have created separate posts for every weekend. This, here, is for weekend number 1.

When you are in your own city, you are cautious about the places you go, the mode of transportation you take, the kind of people you ask directions for, but when you are in a completely different land, you just don't care. You are simply out there to soak in the city as much as possible. I and Afsar went out on the first Saturday after our arrival and went straight to Gamla Stan, a place topping the list of 'places to see in Stockholm' over the internet.

The place has a German church that is also as old as the neighborhood. Regular masses are still held in it but it is also open for tourists. When we reached this place, the church was closed. Trust me when I say, I tried. I tried a lot to get the whole church in one single shot but it was so ungodly tall, that I had to settle for some suggestive clicks only.

The brick streets, the facades of half the millennium old structures are so well maintained plus the buildings being used for new restaurants and gift shops in a such a nice way,  that  a casual roam is worth the time. After about more than 45 minutes in the old town, we came out to the edge of the water front.

On a walkway over the water, its blueness in the sun and the signature European pattern of the buildings by it, were presenting a nutritious salad for my camera. Few of my friends have suspected that I have increased the saturation of this picture to make it dazzle than it actually might have. Guys, I have not.

On the ferry, from Gamla Stan we got to know that the Vasa Museum is a place where an old warship is put on display. That ship sank in its early days and remained in the floor of the Baltic sea for 300 long years. Recently it has been recovered and has been put on display with 95% of its structure intact. We both were planning to get inside the museum, but we didn't. But yes, as a thin consolation, I got this horizontal baby from the ferry.

There were two seniors from my office who, at the very beginning of my stay showed me the ways and the ways of the city. One Thursday evening after work, we all went out to find a Chinese eatery. We didn't get the place, but I got a setting sun from the seaside.

Although this was a totally loose shot with absolutely no attention to the details, but the sunset, as I have always believed, is something no one needs to take extra care to make beautiful. Its an entirely self help entity.


A trademark feature of we sofos (a short, I heard somewhere, for software engineers) is we like to spend our weekends compensating the correct amount of sleep we were deprived of the whole week. The first Sunday had no difference (a sofo is a sofo, INdia or OUTdia). Had a brunch when i first opened my eyes that day then again tried to get to some sleep. But when I finally 'woke' up and looked outside the huge glass window, I saw this.

Yes, I know. Sunset again. But could not help. The tall building you see (yes... that one) is the Kista Science Tower. The two most important thing about this tower are: 1. It is the tallest structure in the whole Stockholm (the height includes that antenna) and 2. It was visible from my hotel apartment with just the curtains out of the way. Another trivia about this tower can be: Even though I was  only  about a 1000m away from it the whole time, I didn't get inside the tower.


The following Monday was the Saptami and the entire rest of the week was packed with the celebrations of Durga Puja in India, with me not in being a part of it.


Well... see you in the weekend following this one (below).

Stockholm Diary: Weekend #2 - Kaknastornet

The next weekend was with Vipin.

But before I get on with the pictures, I would like to mention something that I actually felt. When we are in the country, we create differences on so many grounds. Religion, language, region, political views (read petty support), ancestry and things like these. One such strong ground is Food. Here, we call food as Bengali, Punjabi, South Indian, Rajasthani etc. But, when, on the second Saturday of my stay, I went to Vipin's place, I saw people busy in the kitchen. The dishes which were getting ready were Rasam, Sambhar, Vadaa, Papad, Rice and also some ready made pickle. When I saw these things on the table, I just saw it as food, Indian food. Although I had left my hotel after my own sweet lunch but there I was more than happy to have a fantastic second innings. (Thanks Karthik!).

We were actually planning to visit the Kaknas Tower (yes, Kaknastornet). It was formerly the tallest building in Stockholm till 2005 and a place which offers a complete 360 degree view of the entire city. But we somehow dropped the idea for that day. Had some window shopping and.... well... nothing much.

But, on Sunday, we made it. Thanks to Google and www.sl.se, I was half way successful in finding our way to the tower. But for the rest of the half, we needed help. Bamm!! in came Stefanie. Lost, we were outside the Karlaplan tunnel and were looking for some helpful direction. Stefanie, must be a real patriot from heart, did all she could. [although, this has already been my facebook update, I would still repeat]. She used her own memory first, then her iphone to get some info, then called up a friend (in the meantime, she let her bus go without boarding it as "it was okay, coz she was not in a hurry"), then finally called up a city helpline number, took the directions and wrote it down in my little writing pad herself. As I said in FB already, we sure have a lot to learn from such strangers.I am sure many of us would be glad to make sure a tourist gets the correct directions but I am also sure that many more wont care that much.

Anyway, following the directions, we were finally below the Kaknas Tower. They charged us 45 SEK to use the elevator once. At the 32nd floor, it felt good.

 

I don't have any idea if it is the north or south or what. I was just up there and was clicking. This one up here is the packed of all the photographs and if I leave out the 'ports and cruise ships' degrees of the 360, this was closest to civilization. The next one...

had this fantastic open area. It probably isn't a place that is used for any particular sport, but who cares as long as there is an open place and kids playful enough to make some use of it. By the way, I know you have already noticed, the colours of the season on a few trees in the first picture. Beautiful, aren't they?

The last one here is (probably) towards the Baltic sea. [I had some data to produce regarding the direction only after the third weekend though].

This scene was more than just for a shot. It was to be seen. The trees, the water and finally the horizon. Does get you. Unfortunately, the Nordic autumn wind in the 32nd floor isn't something very good for a gloveless pair of hands. Upon encircling the complete balcony twice, we finally decided to get down and return back to our bases. Had another Monday coming  but the me in me had started to plan something already for the third weekend...

Stockholm Diary: Weekend #3 - Skargard

... But even if I had the idea of what I wanted to do on the third weekend, I didn't get the gap to put the idea in front of anyone. The week was crazy at work. And to add to the task, my previous project affairs were still being demanding. And by the time it was the magic day called Friday, the pressure cooker had started to blow its whistle.

At my hotel reception I inquired on how to get to the Stockholm Archipelago. (they call it Stockholms skärgård) From the reception, I got the website from where I could get more info. About an hour  long web browsing after that, I had decided to go out alone in the city on this little adventure [in case of failure, I had a plan B ready - Streets!].

Thankfully, the transportation system there is well integrated and is well understood by anyone, not just by the city dwellers. Two metros trains then a not-so-short walk, then a bus instead of an expected tram finally made me reach the port from where I had to catch the boat for my 3 hour long exploration. Thankfully, my penultimaterun towards the ticket counter and then the ultimate one towards the white, well maintained, 80 year old steam boat was good enough not make me loose on my adventure.

The place is called Nybroplan and it gives a nice view of the array of buildings and the water.

From the ticket counter I started running and finally stopped on the roof of our steamboat (from where I got the above picture). At 12pm we started. I was hoping for a sunny day, but it wasn't. Even though it was overcast, it at least didn't rain. The boat had lower and upper decks for people to sit and enjoy the view from the windows, but I wanted to get it without any glass colour tint on my shots.

It was a guided tour (in English) and was totally an enriching one for someone like me who was at zero potential as far as history and geography of the city is concerned. The history of the archipelago during the dark ages, early settlements, of merchants are quite treat to swallow.

Our tour concerned only a part of the inner archipelago. Houses like these were spread all over the scattered islands. Many of you have already seen it in my facebook album and... well... we all know what we start to think when we see a house like this (that too with the colours of the surrounding trees at their best)...

On the semi saline semi fresh Baltic waters, I clicked not much but only a zillion photographs. I guess, the couple sitting in front of me on the roof, had started to be judgmental about me clicking simply everything. But, I had my own things to pack inside the little memory card, so I could only ignore them... Upon reaching Vaxholm, the most populated place on the archipelago, the sun showed up from somewhere and the water again turned blue-er than before.

This is some kind of a fortress at Vaxholm that was never actually used by the Swedish to base their attacks on their enemies. Among the 10-15 photographs I had taken of this structure, this one was a little better than the rest. Our boat stopped here for 5 minutes before it started off for its journey back.

All the time (90 minutes of our up-the-sea tour) I was planning to take a shot of which I had a very particular picture in my mind. But didn't get it. Our boat took a little different way back and I found something that was close to my mental picture.

An island and the sea. Imagine a day coming to an end and you sitting on the last rock before the sea on this island. Gives me a very realistic feel of loneliness. I don't know if I have it in me to pull up anything like that, even for a day.

The most irritating thing that the 'big photographer' in me was observing was the changing mood of the sun. For a very short time it was 'the perfect light'. Rest... it was gray... or worse... gray with some strong shadow (I didn't dig into details on how is it possible!). But finally, the 'big photographer',stopped complaining and tried to make some lemonade with the lemons he had [relax guys... this is a metaphor!]

Knowing my weakness for black and white, he turned to the apparently 'undesirable' objects around him and created a shot. This is, as you know, from the roof of the boat. But trust me, it is not easy to just let yourself loose in this black and white memories. Three hours of freezing wind had my still gloveless hands frozen this time. I was unable to pull up the zipper of my jacket as I was not able to know if my fingers are successful in holding the zipper or not. My sense of touch had his resignation for quite some time.

When I could finally convince myself that the day had enough clicks, I went down to the lower deck and warmed my hands (and nose and ears and throat). As we reached the land and bid goodbye to the wonderful crew of the boat, a thing started to go through my mind and it made itself very prominent when I was walking towards the tram stand to catch my train from T-Central...

It was... today's plan-B. Thankfully, I had another weekend to use... my last one out there...

Stockholm Diary: Weekend #4 - Streets

... Few habits seldom die.

Almost all of you know that when I am in Kolkata, I barely find anything more amusing than capturing the streets. Given the correct company and place, I am up for it anytime. But here was the problem. in Stockholm, 'a correct company' was running short.  There are a few people I know who share my frequency, but they were not there with me. And for many more, clicking the streets may be nothing but a flat and boring way to 'kill' time. So, not risking anybody else 's plans, I sat myself out on the last Sunday. [the Saturday was, as they call it,  for total hibernation for me. Sofo. But then a few scoldings from a friend charged me up to follow my instincts].

Sunday... and Gamla Stan again. But this time, I was there for a different sight from the history.

I stood on this sidewalk for more than three minutes to be able to get a people-free street . But couldn't. Even the streets of this place, as I came to know on the very first weekend only, have not changed since they were first built about 400 years back. (I know... Diagon Alley... yes!).

But unlike the first weekend, this time, I was early enough to be able to get inside the church. The morning mass had probably just finished and seeing people only coming outside the gate, I felt a little puzzled. But finally went inside anyway. Afterall, I was a tourist and was allowed to make even the basic mistakes...

...and forgiven. I have no idea how the clarity of the colours on the glass with the sunlight behind it got captured in my novice camera, but once it did, it cheered my mood up and cutting through the stream of people coming out, I finally went inside the main hall of the church.

Once inside, the odd feeling went away. There were a good number of believers, non believers and tourists. I had only read about the pipe organs and have heard the sound in Dracula movies. For the first time I saw one (and it was great to see it in the most non-Dracula place) kept in the overhang of the first floor inside the hall.

Unfortunately, for some reason, my shots were not being steady. Everything inside was golden, the stands, the chandeliers, the frames, the candles, the people...

... yes... I know. She looks even prettier standing like that. No, it was not one of my sneak shots. I had formally taken the permission and also even had told her to look away from the camera for a 'better' shot. I honestly I dont know what else is exactly making this picture worth posting even with that slight shake.

Ahhmm... after Gamla Stan, I just let my habits take over. Went straight to T-Central and parked myself in the corner of the stairs just outside the tunnel gates (the one leading down to the open chess-board type area.). And out of many (many) things I saw (but could not click)... this one is my favorite.

There was a boy in mid air jumping up from one stair to another, a man walking straight at me with his pet dog, an elderly woman staring at a big poster, a lady posing in front of her friends for a photograph. But I find this one speaking to me the loudest. In facebook, I have called this one: distance.

And... distance is what mattered the most to me on those 30 days.

Away from people... away from places... in a totally different land. Although, now-a-days a foreign trip is nothing to be very surprised of (that too only for 30 days), but as far as I came to know myself, this trip made me believe that a typically poisonous... thing... has made a permanent place in me in last few years. They spell it l-o-v-e. I realized how much I love the unbalanced, unpolished, unmaintained, dirty, overcrowded place of mine. But at the same time, the treatment I got from the 'videsh' in those 30 days, I will never forget that.  Never. The ease, the smile, the respect, the trust, the walk with music, the smell of the bakeries, the cleanliness, the people...aahh!! Uncomparable...

As they would say in Swedish: Tack Stockholm!

Till "next time",

Cheers :)

Courtesy: Shillong, Guwahati

Huh!! Its good to be home :)
Hi :)
Yes, the trip was really good (minus a few calls from work). As many of you already know, it was Shillong and Guwahati this time. [Yes, I too think that this year I am having a really good luck in travelling]. Well, I must warn you before you begin. This is quite a long post with my blabbering and occasional photographs. So, if you are in a middle of something, then please finish that first coz I would really appreciate it if you are able to go through this post with nothing else in your mind.

Oh great! All settled now? Brilliant :) Here I go.
We started from Kolkata at about 10 in the overcast morning of Sept 4th and our ‘vimaan’ reached Guwahati at 11. By “we” I mean I myself, Baba, Maa, Pranav uncle (Baba’s collegue) and Mausumi Aunty (Pranav uncle’s wife). And by the time we could come out of the airport and start for Shillong in a taxi, it was almost 12. Including a lunch at ‘National Highway Dhaba’ it was past 4 in the evening when we finally reached the AMD guest house in Shillong [AMD is where Baba works]. Baba and I took some time out the same evening to meet our relative Pankaj Kaku who lives and has his own business in Shillong. And it was him who arranged for a car and a guide-cum-driver, Rasheed, for the day next. James and Sangma, the guest house caretakers, had prepared a fantastic steaming dinner that night which went great with the chill of the hills.

Cherrapunjee was our destination on 5th. Started off at 9 in the morning and after covering 55 odd kilometers, we reached here.

There are many viewpoints in Cherrapunjee. This one is from the DUWAN SING SYIEM VIEWPOINT. This is not only a valley between two hills but a valley between two ranges of hills. You can see the crest running far away.

Our next point was UMSTEW LAITRYNGEW (Yes, I too cannot pronounce it! Saw it written in a sign post nearby). Rasheed was not sure if we should stop there. But we did.This is a view from a cliff about a hundred feet above this waterfall. When we had just reached, we could see nothing but only clouds in the gorge. But we could hear the sound of the falling water on the rocks. Then, gradually, the clouds cleared off and the source of the sound revealed itself. It was great to see it appear gradually from its invisibility.

The next place charged Rs. 70 for one camera to go past the entry gate. It did hurt my pocket a good deal but once I was inside, I must say that it would not have been fair to allow a camera free of charge. They call it the ECO PARK (short for Ecological Park). All the time we were there, the clouds were covering the mysteries of what’s beyond the cliff or where the water from the falls is landing (I am very doubtful if you can see the waterfalls in this picture. The closer one is in white about an inch above and 1cm right to the “Cherrapunjee” in the picture and the second one is fader, diagonally above to the right of the first one, and is almost in the centre of the picture. Nyahh!! Leave it).

When we turned back to get back to our cab, I saw this (This is just 180 degrees opposite to the railings you can see the previous picture). The horizon was making its own wallpaper with the clouds and their shadows. After some more time, we left the place.

Now, I should be honest. In our next destination, I really was feeling that a someone is missing. I had no idea who but that person should have been there. Take a look at the place.

The place is called KHOH RAMHAH and when we were there, only we were there. There was the sound of a small waterfall and the crickets. It was not cold and also not that wet. It was just magical. Won’t destroy the romance of the experience of being there by uttering a dry info like Bangladesh is visible from this place but would definitely say that you actually have to be there to know if you have come alone, or not.

Ahhmm… moving on… another some sort of park was our next point. Forgive me for forgetting the name.

These VIOLETS were something no one seemed to miss. Everyone who was there, was gathering around to take a picture of these beauties. There was a green house in the park. A place more of interest to Baba and … well, let’s say there was another place inside where it was great to see the child in Maa :)

This was the extreme of the distance we covered. On our way back, we touched a few more places. First of them was the SEVEN SISTERS.

I think you can count the number of waterfalls rubbing down the surface of that hill. When we passed it the time when we were on our way up, it was completely covered with clouds. But we were lucky enough (yet again) that when we actually stopped to see it, it didn’t feel shy. Later, Rasheed made us notice, the most prominent of the falls is actually the one that was falling down the ecological park (the second one I tried to make you see there). You can see the green railings, top left. (I know you cant see that too!)

The climate was being a little funny. We were sweating a little, but when we looked up to see (and complain) the sun, it was nowhere to be seen. Just clouds. I guess they do have some good reasons to call the place Meghalaya.

The last destination for that day was the MAWSMAI CAVE. Here I must say that the management of the cave SHOULD put a sign at the entrance warning people who are claustrophobic, asthmatic or have quite an obese body to ideally refrain from entering. Although there were enough fluorescent lights but the signs inside should also been in Hindi along with just English.

I must confess that I messed up seven out of nine photographs of the interior of the cave, but I think these two pictures can hint you that a journey through these smooth stones and narrow passages and dripping cracks can give an experience to the little adventurer inside you. After coming out of the cave (feeling like a Nat Geo explorer), we realized that Rasheed was right when he told us that going inside will be a bit problematic after lunch. After we came out (at about 2:30 pm), we had our food at a hotel near the cave and took our way back to Shillong. On the way we went to the Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Cherrapunjee. They have two really nice anthropology museums and off course a peaceful pujaghar. Upon entering the atmosphere there, the feeling of being sacred enters through your nostrils and fills up every vein in your body.

That night, Pankaj kaku had invited all five of us for a dinner at a restaurant called City Hut. The food was good and was plenty. I got to meet little Sayan (Pankaj Kaku’s 9 yr old son, full of energy and stories from his school). Close to the end I realized that almost half of the bowls with the rice and chicken and paneer were waiting near my plate to be emptied.

Next day, Rasheed had some other priorities. But he gave Babu as his replacement. Well spoken and well behaved, like Rasheed, he was to take us for the places around the city. Our first point was the SHILLONG PEAK.From a tower at the edge of certain hill in an Air Force residential area, this is the view that one gets of the Shillong city. It is although only a quarter of what is visible from there. It was here where I saw a really nice thing written. “We believe in God. But we spell it NATURE”. So simple and so true, isn’t it :)

Next was the ELEPHANT FALLS.This one up here is the third and the highest of the three falls (about 25-30 feet high, nothing much). The name 'Elephant Falls' came when the British came to the city and saw the first of the three falls. They noticed a big stone in front of it that resembled the head of an elephant. But we could not see that stone as it was destroyed in an earthquake long back.

From there, we went to another nature park in the centre of the city. There was a small zoo inside. Below are a few of the zoo guests whom I had never seen before.A YELLOW THOATED MARTEN (I still haven’t Googled what exactly a ‘marten’ is but it looked kind of beautiful) andA HORNBILL (Have seen pictures of this beauty but haven’t seen it in real life before). I know, these pictures are not of the quality that I try to post here (also the cage has made a mandatory appearance), but I thought why not just share something that made me feel good. Below are those shots which I found worth a click (and worth the post).

Can’t say I haven’t seen any EAGLE before but must say that I have seen this stare only in the Discovery and channels like that. Gives you the sense that it is in a state of complete awareness of its surrounding (Unagi, as I have heard the Japanese call this state) and can even see through you.Honestly speaking, I think a PELICAN is not among the most beautiful of the birds. But this shot, after washing away the colours, brought out such a stark contrast of the black and the white that I was bound to post it here. This is one of my favorites photographs of the trip (one of the). No blur, the perfect content and only the desirable colours [and off course the caption! :)]

We had to reach our guest house by 1pm so we were in a kind of hurry. And that is the reason why we only stopped the car but didn’t get down when we reached here.

THE CATHEDRAL OF MARY, Shillong, no doubt, is quite a majestic structure. To add to the grandeur you can see the five thin trees comparing themselves with the blue building. And in some way I think the sky has added an extra effect to this shot. Actually, if you notice, in all the shots (those you have already seen and those you will be seeing) where there is a good portion of the sky visible, a little sense of splendor has somehow come, adding to the beauty of the place.

When we drove on to our last spot in the city of Shillong, it had started to rain in the pace of 2-3 drops a minute (in an area only big as my palm). Even though it was a bit risky to take a camera out in rain, but I could not resist when we reached here.

THE SHILLONG GOLF COURSE. We all got down. The breeze was not very high and the openness was something we all wanted to experience. Unfortunately we were in a sort of hurry, so we couldn’t explore the field much. Standing at a comparatively lower ground I got this one [the tree staring at the clouds. This is also one of the :)]

Then we got back, double checked our packed bags, had lunch and started off in a Sumo for Guwahati. By the time we were barely near the Police Bazaar Area of Shillong, it had started to rain in a real Shillong Rain fashion.

Truly speaking, our group was quite a lucky one to have been able to see the waterfalls (in the midst of all the clouds) with no rain at Cherrapunjee to hamper the fun and also to be able to see the beauty when IT ACTUALLY RAINS sitting securely and dry inside a closed vehicle.

My good friend Sumana had told me (more than once) to visit a place called BADAPANI in the outskirts of Shillong (she has spent her early childhood in this city). While going to Shillong we saw that place but I was in the wrong side of the vehicle then to get any postable pic. While leaving the place, although our driver (forgot his name, sorry!) didn’t stop, but the vehicle speed was slow enough to avoid any blur in the picture below.

There is a novel by Rabindranath Tagore that is called ‘Shesher Kobita’ in Bengali (translated to English under names like ‘The Last Poem’ and ‘Farewell Song’). That novel is backdropped in Shillong. While travelling down to Guwahati, with quite a heavy rain on my window, I took Baba’s mobile. The mp3 version of the novel was there in its memory card. That one hour was something that actually made me experience something first hand of which I have never been a part of. Bengali Literature. (No sir/madam, I am not just saying it. it was like travelling in the atmosphere that made the poet write those words!)

Well, enough of the typical poetic show off… :)
The traffic jam that welcomed us on entering Guwahati was good enough to make me forget the romance of the rain, the poems and that glass of tea (that we had on our way in the rain). Roughly at about 7:30 in the evening, we were in the Daffodil Lodge (just in the opposite of the Paltan Bazaar taxi stand). We had quite an early dinner in a nearby hotel and retired in our beds before it was 10:30 at night.

The next day was for some Pujas and some sightseeing. I think everyone of you has heard of the KAMAKKHYA TEMPLE.

Only about five kilometers away from Paltan Bazar, there was no problem in reaching the temple by 7 in the morning. Maa and Mausumi aunty wanted to offer a puja. We met a purohit by name Praneshwar Sharma Panda who made the arrangements. The process starts by cleansing of hands and feet at this Kund (above) and touching the feet of the stone Ganesha by it. Next was waiting in a queue till the turn comes. Our main priest was the 15 year old Jeetu, quite a radiant lad and the nephew of Praneshwar. Photography was not allowed inside the cave (Temple) so I can’t show you how the interiors actually were. But I felt like entering a Theme Puja Pandal during the Durga Puja at Kolkata. Also, there is no idol of the Kamakkhya inside. It’s only a natural water spring to which everyone offers the Puja.
The whole affair took about an hour . Once we were outside with red tilaks on our foreheads, that I took out my camera.

What I saw there was that the harassment and the extent of mismanagement were very less in comparison to a few other temples I have been in my locality.

Anyway, after having a dal-poori breakfast in a shop just outside the temple premises, Vipin (our driver and guide) took us to a few more places. First of them was the BALAJI TEMPLE.

[The sky again :)] It was a little different to see the kind of architecture and worshipping methods in the Eastern state of Assam that one usually witnesses in the Southern India. The stotras and the prasad also had the pure smell of south India. Photography was prohibited inside so I could help myself only from the outside of the structure.

From there, we went to a Science Museum. Must say there is a lot to see and find reason for there. Quite a big arrangement and interesting too. Camera was allowed inside the museum but I don’t think I could take anything worth posting except a video of the aquarium. Will upload the video and give you the link as soon as the broadband connection at my home gets fixed.

The VASHISHTHASRAM was our next point. Frankly, I failed to find anything of much interest there (interest as in ‘blogging interest’). There was a little waterfall inside the Ashram, not more than 30 feet high that was coming down via a natural staircase made of stones. For about 10 minutes I sat on one of the stones with my feet immersed ankle deep in the running water. Felt kind of relaxing. Baba and Pranav uncle explored the interiors of the temple there a little. But before we left I got him.

It was about a three feet high stone slab with this sculpture in its highest first feet. I liked the colour of the wall on which the slab was resting and also the ancient feel it was giving out. It probably is a Vishnu. If it is something else, I need to change the caption. Oh! By the way, I don’t know if you have noticed or not, this picture is a little shaken.

The next place was the SRIMANTA SANKARADEVA KALAKSHETRA. But, before we entered the premises, we had our lunch.

Those who know the Nandan at Kolkata, they will be able to draw a comparison. Those who don’t, for them I can say that it a kind of cultural centre of the city (and has a bigger area than the Nandan I was talking about). It has a big garden, statues like this, water bodies and benches by it, an auditorium and probably a theatre too. I found nothing more interesting than these men and bulls to post.

The final place was the zoo. Everybody was very tired by the humidity and the dust and the constant roaming since seven in the morning. It was about four, I think, when I and Baba entered the zoo. ‘Reel camera’ was charged Rs. 10 and ‘digital camera’ was Rs. 50. I could not get why such a weird classification was put in place by the management. I left my camera with the others in our car. We used our mobile cameras inside. Saw some snakes, some cheetahs, a couple of playful bears, a typical flat face owl. Actually we two were also tired of the day and the kind of elevation and depression the land has inside the zoo (with only rocks and soil to walk on), our untrained-in-mountaineering feet soon started to ache more than before. Our vehicle had to stay parked for not more than 40 minutes. [Mobile pics were not clear enough to post, sorry! If we meet I can definitely show them to you!]

The rest of the day had nothing else (other than me connecting to my office email and work for a couple of hours with my little colleague Priya). The day next was for Maa and Mausumi aunty to shop for some Assam Silk in the morning and me to shop for some wood and bamboo carvings in the evening. Next day (Sept 9th) we left Guwahati at about 11:45 (with me in the window) and reached a rainy Kolkata at about 1pm.

Huhh!!! Quite a big post, eh? :) Told ya… :) Well, that was my trip (in a little detail). Do let me know if the trip could be a good one for you too. We will wait for your comments [We as in I and Mr.P. Yes, found him just around the corner. I think he will be there with me from the next post! :)]

Lastly, as they say in Shillong, KHUBLEI for your humungous patience. Till next time, Cheers! :)