Destinations :: Ghent and Brugge (Belgium)

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St. Bravo's Cathedral, Ghent

Ghent and Brugge are two heritage citires of Belgium and are remarkably preserved. The water bodies and the beautiful old-fashioned buildings by their side provide a quaint charm to both of them. Both are in the Flemish region of the country. Ghent is closer – about 50 Kms from Brussels and the best way to get there is by train that takes around half an hour. We had Eu-rail passes and we preferred to use them though the distance to be covered was very short.

Ghent is the capital and the largest city of the province of East Flanders. Its municipality includes some of the nearby small towns and is the second largest in Belgium. The city dates back to the hoary past. At one time it was the biggest city of Europe after Paris, and that too almost a millennium ago. It has a history of woollen industry and is known for its well preserved madieval structures.

On the bridge over River Scheldt

Ghent is situates on the banks of the River Scheldt that originates in France. Flowing through Belgium, it meanders into Netherlands and then drains into North Sea. Somewhere around Ghent it receives the waters of one of its tributaries to become somewhat of a river substance.

We walked around to see some of the mdeieval buildings. The most impressive was the 10^th Century castle complete with a moat. It is remarkably well preserved. We were also impressed by the architecture of St. Bravo’s Cathedral, St. Nicholas Church, the Belfry and so on. The place is ittered with structures of madeival

The 10th Century Castle complete with a moat, Ghent

times and the efforts of conservation have been remarkable.

We completed our round of the town as fast as possible as the day’s outing had two places on the agenda – Ghent and Brugge. We had to catch a train and therefore rushed to the station. Ghent is half way between Brussels and Brugge. So, another half hour in the train and we were in Brugge.

Brugge is situated in the North-West of this tiny little country. While Ghent is in the East Flanders, Brugge is in West Flanders.

A view of Brugge from the boat

Both are Flemish and both have more than a millennium old history. That is why these two cities are crammed with buildings of heritage value. Precisely for this reason they have been nominated as heritage cities.

Brugge, like Amsterdam, has a canal system round wich the life of the locals revolve. Because of its canals and the sea up north it was also known as “Venice of North”. Brugge or Bruges (the Dutch

Another view of Brugge with the  tower of the Church of Our Lady dominating the landscape

name pronounced Bruzh) are the two ways to call the city. I prefer tAnother vie of Brugge with the tower of Our Ladyo call it Brugge, its German name, as I have heard them pronoune the name as such on the public address system of the trains. I think it is here that famous satire on the Indian godmen “PK” was filmed for its initial introductory shots. But I could be wrong.The shot of Anushka Sharma cycling down a road along a

Church of Our Lady, Brugge

canal couldn’t be from any other town. She was also shown on a brifge over the canal watching a boat go by.

Most of the tourists take a ride on the canals. We too joined them and it was fascinating. The boat took us through to the city, through the historic city centre which is a World Heritage Site.Some of the sites I took photographs of as best as I could in the murky weather but we missed out on the street scenes as we were riding the canal waters. There appeared to

Gabled houses of Brugge

be some fascinating medieval buildings in immaculately preserved condition. In fact the medieval buildings of Brugge are considered to be some of the best preserved structures.

 The town is old and the canals too are old. The City of Brugge had its golden age almost a thousand years ago because of trade through what was known as the Golden Inlet – a tidal inlet from the sea. Known for their maritime prowess, the merchants of Brugge travelled far and wide in pursuit of commerce

A canal in Brugge

and wealth and made a lot of money. It is all evident in the city with its buildings, their architecture and décor.

Some of the remarkable buildings are the Church of Our Lady, the spire of which seems to dominate the city’s skyline. The other popular tower is the Belfry. Apart from these we had some fascinating sightings – one of a row of pure old-style Dutch gabled houses that were colourful.

Destinations :: Keukenhof

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Seven million tulips are grown every spring at Keukenhof for spectacular displays of colourful flowers in its what are regarded as one of the world’s largest gardens. The gardens sprawl on as many as 32 acres. These flamboyant acres have been sites of movie shoots of various countries and have, of course, been a “must see” for those who happen to travel to nearby towns or villages. We were in Brussels and it was less than couple of hours away. While outside the

gardens we saw daffodils growing wild and dancing in the breeze, perhaps much like what Wordsworh saw during that famous stroll in Lake District of England, inside it was a riot of colours.

Of recent origin, the gardens were established in 1949 on a piece of land close to the town of Lisse that had a bit of chequered history. The Netherlands, being the

largest exporter of flowers, wanted a garden where growers from Europe could come and raise their hybrids, in the process, help its floriculture industry to grow further. The long fields of tulips that one sees are not parts of the garden. They are private and, perhaps, in one of them Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha romanced each other.

It was most satisfying to visit the gardens. I had seen tulips earlier in Kashmir where they used to grow them in public gardens years

ago. Its tulip fields had not come up until then. Even the beds in my yard would have them. But they were weak and emaciated in comparison to what we saw here. The tulips here were robust, healthy and more vibrant in colours. 

Destinations :: Paris (revisited)

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One of the anchors of the Eiffel Tower

Like the previous occasion in 1987 we had bought EuRail passes in India which enabled us to travel 1^st Class in all trains including the prestigious TGVs and the high speed trains that were basically meant for inter-city travels. In 1987 the TGVs used to ply only between Paris and Lyon and Paris and Geneva.  In the intervening ten years its operations were exponentially expanded and most of the West European cities are now served by TGV trains. TGV stands for Train a Grande Vitesse (high speed train),

So, one morning we climbed into a TGV train plying between Brussels and Paris. It was a non-stop journey and we were in Paris in much less than two hours’ time. Having researched the Paris underground my wife

On a bridge over Seine

knew which train to catch from the Gare du Nord station for the station that we were to travel to to get to our hotel. This time we had booked a (budget) hotel close to Eiffel Tower We could see the Tower from our window and could also walk across to it. It was somewhere close to the area known as Trocadero.

This time we had decided to take it easy and had decided not to rush around. We had quite a good visit ten years ago and had seen quite a bit but every evening we used to feel tired. Now we couldn’t do all that. We decided to walk around as much as possible. The Eiffel Tower was a good starting point. It had extensive gardens and lawns which we had not really noticed on the last occasion. This time we took it all in and more leisurely at that

On the grounds around Eiffel Tower

and saw the environs and enjoyed whatever we saw. The Tower has its own facets and looks beautiful from several angles. It is indeed a marvelous piece of engineering. Reclining on the green grass I kept wondering how it was conceptualized during the infancy of the Industrial Revolution in France.

We walked along the Seine looking at the shops selling curios and wall plates some of which we had at home. Some men accosted us trying to sell curios they said were very expensive. They ran for their lives as soon as they saw some policemen. As we met another such group on a bridge over the Seine it turned out that they were all Indian illegal immigrants. They made a living by operating in the Eiffel Tower area. One wondered as

On a bridge over Seine with gold-painted
capital on one of  supporting
its columns

to why they leave the comfort of their homes and undertake perilous journeys to live a life in shadows mostly in fear of the arm of the law that relentlessly chases them in an alien country.

We walked another day to Notre Dame. It was standing by the side of the Seine in all its glory. Almost a thousand years have not made any difference to it. It was as majestic as we had seen it ten years ago, I found the front portals very interesting with beautiful carvings of the Last Judgment. We tore ourselves away to go towards Champs Elysees. We walked from the Notre Dame admiring the buildings in the surrounding area, one of which apparently was the Arsenal and hence there was heavy police presence. Soon we got into a bus that deposited us on the Champs Elysees near Arch of Triumph.

Champs Elysees is the finest boulevard in the world that I have seen. I have been to quite a few world class cities in the world in the US, Europe

Notre Dame

and Far East but have never come across a boulevard like Champs Elysees. In fact, this along with almost the entire city of Paris is a planned town planned by two Frenchmen, the French Emperor Napoleon III and Georges Eugene Haussmann, in the middle of 19^th Century. They were neither architects nor city planners yet they undertook perhaps the largest urban transformation and built Paris that is called the City of Light today. Also, some others call it the City of Love as it has emerged as the most romantic city in the world.

The two, together, planned every detail including the boulevards, avenues and the streets, the height and colour of apartment blocks along these, the massive sized rotaries and so on. They also planned the

On the Charles de Gaulle Place

sculptures and friezes that would be used on buildings or at every conceivable place to beautify the city. Around 400,000 residents were displaced and 600,000 chestnut and other trees were planted along the boulevards and avenues. Hundreds of thousands square metres of open spaces were created and thousands of miles of roads were laid that included Champs Elysees which is one of the boulevards radiating from the Arch of Triumph located at the massive Charles de Gaulle Place.

At Place de la Concorde

It is a pleasure to walk on the pavements of Champs Elysees where massive stores display the latest fashions and where fashionable women strut around with a swagger showing off their acquisitions of trendy garments, hats and shoes. There are numerous cafes that put their chairs and tables out on the very wide sidewalks. Over a cup of coffee one can watch for hours this unfolding panorama. Evenings are perhaps the best to do that when fashionistas amble around displaying their haute couture.

We also walked up to the Place de la Concorde at the other end of Champs Elysees. It is perhaps the largest square of Paris but has a history written in blood. Built in the late eighteenth century it was later used as

At Place de la Concorde

a place for executions of the elite during the French Revolution. It was here that King Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette, were guillotined. During those anarchical days the square was known as Place de la Revolution. Its name was changed to Place de la Concorde after the dust raised by the French uprising settled down. There is an obelisk planted here which was a gift from Egypt to France.

Paris is a place which should be visited when one is young. We were 30 years too late in getting there. But when we were young we had no money to travel abroad and when we had little bit of it was a little too late. Nonetheless, given a chance I wouldn’t mind visiting this marvellous city any number of times.

Destinations :: Brussels

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A bunch of daffodils

After qualifying for the Indian Foreign Service my nephew was posted in Brussels as one of his first foreign postings. What was important for us was that he had been allotted a two bed-roomed furnished apartment that was located in the area known as Churchill. It was good and well connected. More importantly, to have a place to stay without shelling out foreign exchange in a foreign land and that too in Europe was something great. We made use of that opportunity to roam around a bit in and around Brussels.

Brussels is, as numerous European towns are, no-nonsense and functional. It wasn’t a great tourist destination and tourism packages would hardly even mention Brussels on their itineraries. Nonetheless, it was great to be in Brussels – close to what is known as Flanders where Indians had fought two World Wars on behalf of the British Imperialists – centenary of the First World War (1914-18) is being celebrated this year.

Brussels, like any other European town, has plenty of, shall we say, historical baggage. Some of it is pleasant and some not quite – one of which is that it is a linguistically divided country. The northern region

The City Hall

, perhaps the biggest chunk of the country and more prosperous too, is Flemish, i.e. Dutch speaking and the rest is bi-lingual. In fact, Brussels now is multilingual with English spoken largely in diplomatic and commercial circles. But then there is no divide as we see elsewhere and all is hunky dory. Although a little complicated, yet it should be mentioned that Brussels Capital Region is located in the central portion and is part of both, the French and the Flemish communities and is separate from the Flemish and French-speaking Walloon regions in the south.

That Brussels was not interesting enough could be fathomed from my brother’s disinclination to talk about it. He was a frequent visitor to Brussels when he was heading the Trade Policy Division in the Ministry of

Flower Market at Grand Place

Commerce. He had to go there every month, sometimes even twice a month but he was never euphoric about his visits. We too did not expect much but it was Europe, after all,

Ours, as usual, was a budget tour. Hence we took a cheap flight direct to Brussels with a stop at Bucharest. Many would not have heard of the Tarom Airline which Rumanian state flies. It seems, it stopped its flights to Delhi after a few years. Hence travel agencies do not make a mention of it. It was a convenient flight which one would climb into at night in Delhi and get deposited at Brussels in the morning,

Probably, because it was a cheap flight it was a kind of favoured airline

The City Museum

for the human traffickers. We were, therefore, subjected to a grueling session at the airport and the immigration authorities were convinced of our bonafides only after they spoke to our nephew who was working in the Indian Embassy. Surprisingly they did not take into account our age which was pretty apparent from our appearance. We came to know later that illegal immigrants would frequently be apprehended at Brussels

trying to get into Europe or move on to UK or the USA.

Churchill was a leafy area and it was a pleasure to walk on the sidewalks. Spring was on its onset and blooms were everywhere in public areas. The sidewalks had roadside trees (which Bhopal Municipal Corporation does not seem to believe in) around the stems of which

Grand Place

one could see in circular beds blooms of daffodils and many other varieties of flowering shrubs. The central verge had the tram lines but also had flowers blooming. We had a stop of trams right in front of the house. Moving around was therefore convenient.

 The trams would take us to the Brussels Midi station which is the largest railway station in Brussels. There are trains that connect it to Brussels North and Brussels South stations as also many European cities. It is served by international high speed trains like those of TGV, Thalys etc. Since the Brussels metros and trams have terminals in Midi one finds the whole thing very convenient for local commutes or for intercity or international travel.

As already stated, there is not much to see in Brussels but the statement is not entirely correct. There is one place that is virtually unique, and it is the Grand Place or the Grot Markt (Great Market in Dutch). It is a huge square adjudged one of the best in Europe beating the Red Square of Moscow. Like everything else in Europe it too has a history stretching back to a millennium when it was a marsh and daily markets used to be

Notre Dam

held here. Over the decades and centuries it was built, destroyed and re-built until the 19^th Century it moved away from its hap hazard construction to a more organised form. The Grand Place emerged so beautiful that it eventually was made a World Heritage Site. It has the Town Hall and the Brussels Museum which once was a palace of the feudals and many other constructions in Gothic and baroque styles. Because of its touristy character it has been

pedestrianised while vehicular traffic is allowed in the neighbouring

streets which retain their respective names on the basis of the callings of the shopkeepers. One of the more famous and historic streets is Rue des Bucherie where you get delectable stuff to eat.

Another feature, which we did not see as we came away before it took place, is laying floral carpet on the floor of the Grand Place. Innumerable flowers are used to create a carpet of colourful flowers making the place very attractive. That, one would say, compensates Brussels for its deficiencies in regard to absence of places of tourist interest.

Royal Palace

On one of the side streets close to the Grand Place is virtually the symbol of Brussels. It is Manneken Pis – a statue of young boy urinating into a fountain. It is more than three centuries old and has symbolized Brussels for generations. There have been attempts to steal it and there have also been attempts to dress it in various costumes. Every such attempt failed. Indicating their open-mindedness Belgian artists have since installed massive statues to outrage the sensibilities of the locals as well as tourists. Obviously, it was like taking matters too far and hence there has been resistance to this sort of extreme liberties. Some Belgians say these statues are meant to outrage the tourists whom they do not seem to like. These might be taken down soon.

There is a Notre Dam in Brussels too. It is the church of the Blessed Lady of Sablon, a Catholic Church located in the centre of the town. Built

At the Grand Place

around the 15^th Century it has a Gothic exterior and highly decorated interiors. We could not spend much time thereand were therefore not satisfied by our visit.

About 20 kilometres away is the war field of Waterloo where the last of the Napoleonic Wars was fought. Here the army of Napoleon was (narrowly) defeated by the

War field of Waterloo

English and Prussian armies. There is not much to see here except a mound known as the Lion’s Mound topped by a lion’s image. Waterloo is famous for ending the series of Napoleonic Wars as also the Napoleonic French Empire. It was another feather in the cap of Arthur Wellesley, !st Duke of Wellington.

Destinations :: Delhi

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Sun setting over Ramakrishna Puram

Having been recruited for the Central Civil Services my official career took me several times to Delhi at various levels of the government. Resultantly, I spent more than thirteen years of my service career at Delhi, more than four and a half years of which were spent on deputation with the Union Public Service Commission. That does not mean I did not go out in the field.

Post Beating the Retreat illumination

I worked for almost a tenure in undivided Madhya Pradesh, a tenure each in Maharashtra and North East and for truncated tenures in

Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir. Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal.

I

My wife out on the big verandah with governebt flats in the background

had developed an abiding interest in photography but, unfortunately, I did not have a camera when I was posted in most photogenic place like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Even during tenure with the UPSC I did not have a camera mostly because I couldn’t afford one. Only in 1975 when my sister came for her

Viewing South Block with a filter on

sabbatical I acquired her Minolta SRT 102 on payment of only the customs duty loveable on it. I still have it but it has since been overtaken by obsolescence with the emergence of new breed of smart digital cameras which too, in turn, have been put in the shade by the cell-phone cameras.

Together after a long time at Delhi in my official house

Delhi was the first place where I learnt to wield what was then a new sophisticated camera. Only a very few of the results of my effort are mounted here

Destinations :: North-East :: Agartala (1988)

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To go to Agartala, the capital of Tripura, we had to go through the Jaintia Hills. That meant we went east from Shillong into the Jaintias and then after negotiating several ranges turned south to hit Assam in the plains in its Barak Valley. The road from Shillong was horrible. One cannot imagine why it was left in such a terrible condition when there was so much of commerce riding over it. It was bumpy and back-breaking; at some places the road had disappeared and that too at hairpin bends where it should have been mended as fast as possible. Apparently, for years roads in these parts had been neglected. After visiting all the three hill ranges of Meghalaya I thought Jaintias was the most backward in this respect. Now, it is understood roads have improved and are beyond recognition from what they were only a couple of decades back.

Since it was a time-taking journey we had to stop on the way for meals. We stopped at Sonapur, a place that was not far from the Assam border, known for its eateries. The one we went to served pure and simple Bengali fare. While most of the items were delectable what aroused my interest were the fried dried red chilies that were served along with the meal. My father used to love them and I took after him in this respect and used to have them at home. To get them after so many years on a platter and that too in distant Sonapur warmed the cockles of my heart as also, I dare say, of my stomach.

After an overnight stay at Silchar, basically a Bengali town rather incongruously located in the state of Assam, we hit the road for Agartala. On the way was Karimgunj, a town, along with its eponymously named district, that flew Pakistani flags on 15 and 16^th August 1947 presuming that the then Karimgunj sub division would be merged with East Pakistan along with the Sylhet district of which it was a part. The Sylhet Referendum of 1947 is a minuscule part of the Partition History that many do not know about. While the Muslim majority Sylhet district did go and merge with East Pakistan Sir Cyril Radcliff somehow kept the small sub-division of Karimgunj with India. Radcliff’s Award was published on 17^th August 1947 and Karimgunj came back to India, somewhat like Gurdaspur in the Punjab which happened to celebrate independence on 14^th August 1947 as well as 15^th August 1947 after the entire district barring one tehsil was allotted to India

As we drove through Karimgunj it seemed to me that, like the entire Sylhet district, the town had majority of Muslims. In fact, men in traditional Bengali Dhoti were very few – skull-cap and white pyjamas wearing Muslims dominated the landscape.

On the way we halted for a while in a place called Kailashahar which, like Karimgunj, is on the international border between India and Bangladesh. The place figures in ancient history and mentions of it can be traced to 7^th Century. A railway line was expected soon to connect it with the rest of the country. Now after more than a quarter century even Agartala is connected by rail. Kailasahar is about couple of hundred feet above the neighbouring Bangladesh. One gets a birds’ eye view of the green plains that sprawl in front. Obviously there is plenty of legal and illegal cross-border traffic like in Karimgunj

 As we moved ahead the road became increasingly worse. It took quite a while to reach Agartala. Touted as a planned city Agartala was very disappointing. Named after the agar plant from which incense sticks are made (and tala means underneath) the place still manufactures Incense sticks. The town was neglected although some good stately buildings designed and erected during the princely times still stood. The state was then being ruled by the communists and, like in Calcutta of those days, all the walls, private or public were painted over with slogans. It seemed there was not a white wall left in the town. Thankfully, reports coming now speak of much improvement in the city

I happened to see from a distance the Tripura palace, supposedly named by Nobel Laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore as Ujjayanta, and lost all curiosity about it. It appeared thoroughly neglected with its walls blackened with moisture and dirt. The water body around it was filthy. Typical of communist regimes, anything that smacked of royalty had to be discarded regardless of its heritage value. The palace, mercifully, has now been converted into a museum and the photographs that I saw of it showed it illuminated at night and the water body had birds frolicking in it. Obviously, it is now in better hands. Incidentally, the Tripura Palace also hosted at one time the princess of Gwalior, my home town, who was married to the prince of Tripura. While the prince became an MP the Princess reportedly ended her life at Calcutta.

While reports say that consumerism has invaded Tripura as well with malls, Big Bazaar and other big brands setting shop there when we were Agartala the only place for shopping was Bortala (means under the banyan tree) where cheap fast moving consumer goods smuggled from neighbouring countries were sold. I am sure things are different now. Reports say that after the economic liberalisation in 1991 trade and business are on the uptake in the city.

 The Agartala Airport, now renamed after Tripura’s revered king, is situated very close to the international border with Bangladesh. It is said that the planes while leaving taxi in India and get airborne over Bangladesh. This is something that perhaps happens with every border town, more so with towns that never had a border anywhere near it earlier.

Likewise, the Akhaura railway station in Bangladesh is only around 10 kilometres away. The railway tracks going from Agartala to Akhaura were still there and we even went across the guarded barrier and stamped our foot on Bangladesh soil. But now there is a hope; Government of India is going to open through traffic into Bangladesh from Agartala running trains via Akhaura which is in Chittagong District of Bangladesh. While Indian Railways will renew the tracks up to the border from Agartala the Bangladesh portion will be financed reportedly by aids from Indian External Affairs Ministry.

*Photo from internet

Destinations :: Arunachal Pradesh :: Itanagar & Ziro (1989)

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Subansiri River

I understand now there is a god road between Shillong and Guwahati. It was not so in late 1980s. From Shillong one had to pass through Guwahati to go to almost every places in Arunachal Pradesh. I had to do it every time and used to wonder if these roads were so bad in 1962 when the Chinese came through the McMahon Line. If they were indeed as bad as they were in late 1980s (in fact, the chances were that they were even worse) the Indian Army would have had a tough time in deployment of troops and supplies to the borders which were up on the mountains. Thankfully, roads have since been built not only from Shillong to Guwahati, even the biggish stretch of Guwahati to Bomdila has a four-lane highway.

A place of worship in Itanagar

This time I was on my way to Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh. I had to park myself at Naharlagun, an Arunachal town down on the plains on the Assam border. It occasionally is up against the wild elephants that without any reason decide to raid the place. The nearby jungles even in the late 1980s were harbouring them. I do not know what the situation now is.

Naharlagun is like an ordinary plains town. Nonetheless, it used to be site

Ziro from its Circuit House

for the higher court of Arunachal until the Gewahati High Court established its bench at Itanagar in the year 2000. This was the only place then where the visiting officials could get decent accommodation to stay. Now it has become a rail-head also, facilitating journey from Guwahati.

Even the tourist web sites say that there is nothing much to see in Itanagar. The place probably got its name from the Ita Fort. Ita is brick in Assamese and perhaps since the fort is made of bricks it is known as Ita Fort Apart from the Fort there is a Buddhist temple which is nothing

An Apatani village

much to write home about. All in all, it is a nondescript town and left to oneself one would avoid visiting it.

Ziro, the headquarters of the Lower Subansiri district, has a lot of character. Its undulations, its early morning fogs and, above all, its concentration of Apatani tribal people make it an interesting place. In fact, mainly because of Apatanis the UNESCO

A mithun

World Heritage Sites Committee wanted to make Ziro a World Heritage Site.

Curiously, the Apatanis, unlike other tribal people, are not nomadic. They are a settled people rooted to their soil, cultivating their fields and are happy about it. Rice is the dominant crop. Everyone seems to be growing it making the community self-sufficient. They make a sort of rice wine which they have for celebrations or just to make merry. Christianity has made some inroads yet traditional culture has been retained.

Number of mithuns determines a person’s financial status. A mithun is

An Apatani male

neither a cow nor a buffalo. It has descended from Indian bison. It is allowed to graze freely in the forest areas of the Apatanis. These are raised for traditional rituals and eventually to be slaughtered. Its meat is said to be tender. Mithuns are intimately linked with the cultural life of Apatanis, yet they do not worship it as Hindus worship or care for the cow.

Yet another peculiarity about Apatanis is their women who wear an unique nose plug which somehow mutilates their facial features. But that is the tradition and it is being observed, though gradually the practice is being given up.

 A word is necessary about Subansiri river that flows down the eponymously named district. While it is the biggest tributary of the mighty River Brahmaputra, it flows through Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. While coming down to meet the Brahmaputra it traverses some gorgeous country, the landscapes being just fantastic.

Destinations :: North-East :: Arunachal Pradesh :: Bomdila (1988)

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A mist covered street of Bomdila

Arunachal Pradesh was one of the six states that were in my jurisdiction in the North-East Circle. On the map it looked formidable sprawling from Bhutan in the West to Myanmar in the East with the hostile Chinese breathing down fire and brimstone from the North. It is known as the Land of the Rising Sun as the first rays of the Sun received in the country are in the peaks of this State.

 It had at that time only 11 districts which have since been increased to sixteen by carving out new districts from old, presumably, unmanageably large districts. The state is perhaps the most diverse in all its attributes – of people as it is a melting pot of

Bomdila Circuit House

numerous tribes, or climate, as it varies from tropical in the lower latitudes to Alpine in higher latitudes or flora and fauna that change from tropical to temperate making it one of the most bio-diverse of states. Among the flora orchids are dominant with 150 species and that is how it is known as the Orchid State of India. With its massive spread and difficult accesses none could possibly cover the entire state in a tenure of two years. I, therefore settled for limited forays into the state starting off with Bomdila, a generally known place from the time of the Chinese hostile incursions of 1962.

Getting set for a visit to Bomdila we equipped ourselves with enough of woollens. It was October and was going to be cold, especially if it happened to rain. We had to go to Gwahati and on to Tezpur. At

Bomdila

Tezpur we stayed in that fabulous circuit house that overlooked the massive River Brahmaputra. It was after the monsoons and the river was up to its brim. From the Circuit House it appeared like a huge sheet of water – almost like a sea, as the opposite bank was not visible. Incidentally, Tezpur had come under threat during the Chinese War in 1962. There was panic in the city after Nehru’s speech in Parliament that his heart went out to people of Assam. People started moving out and in the government treasury cash was reportedly burnt.

The Chinese had hit the plains of Assam at Bhalukpong where we

Dirang from the highway

reached the next morning after going across the Tezpur Bridge. Bhalukpong is located on the banks of the Kameng River and is now known for river rafting and angling. But what I remember most vividly is the Nair Mess there where we had finest of sambhars we had ever had with lovely dosas. It was an unlikely place for the Nairs to be, as it was far away from their native land. It reminded me of Baramula in Kashmir where close to it there was a Nair Mess where I had delectable hot vadais. Here we enjoyed the dosas after our “inner line”

Another view of Dirang

permits were checked. This is the place from where one can enter Arunachal only if one possesses an Inner Line permit. At least that is what the position was as I remember it. And thi is also the from where the Chinese went back for reasons best known to them.

Bomdila is 100 kms away from Bhalukpong but the road throughout is mountainous. Bomdila’s elevation is more than 8000 ft. One had, therefore, to climb from around 600 ft to 8000 ft in a matter of 60 miles. As we started to climb the vegetation appeared to be changing

Dirang River

progressively. There were huge plantain leaves that hung over the road. We were told that the plantains of these trees were edible, but only for the elephants. Soon we came across a warning board asking every passerby to beware of wild elephants. Apparently the jungles on both sides of the road still harboured wild elephants. As we went further up we were engulfed in thick fog that continued for a few miles. The fog seems to be a regular feature as there was a warning about it before we came upon it. I think at around 6000 ft the fog cleared up, somewhere up close to Tenga Valley. From there Bomdila was around two hours away.

Bomdila is a very pretty little hill station at an elevation that is more than 8000 ft. It is the head quarter of the West Kameng District but is very sparsely populated. Basically it is a tribal town where Mompas

Another view of Dirang River

dominate. It has a good market and we found a lot of beautiful Chinese and Korean crockery being sold quite openly. Obviously there is pretty good traffic between Arunachal and Tibet. Climatically it is very good particularly in the month of October when we visited. It should be very cold in December and January.

Bomdila is on the way to Tawang which is coveted by Chinese. We had, however, no intentions of visiting Tawang as the journey is very time-taking. We instead went about 30 kms on that road up to Dirang. Dirang is a beautiful little place with a 500 years old Gompa. The views that one gets from Dirang are fabulous.

As the weather was getting adverse we decided to leave Bomdila as were up against the prospects of going downhill on a treacherous mountain road. We safely came down to Bhalukpong and headed towards Guwahati. One couldn’t possibly travel over bad and bouncy roads for seven days at a stretch. Hence we came back to the comfort of our home at Shillong to rest our tired bodies.