Abhishruti Bezbaruah’s soulful voice sets the perfect mood for driving in the rain across Assam’s countryside. I can’t understand the words (later, I found it was Tok Dekhi Mor Gaa, her popular Bihu song) but the music keeps beat with the thunder and downpour as we make our way across Sonitpur on tree-lined roads; the hills that divide Meghalaya and Assam are in view all along the way. It’s utterly beautiful.
I have wronged Assam all my life. Not a fan of tea gardens, my only reason to join a tour of interior Assam is a chance to visit Kaziranga National Park. The itinerary, which begins with a night in Guwahati, culminates at the park that has been on my bucket list for more than a decade. I am excited only about the end, waiting to get through with the other places with minimal interest.
Consequently, from the very first moment, I am in for pleasant surprises — even the drive from the airport to Guwahati is beautiful. I have seen the natural beauty of Meghalaya and heard about the rest of the North-East but Assam, to me, was only the necessary ‘gateway’ to those more exotic destinations. I am glad I stop for more than necessary this time. Left to myself I would have driven straight to Kaziranga but the slow, long route to your destination is always more fulfilling and this was especially true in Assam.
A great base to explore the Sonitpur district, Wild Mahseer, an eco-lodge inside the Eastern Himalayan Botanic Ark, is the hub of cultural activities organised by the Balipara Foundation. The Ark is more like a mini forest, a 22-acre certified organic estate that is home to over 75 species of birds, 1 lakh trees and is adjacent to the Addabarrie Tea Estate. Inside this green haven are the tea estate bungalows, where Burra Sahib and his team would stay about 145 years ago, and where one can stay now, to experience life as it were in the Anglo-Indian era.
Life hasn’t changed much since then at Baligaon village. The Mishings (pronounced Mising) have been staying here for more years than anyone can remember and, even though I’ve clearly come to peer into their lives, I am greeted with warm smiles and apong, a rice beer with medicinal wild herbs that the Mishing are well known for. Clad in red- and-black sarongs with white drape tops (typical Assamese two-part sari), the fierce-looking Mishing women with tightly tied hair, arched eyebrows and a wide brow, guide me to a bamboo hut on stilts that they offer as homestay. I am happier with air-conditioning back at the hotel but I can see the charm of staying with the Mishing, eating their version of Assamese cuisine such as wild rice with pork and bamboo shoot, and dancing a round or two after a few mugs of apong.
Back at Wild Mahseer, after a fabulous meal of masor tenga (sour fish curry) and stir-fried local ferns with joha rice, I retire early so I could rise in time for a jungle walk around the property. The rain gods had other ideas. With most of the morning washed out, we spent the early hours over chai and chatter at the scenic dining pavilion, all glass and surrounded by greenery, taking in the beauty of Balipara. Finally, the rain weakened and I set out for another drive through the countryside.
Chengale Mari is more my kind of place. A community of 190 Garo families, I spend the late morning here meeting the village elders and watching the hypnotic Wangala dance in rice fields. The groovy music is all flute and drums, a haunting melody that still plays in my mind. The Garos are originally from Meghalaya but when artificial lines were drawn to demarcate state boundaries, some of them became part of Assam. They now speak an Assamese dialect of the Garo language and even their dress and food is different from the Meghalese people.
Walking around the shockingly green village, looking at picture-book cottages spread across the woods, I spot a red jungle fowl skittering away into a home. Elsewhere, I hear the distinct honking call of the hornbill. I walk pastwild boars and towering bamboo thickets. This is nothing but a jungle walk. It is raining softly as I cross the mud paths, enjoying being out in the nature without actually going into a forest.
On the last day, I was back on the road in the rain, driving onwards to Kaziranga, where we hoped to spot the endangered one-horned rhino. But that’s another story for another time — suffice it to say, my trip to Assam was no longer just about Kaziranga. I had discovered an Assam no one talks about.
First appeared on BLink, The Hindu’s weekend supplement on May 17, 2019: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/takeaway/assam-where-rice-beer-meets-the-music-of-the-tribes/article27158581.ece
Kalyani Prasher 