Chal chaiya chaiya.. destination 1

Shot taken from the train..

It was raining as soon as we entered the north eastern states...(and it rained as we left).
The small hills and lush tea gardens greeted our sight. Video I took from the train.
The climate is so different from the west of India ( had been to Rajasthan 5 months back) to the east of India. The wetness of the East as compared to the dryness of the west is so welcome a change.
The first incidence that striked me was the dis connectivity of my mobile phone, At first I thought there must be a tower problem, but soon I found out that my prepaid wouldn't work in the North East (and in Kashmir) due to security reasons in the troubled states.

I forgot to mention I was an inhabitant of Tinsukia, (once upon a time I called it TinDUKHia) a small town in upper Assam. To say the least, and let bygones be bygones, I will defer to say now, that this trip of a fortnight was a much memorable and enjoyable than the five years spent there.
All of a sudden, I loved everything about the place, the weather, the house, the people..
It was a travel back in time, it was almost ten years since I left that place which was my home at one point in time. The house was the same, the furnitures,curtains, everything same, people same although a bit older. The lifestyle there hasnt changed much. I spent some first stupefied minutes as I stepped in the house there..

There was a particular friend there who was my only friend and confidante there, and whom I had to visit no matter what. A good 6 days passed before I finally landed up at her house unannounced. She had already gotten whiff of my presence in the town and had been waiting for my visit. Apparently she told her kids stories about our friendship, and she said that, I wouldn't dare to step out of the town without meeting her. Since I was a good 6 days late, her teenaged son had already started teasing her and saying, "your best friend did't turn up?" :)
This friend is still living like she was living 10 years ago, absolutely no change, never goes out (isn't allowed to, in fact) anywhere, her world is her house, (reason I had to visit her and not vice versa).

I went through each part of our house, especially the part which housed my rooms. I had never thought I would return there some day, although being a beeg house of a large joint family, members of the family still live there. Although my rooms were bare and nothing in there anymore, I stood there imagining and lapsed into the timeless past.. hmm cant exactly put my thoughts in words here!

Aaah, it was nice to go back, visit and reminisce. I did some shopping too and have bought myself a muga mekhala, a traditional silk saree, which I plan to wear at the next beeg do.

Muga mekhala I bought for myself.