Temperate Grasslands. its all about the small journey i take.i love making ordinary things to extraordinary.And the adventure that comes along with it..............

I will never forget the day when I went to celebrate Rangali Bihu(A harvest festival)in its purest form in Bihpuria,a village in Assam,India.I went there with a friend of mine,she was a native of that place.Termed as“Goru(Cow)bihu”(the first day of Rongali Bihu dedicated to cattle worship).It starts in the early morning where a village men take their cattle for a bath in the river.Usually women don’t go there as the men & boys throw “Saat” in them &it’s quite painful(Saat is the combination of vegetables that the people throw to their cattle so that they become big, healthy and productive).It is believed that if a person is hit with it than for a full year s/he will live a healthy & illness free life.My friend was reluctant to go,but for my sake she had to & as a result we were severely hit by it.But it was fun as in return we threw at them too.In the meantime the cows were taken by their owner to the river Dikrong &started to wash them with maah-halodhi (black gram and turmeric paste), whipped dighloti (a plant with long leaf), makhioti (a plant with flower like soft plastic butter-fly) and threw pieces of lau (bottle gourd)& bengena (brinjal).I no longer could be a silent spectator and so jumped into the river.I started to wash the cows myself , threw vegetables on them & sang the traditional songs (which are themed after the wellness of cows)whole heartedly.I washed more than 5 cows &a funny incident followed after that.A pair of cows,one black&the other white was brought inside the water,I was not aware that the black cow kicked people. Not knowing the fact I was happily washing them, rubbing their skin with maah-halodhi & all of a sudden, the black cow kicked me on my waist. It wasn't that strong, as the impact of the kick was less inside the water,but the imprint of the kick stayed till 7 days. But I really had lots of fun.Later the old ropes tied to the necks of the cattle were removed & they were set free to roam anywhere according to their will. As the day was about to end, the cattle owners brought their cattle in a ceremonial walk back home.A burning rice barn was placed in the entrance to create smoke and the cows are adorned with garlands with the collection of different kind of leaves along with their new ropes.After they enter home aromatic oils are massaged into the whole body and horn &are feed pitha (Assamese sweets) while they were fanned with handheld fans.The whole process was a very wonderful experience that I will cherished for ever.