Happy Rongali Bihu from Guwahati, Assam State, NE India.
I am now officially inside the northeastern states of India. This is a very strange place. It is the capital of Assam, the main state in the Indian northeast, and one of just three states not requiring a permit to travel in. Even Indian citizens need permits, theirs called an Innerline Permit (IP), mine a Restriced Area Permit (RAP). Thus the average Indian, knows how to get one of his but is clueless as to what tourists must do. Each state controls their own permits out of their own offices, though they do share one important aspect: the legendary Indian bureaucracy. We don’t ours yet, and getting one is going to be tough. We’re trying to get one for Arunanchal Pradesh, Nagaland and perhaps Mizoram, in that order.
Yesterday morning I met Ann and Jim on platform 7 of Guwahati Station, or more accurately Ann found me! I arrived in rush, already all sweaty at 07:55, only to find the train an hour late. I bought a Times of India and settled in with a water, glancing up from time to time as the train-track cleaner shoveled then sprayed the shit into the open drain beside Track 1. At ten minutes to arrival I went to check the track number only to find it 45 more minutes late. Back to track one, and a soda this time. When they posted track 7, giving the status as “Coming,” I walked over with the porters (“coolies”), dressed in their deep-red tops, plaid scarves and that support thing they have to mount on their head to allow for carrying really heavy loads [using the scarf.] By the time I arrived they had all staked out places on the platform by leaving their sandals at intervals. When the train arrived all that organization and cooperation seemed for naught as some of the coolies tried to better their competition by jumping on to the more desirable cars and riding the train to a stop. Jim and Ann were in one of four cars, but God help me, which one?
Jim and Ann are folks with whom I have been corresponding since late January. Ann is Dutch South African, age 60, and has been traveling fulltime since February 2005. In September of last year she separated from her husband while they were traveling in Pakistan. She came to India just before the end of 2007; thus she must be out of India before the end of June. Jim, age 55, is a school librarian in Byron Bay, Australia. We all met through a web site called www.RetiredBackpackers.com. I met each of them separately through email in January only to learn that the two of them were already in contact. We had planned a meet-up in Kolkata, Ann arriving by train from the south and Jim arriving by air from Bangkok. Problem was that I messed up the date. Thus, Ann’s Kolkata time overlapped with my time there and later with Jim’s time there, but my time and Jim’s time did not. And thus, a day after I had arrived, I was standing on platform 7 of the Guwahati waiting to finally meet Jim, that is if I could find them!
After Ann found me and I met Jim, we went looking for a hotel for them. I’m a staying at Deboo’s, and will for as long as he will let me. They FINALLY found a place, more than they wanted to spend, in a more western hotel. But we were all exhausted after two hours of looking. Everything was full for Bihu! That was true for permit hunting too. So we are cooling our heals for a few days, 3 to be exact, also because of Bihu. We’ll take in a few museums and temples, like the Hindu Umananda Mandir out on Peacock Island, and a partake in the near constant flow of folk songs and dances. And on Wednesday we’ll get back to work on these permits.
