Sprawling on the bank of magnificent Brahmaputra river, Guwahati has many tourist attractions with famous religious sites and natural beauties. The city, also called the gateway to North east India is well connected by rail and airways. I was at IIT Guwahati during June 2017 to attend a workshop organized at IIT Guwahati. During my stay at IIT Guwahati, I visited many important places of the city. The climate was hot and humid during this time of summer. It is suggested to visit the place during Winter.
Finally, I arrived at Guwahati on 23 June 2017 after covering 28 hours train journey from Kanpur. From the Guwahati railway station, I hired an auto rickshaw and traveled to IIT Guwahati. A room was allotted to me at Siang Hostel of IIT Guwahati. The next day was Sunday and I planned to visit Maa Kamakhya Devi temple.
Maa Kamakhya Temple:
I traveled by the bus at 8:30 AM and get off at the nearest bus stop. It was the time for famous Ambubachi mela and Sunday was the last day of the festival. Ambubachi mela is a major religious gathering at Assam where lakhs of devotees come to Kamakhya Devi temple. The 8th century Kamakhya Devi temple is one of the four primary Shakti peethas and important pilgrimage site. It was very fortunate time for me to witness the Ambubachi mela which happens every year during the month of Ashaad (June). The temple is located at the top of Nilachal hill and the temple is at a distance of 3 km from the foothill. There were many cabs running from the bus stop to the temple. But to avail the the cab service, it was required to wait in a very long queue. Therefore, I decided to reach the temple by foot. After walking 3 km, I arrived at the entrance of the temple premise where I stood for half an hour in the queue. After half a kilometer from the gate, I arrived at the temple. Due to heavy crowd, very limited time was available for Darshan and impossible to enter the Garvagriha.
The temple premise was full of devotees lighting lamps, enchanting mantras and playing traditional musical instruments. I sat at a corner of the temple premises as a spectator and watched the festival. After spending one and half hour at the temple, I came back to the bus stop to catch a bus which was heading towards IIT Guwahati and arrived at Hostel at 3 PM. I roamed around the campus in the evening and spotted few jackals.
Nest day morning, I went to attend the workshop which was scheduled from Monday to Friday. In the after noon , I explored the IIT Guwahati campus which is very beautiful with natural scenic. The campus is covered with dense forest and inhabited by jackal, python and many other animals.
Umananda Island:
On Saturday, we planned to explore the city. Me and my friend, Sandeep planned to visit Umananda Island which is the smallest inhabited island of the world. The island is situated in the mid of the river Brahmaputra. It was 8 O clock in the morning. We traveled to ferry ghat from the IIT gate by a sharing auto. Then we sailed to Kachari ghat on the other side of the river near fancy bazar. After spending half an hour at the market, we moved to the Kuruwa ghat by a bus. From this ghat, we reached Umananda island by boat journey in the Brahmaputra river. The island is frequently visited by tourists and devotees. There is a temple in the island dedicated to goddess Parvati and the island is named after Maa Parvati (Uma). The island is also famous for golden langur which is a rare species in the verge of extinction. There were only four golden langur in the island during the time of our visit. After prayer at the temple, we enjoyed the scenic beauty of the island. There was a person providing traditional northeast costume for photographs at a cost of INR 50. We captured our photo wearing the costume. It was already 5 O clock in the evening when we left Umananda island and sailed to the Kuruwa ghat. From there, we returned to IIT Guwahati by a bus. Exploring Guwahati City:
On the next day (Sunday), I started my journey to explore the Guwahati city covering a museum and the Silpgram. First Silpgram was reached by bus from IIT Guwahati. It is a very beautiful place where the traditions of all the north eastern states are displayed. Every north eastern states has its own separate counter having their own handcrafts and traditional costumes for sell. There was a theater at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra near to the Silpgram where traditional dances are performed. It was closed on that day which I missed. To get a glimpse of Assamese tradition, I moved to the nearest Sankardev Kalakshetra Museum. The museum is very informative and has a good collection of Assamese traditions with many artefacts and historical events. There is a souvenir shop from where I bought a Assamese gamucha (towel), few bamboo handcrafts and wooden rhino. Then I returned to IIT Guwahati at 4 PM. I had my train on the next day and returned to IIT Kanpur. The experience at Guwahati was very exciting and memorable. I missed lots of places in Assam such as Majuli (largest riverine island of the world), Kaziranga national park, Jatinga and many more which are in the list of my next visit.
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24 June 2017
About me
Tapan Kumar Pradhan Post Doc Fellow, IIT Kharagpur PhD, IIT Kanpur http://tapankp.weebly.com Distance:
Kanpur - Guwahati = 1430 km IIT G - Guwahati station= 19 km IIT G - Kamakhya Temple= 14 km Kachari Ghat - Kuruwa ghat =2.2 km |