Guwahati

 Don't know why felt like writing about Guwahati today,

When I was born my father was posted at Guwahati.

When I joined engineering he was posted at Guwahati again.

Guwahati means betelnut tree in a row. 

After my 2nd or 3rd semester of engineering I went to Guwahati with my mother, my aunt, we 3 siblings and my cousin .

Total 6 of us.

On that train journey my mom and aunt made new friends .

Those people thought we are all brothers and sisters and my youngest brother is only my mother's child. 😂 

There was some( baand)strike and our train had to wait one whole day at Chandil.

Thankfully it rained so we managed or else it was a summer break .

After reaching Guwahati we stayed in my father's quarter. 

We went to Kamakshya temple, Vashisht Ashram, few more magnificent temples whose name I don't recollect. 

I can find from net and pull out pictures but not in a mood today. So, let it go. 

Kamakshya temple is one of the Shakti peethas, where they believe tantra Sadhana. It's very powerful temple with so many interesting stories that my father used to share in our childhood. 

It's a very unique temple. My younger brother being aethist didn't enter. My parents asked me and I said I have come so far I have to see it. Thus, we all went except just one of us. 

It was a long stand in queue and the temple didn't had much sculptures. Inside the main temple it was so dark, it had just one lamp 🪔 to illuminate. 

The priest there put so much vermilion on everyone's forehead. Could not see anything other than red flowers, priest asked to put hands inside a creek and we felt some water in it. It was a spring running inside the temple main garbhagriha.

Then we went to other temples and fancy bazar. I don't remember the order in which we went from places to places. But, Vashisht Ashram was a unique temple. Almost like a hillock covered with so many trees. This temple has a unique beauty. 

We were invited by many of my father's friends. All their homes had spacious living rooms. Minimum two sofas was a must. They have unique tradition of offering white and red gamcha (towel) to the guest post dinner. 

My home in Cuttack has all its furniture from Assam. The craftsmanship of Assam is incredible. Be it bamboo tree artefacts, tea tree center table, corner table or the teak wood work all are so good. We have the famous pan daan and Assam hats. My kids love to play with the tree house show piece even today. 

The jalpari trip(cruise ship) in river Bhramaputra is a must visit. It was my first ever cruise ship visit and we enjoyed our dinner in it while it roamed around Bhramaputra. This river is also very big may be next to Ganga in its width followed by the Godavari. 

We also went to Shillong and Cherapunji.  Road trip is best in this place. Shillong is famously called Scotland of the east. It has many waterfalls and Cherapunji has fossil caves. We missed many other famous tourist spots. One being the Dawki river and the root bridge. 

But, can't forget the big mitha paan of Assam. The view of Bangladesh and India border from Cherapunji or the cold windy weather at the waterfalls in Shillong.