Guatemala. The word was ringing in my ears when I saw the tiny green plants growing proudly in the fields unaware of the fact that they will be soon removed for the cultivation of another plant, for which they were grown in the first place.
The lands near the
road from Moranhat, a small town in the eastern part of Assam in the Dibrugarh
district, to Kathalguri (Kathal meaning
Jackfruit in Assamese) were mostly devoted to the cultivation of Tea. Assam is known for the black tea it produces, commonly
known as “breakfast” tea or simply Assam Tea. Green and white teas are also
grown in the state although in smaller quantities. Almost half of the tea
produced in the state comes from Dibrugarh.
On the right side of the road lied the green fields filled
with tea shrubs, all of the same height, with a few trees growing amidst the
neatly columned shrubs to cater shade to them.
Some fields had tea plants that were almost a hundred years old, as told
by my friends who were dwellers of the District we were in i.e. Dibrugarh, while
others had newly planted shrubs. On the left side of the road the fields were
covered with the not-so-neatly growing green Guatemala grasses that reminded me
so much of the leafy crown of the Pineapple. They are grown before cultivating
tea to make the land more fertile and suitable while increasing the activity of
microbes.
As we crossed a long flyover in Moranhat, which was probably
longer than those of Guwahati, it reminded me of the road from Guwahati to
Dibrugarh. An eight hour long journey it was but the scenic beauty of the trees
and fields next to the road, wiped all weariness away. Our bus had stopped at
one of the many dhabas near the road
and I can recall it was not that hygienic but it fed the hungry passengers
quite well.
Dibrugarh town situated at the southern banks of the river
Brahmaputra Is a beautiful, well-established yet peaceful place to be. While
the town is surrounded by forests including the Kaziranga National Forest, tea
estates are placed at the heart of the town. “It’s always raining there”, my
friends had told me once and I witnessed it for myself in my visit to the town;
not those heavy day-ruining rains but pleasant drizzles that embellish the day.
A trip around the town made me realize the fact that it was
just inches away to be called a city; shopping plazas, movie halls, the crowded
streets reminded me of the part of Guwahati near the Brahmaputra. The most
crowded market was the Bhutiya market
aka Tibetan market comprised of small stalls of clothes, bags and accessories. “Fashionable
clothes at reasonable prices” they said and the market flooded with women of
all ages examining the products.
We made it a point to visit the famous Tilinga Mandir (Bell
Temple) at Bordubi in the adjacent district Tinsukia. The temple was named as
such as it was a custom to tie a bell to a branch of the giant peepal tree growing in temple complex.
Tying a bell would fulfill the wishes of the devotees, they said, and consequently
the tree was tied with millions of hanging bells. Although the infinite number
of hanging bells has given the temple its fame and is the reason behind its
name, it was actually sad to witness a dying tree weighted down by the load of
the bells with some very heavy ones.
A night’s stay at Dibrugarh town, and another at Moranhat,
an hour away from the town, and we left for our destination Kathalguri where
NEEPCO Power Station, our home for the next month as interns, was located. And
now that I look back at the journey, all that fills my mind is peace that the
region instilled in me and those tea shrubs of the same height looking so much
alike yet different and distanced from each other by a few inches.
never seen a better description of dibrugarh than this one
ReplyDeletethanks a lot :)
Deletenever seen a better description of dibrugarh than this one
ReplyDelete