On Saturday, after I blogged Kaziranga, the very thought of slipping out of Assam within next 24 hours made me revert, view and review the camera screen for elephant photographs again and again. Nevertheless, my idea of Assam winters got a ‘thud’ and carrying a bag full of woollens starts feeling shunt. Winters usher in pleasant time here; I could combat it with a thin shawl.
Shunting to Majuli from Kaziranga NP
I travelled back to Jorhat from Kaziranga NP to Nimatighat (on the bank of Brahmaputra River) in a hired car for a decent amount of Rs 250. Subsequently, an hour ferry services transports you to Majuli Island. It feels great to be a part a colossal, unending river—the mighty Brahmaputra River— while on a ferry boat. Aquaphobics should tad guard themselves against untamed waves of waters here.
Accommodation
Here and after, accommodation was no-way-a-trouble. To the sheer delight of readers, Majuli has two localities, Garmur and Kamalabari, lined up with accommodation facilities. However pre-designed holidays help in booking these properties through Assam State Tourism Corporation or www.indiahotelreview.com
Majuli River
Next morning brought me outstanding view of Majuli clad in a foggy garb, so heavy so that piercing a gaze was impossible. A quarter later, everything fell in place, the sandy shore, the gloom and the palm trees. The island is one of the largest in the world and it appears large only when seen from right angle. Majuli is frilled with ghats through four sides. I take a launch across to the Island’s Kalambari Ghat where a four wheel drive awaits me. The scenery I passed through was too gentle and bucolic: a patch work of tiny boondocks, some of which has oxen harrowing and ploughing up the rice stubbles. The birdlife is prolific, with lines of egrets working the freshly turned plough lines, adjutant storks sentry as motionless as statues and multi-hued kingfisher. Large stands of banana and giant bamboo give evidence to island’s fertility.
Auniati Satra
The ferry was heading toward the Auniati Satra, one of the most important of that 20 or so neo-vaishnavaite monasteries found on the island. This monastery had small museum dedicated to island’s culture that has curious set of artefacts harboured inside. Leaving Anuiati behind, I move back to Kamalabari Village, being lead through the monk’s living quarters. That was all for the first day.
Amguri Village
The very next day, I revisit the island in the hunt for Amguri, a tribal village on Majuli Islands. This beautiful village belongs to Mishing tribe that make up around 40 percent of the total population. Mishings have large and pronounced feature than other tribesmen on the island. Next, I was led to the stilted house where a group of women are weaving on flat-weave looms from here I picked up handicraft. Farming and fishing are the premier occupation here and rafting and boating are best mode of transport.
The government of India has tried twice to have Macula recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—first in 2004, and again in 2008—but failed narrowly on both occasions because of the ineffective lobbying.
