"Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf" ~ Tagore

Guwahati - your starting point
Guwahati, the capital of Assam, straddles both banks of the Brahmaputra river. The town is said to be the legendary Pragjyotishpur or City of Eastern Light. It is a bustling, busy and crowded city taking its name from two words: Guwa meaning areca nut and Hat, meaning market, and thus becoming a market for areca nuts. But the town goes beyond areca nuts, for it is the most important commercial hub of the region

Guwahati has several places of historical interest. Perhaps the biggest attraction is the Kamakhya Temple atop Nilachal hill, where the Goddess Kamakhya is worshipped. The hill commands a majestic view of the city and the river. The ponds here are home to giant turtles which are quite used to being fed by visitors.

Hajo, 25 kms West of Guwahati, is the site of the Pua-Mecca mosque, set up by an Iraqi prince who turned preacher and travelled all the way to Assam in the 12th century to spread the Prophet's teachings. Hajo is revered by Muslims and Hindus, for in the town is the Hayagriba Madhava Temple, reached by way of a long stone stairway. At the base of the stairway is a large pond where resides one of Hajo's most famous residents: a giant turtle. The town is also well-known for its bell metal work in plates and serving bowls.

Madan Kamdev, about 35 kms away, is an archaeological site where erotic sculptures and other stone carvings abound.

Shopping Pleasures
Guwahati is the commercial capital of the North East. Its markets are busy, noisy and well stocked, especially with local handicrafts. The places to shop for handicraft and handloom items include the State Government's department store, Pragjyotika at Ambari as well as many privately owned shops in Pan Bazar and Fancy Bazar, two of the main commercial markets, that sell a range of items from muga silk to bell metal, canework to woollen shawls and elegant Naga and Manipuri jackets.

Excursions

Kaziranga
Assam is perhaps best known for two things: tea and the one-horned rhinoceros, which is found in large numbers at Kaziranga National Park.

Kaziranga is one of the most visited wildlife reserves of India and figures quite often on the itinerary of the discerning tourist from around the world.

There are several ways of getting to Kaziranga: you can fly to Jorhat and then drive to Kaziranga, rent a car, or take a bus from Guwahati. The route to this national park, which is full of wetlands and some forests apart from the tall elephant grass, is scenic: one will find men and women fishing in the beels or ponds, children diving into the inviting water on a warm day, coconut sellers hawking their wares by the roadside and boys on buffalo back in paddy fields. In the near distance, the blue hills of Arunachal Pradesh beckon.

You will pass the town of Jagiroad, where the Assam Silk Mill has an outlet, and the town of Nogaon. 14 kms. from Nogaon is Bordoa,the birth place of the Assamese saint and reformer, Sankardeva, who led a 16th century revival movement of Vaishnavism.

Kaziranga is spread over more than 430 sq. kms. and is the place where one of the last creatures of the prehistoric age, the rhinoceros, lives. the lumbering beasts are easy to spot even from the National Highway which passes by the sanctuary. They are best viewed from atop an elephant and there are early morning elephant rides for tourists which must be booked in advance at the Tourist Centre in Kaziranga. There are jeep safaris as well and these can be organised at the Centre. At the sanctuary, you can sight herds of wild elephants, the massive wild buffalo, huge numbers of deer. The species of deer found here are the hog deer, the bara singha or twelve antlered deer, and the large and stately sambhar. Wild boar abound as do many water birds. Among the migratory species are hornbills, storks, such as the Great Adjutant Stork, and cranes.

Sibsagar
Sagar was once the capital of the Ahom rulers who dominated Assam for more than 600 years. They ruled Assam virtually uninterrupted for 6 centuries until their kingdom fell to the British, in 1826. This city's main feature is the water body from which it gets its name. This is a 257 acre tank at a higher elevation than the rest of the town, with three temples on its banks. Of these temples, the most prominent is the Shivdol, which draws large crowds at Shiv Ratri. The other temples are the Vishnudol and Devidol.

Other attractions include the Rang Ghar, the double-storied, oval shaped amphitheatre and the seven-storied, Talatol Ghar, with three underground floors The latter is a palace with two secret tunnels. Joysagar, said to be the biggest man-made lake in the country, is spread over 318 acres of water on the edge of the town. A new addition is the Ahom Museum on the bank of the Sibsagar. It stores artefacts of the rulers, including swords, clothes, manuscripts, goblets and platters. The ancient capital of the Ahoms is Gargaon about 13 kms. east from Sibsagar, where the major draw is the Kareng Ghar, a seven-storied palace built by 18th century architects. Charideo situated nearby, is another old capital which was built by Sukapha, the founder of the Ahom dynasty. There are maidans or vaults for the king and members of royal families here. Travellers cross the Namdang stone bridge, carved out of a single boulder hundreds of years ago, over which a busy highway still runs today.

Take a day trip from Sibsagar to Dibrugarh, one of the major tea-producing centres of the subcontinent. Near Dibrugarh are major oil and gas installations. The road to the city is flanked by tea gardens on either side which stretch like carpets of green bushes. Women and men stand in the shade or sun, plucking the leaves at a surprising pace and tossing them into the conical cane baskets they carry on their backs. And in Dibrugarh there are tea plantations even within the city limits. Assam produces most of India's tea and a visit to a tea factory should be included in any itinerary.

Jorhat, another major tea producing area, located on the edge of the Brahmaputra, south-west of Sibsagar, is a major cultural centre.

Majuli, the world's largest inhabited riverine island, which is revered for its satras or Vaishnavite monasteries, is near Jorhat. It can be reached by ferry. The satras here are significant for Assam because they were set up by Sankardeva, the leader of Vaishnavite revivalism, in the 16th century. Majuli is dominated by the Mishing tribe, which came down from the hills of Arunachal Pradesh many year ago and is the only tribal riverine community in the Assam Valley. Their handlooms are exquisite, particularly the colourful Mirizen shawls and blankets which can be used as wall hangings or even as bedcovers.

Tezpur
Driving south from Jorhat and then across the Brahmaputra on the Kalia Bhomura bridge, you will come to Tezpur or City of Blood, also known at one time as Sonitpur. A very special sight awaits a visitor to the Circuit House in the early mornings: just a few hundred meters away, as the first rays of dawn streak the sky, the river comes alive slowly with boats and vessels of all shapes and sizes - ferries and barges, sail boats and launches and the ubiquitous small nao, or little boat, seen all along the course of this great river.

Ruins of stone temples and a door frame discovered at Da Parbatia/, about 5 kms. west of Tezpur, date to the 5th and 6th centuries. Other architectural remains include the Agnigarh and Bamuni hills the Bhairavi and Mahabhairab temples, and the twin tanks ofBar Pukhuri and Padum Pukhuri

A new attraction is the Cole Park, named after a British administrator, which has been recently redeveloped with the participation of local people.

About 50 kms. from Tezpur, off the road to Arunachal Pradesh, drive over a dirt track and creaky bridges to reach the Eco Camp, a unique experiment by the Assam Anglers' Association and the state's Forest Department. The Eco Camp is near the Jia Bhoroli river and across the river, on the other side, is the Nameri National Park.

The organisers at the Eco Camp can put together a day or part of a day for white water rafting. The scenery is magnificent: forests on either side, snow-capped mountains in the distance and a rushing river at hand. Visitors can do river rafting, with guidance from an expert, and try their hand at casting a line for the elusive, large and threatened golden mahseer, the great fish of these waters. There is an ecological campaign to save the mahseer, so part of the river is protected and fish need to be caught and then released in an effort to stabilise their dwindling numbers. The food at the camp, where visitors live in modern tents, is excellent and on most evenings there is a camp fire with music to brighten the late hours.

The Nameri National Park sprawls over from Assam into Arunachal Pradesh. The best way of travelling here is (as at Kaziranga) on elephants. There are no roads inside the park. The thick jungle, with patches of swamp, is home to a variety of animals and birds. Among the animals you can spot are the powerful Mithun or Indian Bison and the rare White Winged Wood Duck, among the most endangered bird species on earth.

A short distance on the main road to Tawang is Bhalukpong, the entrance to Arunachal Pradesh, where the police check tourist permits.