Mugging up facts to score good marks in tests is an important part of everyone’s childhood. But, it wasn’t the good marks but the facts themselves that fascinated me. My younger self would be ecstatic if I went back and told him that I was heading to Majuli – the largest riverine island in the world.
There was water wherever my eyes ventured. The sky and the river had become one. I couldn’t decipher where one ended and the other began. It was an amazing sight. It appeared as if the boat was heading nowhere in an endless ocean for such is the immensity of the mighty Brahmaputra.
A grin spread across my face as I looked around thinking about what had transpired the previous night. As my last working day in Guwahati came to an end, I announced to my colleagues about my solo trip. They were stunned and also a little pissed because they had planned a going away party. They tried to convince me to stay but I told them that I had already booked my ticket. I wasn't lying. It was a reflex decision. Over my two months stay in Guwahati, I had tried to - as I always do - make the most of that place. I had working Saturdays. Still, at the end of my stay, I had managed to cover most of the prominent places in Guwahati. I had even planned a solo trip to Nongriat and Cherrapunji. But as ill fortune would have it, I was denied that pleasure when violence ensued in Shillong. Sitting in the office, that Saturday I was itching to just pack my bag and head somewhere.
And I did. I boarded an overnight bus from Guwahati and reached Jorhat early morning at 4 AM. I had done some last minute research. Getting off at Jorhat Bus Stand, I had to reach Nimati ghat where the first ferry to Kamalabari ghat in Majuli was scheduled at 7:30 AM. Even when the autowala made me wait at Jorhat Bus Stand to stack people on his vehicle, I reached Nimati ghat with time to spare.
At a distance, a boat appeared out of nowhere, mirroring ours, stacked with people, some bikes and cars. It made its way through the washed out plants drifting in the river. Slowly and gradually, it disappeared again in the mist in the opposite direction. I had hardly slept the night in the bus, but the cool wind flowing gently soothed me as the boat cleaved through the river, making a sound that was a mix of the silent hum of the engine of the boat and the lapping of the waves against the boat. Now and then, out of nowhere, small green patches of land appeared. They were on the brink of being submerged. They had laid down their weapons and surrendered to the mighty Brahmaputra.
I struck up a conversation with a man sitting next to me. He revealed he was from Bihar and how he had married an Assamese girl and settled in Guwahati. He related how things were different as compared to his hometown: here, nobody batted an eye at an inter-caste marriage. He worked for Reliance Jio and was heading to Lakhimpur, another district of Assam. To reach there, he had to cross Majuli by an auto and then take another ferry. Eager to help me out, he suggested me to take a shared auto to Garmur. There were many lodges and hotels there. After that, I could visit the local Satras, by renting a cycle or an auto.
It took the ferry around 50 minutes to reach Majuli. Once we got down at Kamalabari ghat, my new friend accompanied me on the auto till Garmur. On the way, I could see green fields and water bodies everywhere. According to him, the houses here were traditional and were built at an elevation to safeguard themselves against the floods that occur every year during the rainy season. Declared as a separate district of its own (the only island district of India), the island remained under constant threat of erosion from the Brahmaputra river. The island had decreased in size considerably due to this. There were many villages on the island, but the main urban areas were Kamalabari and Garmur.
The Auto dropped me in Garmur and I bid goodbye to my new friend. As instructed by him, I went to Majuli Cycle Cafe. There I freshened up, had breakfast and then booked a bicycle. This island was another world cut off from the main world. Since the middle ages, Majuli had played a crucial role in the neo-vaishnavite movement. The island had a huge concentration of Satras, which are institutional centers of the vaishnavite sect of Hinduism. They were not just religious temples but also acted as cultural centers and therefore had a huge influence on the social lives of the local people. Although, there were dozens of Satras on the island, I could visit only two: Kamalabari and Garmur.
It was middle of June and there was no sign of rain. The heat was too much. And very soon, I realised that I wasn't very fit for cycling. I hadn't booked a place for stay because I wasn't here for long. I had a return bus on the same night from Jorhat because the next day I was leaving for Kolkata. Returning the bicycle, I came to Kamalabari Ghat where once again I lost myself in the immensity of the Brahmaputra river, until the ferry arrived. One has to be careful while planning the return journey because it took the ferry around one and a half hour to cover the same distance upstream which had taken 50 minutes downstream.
I left Jorhat on a funny note. While taking the ticket for the ferry, I saw the rate list for transporting various things like two-wheeler, four wheeler and even cattle. Much to my amazement, there was also a rate for transporting elephants.
Imagine that happening. I could almost hear one of my friends saying, "Guys, we need to address the elephant on the boat."
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You can also watch the full video of my solo trip to Majuli: Click here to view
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