The Air India flight was a stuffy one. I was sweating profusely. When I turned to complain to the air-hostess, she was sweating too. I did not want to irk her more. The journey was a turbulent one. The walk on the clouds did not go as expected for the flight. I landed in Guwahati at around 8.30 PM.
Mr. Mirza Rahman was waiting for me in the lounge. He was a plump guy who I would come to know as a person of good heart, great planner with strong opinions about politics and North-East India in particular and a very nice guy to spend time with. He is a student of Political science at Delhi University. He was my guide for the trip. After confirming that we are talking to the right people, we went to the Scorpio which was going to be with us for the entire 2 weeks. Rashid, the driver was waiting for us. He was an interesting guy who was interested in taking pictures of him in various standing positions at different heights. It is Mirza with an Umbrella and Rashid on the plains for a change.
On the way to the hotel, I was peeping out of the window to see what Guwahati looks like. It was not different. That disappointed me to an extent. After some time, I saw lot of army vans and army men stationed at various places. Now this is different. I will come to realize the greatness of free existence in South India. Freedom! Only when there is sun, we think of shadow.
I met my fellow travelers at the hotel. Neha and New Mar were having their dinner. Neha was from Bombay. New Mar was from Germany. They were people of great fun and enthusiasm. New Mar impressed me with her curiosity, taking happiness in little things and energy. Neha knew the lyrics of most of the Hindi songs and she could croon well as well.
Mirza, Neha, New Mar and I went for a walk to have momos for dinner. Mirza took us to a place. The momos were served hot and it was delicious. On the way, we did not see many people apart from the random army men and passers-by. The place becomes deserted after 8 PM.
There was another family at the hotel. Mirza was pointing to that family and explaining to us a strange tradition in Meghalaya. Meghalaya has a tribe ‘Kona’ where girls are groomed to take care of children of the families they work for. They would know nothing else. They grow to take care of other kids. Was it Child labor or a haven for kids who have no other means? But it was interesting. I was able to correlate it with women in villages of Tamil Nadu who are adept at handling home medicine and pregnancy.
I would come to understand that North-East is a mix of several tribes and each have their own language, culture and flavor of life.
Loving your writing – more please!