Prelude
Guwahati, 23 Nov 2024
The river looked like molten copper, shimmering in the orange light. The setting sun hovered low over it, ready to disappear over the horizon. In the far distance, the lights twinkled on a bridge. Cable cars ferried passengers to and fro across the wide river, and barges festooned with lights floated on the water.
This was the mighty Brahmaputra, at Guwahati. Although it was just 4:15 pm, the sun was already setting, as we watched from our Airbnb on the eighth floor of a building by the riverfront. I had been looking forward to seeing this river, the unifying theme of our trip to Arunachal, because every river valley that we would visit was a part of this enormous river system.
The next morning, I was up early, sitting on the balcony, watching the mist on the river. A flock of parrots were wheeling and darting around the building, joined by doves and pigeons. A pair of sparrows hopped on the ledge, inquisitively tilting their heads from side to side. There are many large trees in the neighbourhood, and these provide a habitat for the birds.
It was a peaceful setting in which I contemplated how far we had travelled from home.
We had been planning for some time to visit the North East, a region we had not explored earlier. A mutual friend shared with us this travelogue by Sonali Singh, and it opened our eyes to how much there is to explore in Arunachal alone!
Although we were eager to get started soon, we had to wait till the monsoons had well and truly retreated, to minimise the chance of encountering landslides.
We used this time to watch vlogs posted by various travellers and form our plan. We decided to traverse the state from west to east, starting with Tawang in late November and ending at Pangsau pass in late December. We hoped to avoid the tourist crowd that the Christmas holiday week would bring to Tawang (the more frequented part of the state). We obtained our Inner line permits for Arunachal online for these dates.
The hero of this trip would be our car, a Toyota Fortuner, and we invested heavily in it, getting a thorough service done, buying new tyres, and also a new car audio system.
After months of preparation and anticipation, we left Bangalore on 8 November, 2024. Over the next three weeks, we would travel to Guwahati in stages, based on work schedules.
Bangalore to Bheemunipatnam
Over the first weekend, we drove to Bheemunipatnam, a town 20 km north of Visakhapatnam, for our first halt. This is a place of some historical importance, with Buddhist era relics dating to the 3rd century BCE and Hindu temples from the 14th century and later. It was a major port used by the Dutch and the British to trade with the Far East, until Visakhapatnam port was developed.
Bheemili, 10 Nov 2024
I can hear the Bay of Bengal thundering below me. I am seated on the balcony of my hotel room at Bheemili beach. The tide is coming in, the waters roiling and swirling on the little strip of sand, the white surf surging and breaking a little farther out. It is just past sunset, and the sky is a shade of lavender. To the north, the land curves in a graceful arc and I can see lights of the town glimmering in the dusk.
The heat of the day has long gone, and the sea breeze whips around us as we descend to the beach. The day’s visitors are leaving — large families, groups of youngsters — some linger to take photos/videos in the fading light. There are several stalls selling food and trinkets, and the air is festive.
A little promenade has been built above the beach, with several larger-than-life statues on it — a fisherman holding his catch, dolphins frolicking in the waves, a monk with his pupils seated around him. Down on the beach, there is a mermaid sculpted out of black stone, on a natural pedestal of brown rock jutting out of the water. The waves swirl about her, and she commands the attention of all visitors to the beach.
The next day, we drove along the beach road going south in the direction of Visakhapatnam for about 10 km. It is such a pretty stretch of road! The ever-present ocean in various shades of blue, and white surf breaking on the rocks and beaches, is a sight for sore eyes. The local municipal corporation does a great job of keeping it clean, well-paved, and tree-lined in some stretches.
We stopped near Thotlakonda beach, at a natural rock formation near that beach. Here, the sea has eroded the brown khondalite rock that juts out of the sand, to create a bridge-like structure. The waves come crashing in under the rock bridge and swirl in a little pool, before they recede. We had never seen anything like this before.
All in all, Bheemili far surpassed our expectations — this was a great rest stop on this long trip of ours.
Bheemunipatnam to Kolkata
After a few days at Bheemili to catch up on work, rest and laundry, we hit the road again. We would travel to Kolkata via Chilika lake.
The border between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha near Ichhapuram is very squiggly — and NH 16 switches between the two states every couple of kilometres, as evidenced by the script used on the signboards! Finally, we saw the “Welcome to Odisha” signboard and knew we had crossed into Odisha.
The Eastern Ghats run beside the highway. In some places, the hills had been quarried and the rocks were exposed. Just beyond the city of Brahmpur (Berhampur), we entered the Berhampur forest division. We topped a rise, and got our first glimpse of Chilika lake below us!
This is the largest brackish lake in Asia. The name echoes in our heads from geography books, but this was the first time we were seeing it. We turned off from the highway, crossed a little railway crossing and a winding village road to reach Swosti Chilika resort. That evening, we learnt that the boat cruises were all booked, so we just chilled by the jetty.
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Chilika is vast…but also rather featureless. The opposite shore was too far away to be visible. We could see an island in the distance, and some poles sticking out of the water on which birds were perched. We left before dusk and headed back to the resort.
Continuing through Odisha, we crossed the cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar on our way to Kolkata. After a while, the monotony of each overpass, the same retail brands across all of India (Croma, Reliance, etc) dulled our senses.
We entered Bengal through the West Midnapore district, and took the Kharagpur bypass. Aeons ago, the two of us had met on IIT Kharagpur campus, and the milestones evoked memories. But we were eager to get to Kolkata and did not take a detour to visit the campus this time.
As we approached Kolkata, it became really crowded, with slow moving traffic from Santragachi onward. Amongst them were Kolkata’s iconic yellow taxis :) Crossing over the second Hooghly bridge (Vidyasagar setu), we took a network of flyovers to cross the city and reach Salt Lake City (Bidhannagar), where we had booked a serviced apartment for our stay.
Kolkata
The next morning, I took my cup of tea to the little balcony overlooking the street and watched the typical scene of a Kolkata para (neighbourhood) — rickshaws plying passengers (now they were e-rickshaws instead of the old cycle rickshaw), buses trundling down the street, hawkers calling out their wares, people exchanging pleasantries…the slow life.
We spent the next few days meeting relatives and friends in the city whom we hadn’t met in many years, and eating a lot of good, home-cooked Bengali food! The city has changed in many ways and stayed the same in some. Some neighbourhoods still had the same bazaars, eateries, old buildings and houses. Main streets had changed beyond recognition, with a lot more glitter and gloss.
After catching up on work and socializing, we were ready to venture into the North East.
Kolkata to Guwahati
The route to from Kolkata to North Bengal is NH 12, and then one takes NH 27 to go east into Assam.
The first day’s drive up to Malda was, frankly, terrible. Even though every town had a bypass or overpass, the highway had frequent obstructions in the form of naka bandi (barricades) placed by the traffic police. Also, there was constant traffic in the wrong direction — autos, totos (electric autos), cyclists, scooters, sometimes even cars — who just could not be bothered to take a long U turn to commute!
The barrage over the Hooghly at Farakka is often clogged with traffic for hours, and we were apprehensive as we approached it. However, it was smoother than expected and we had the added bonus of seeing a train pass by us on the rail side of the bridge!
We had a hard time getting used to the sun’s working hours here in the east :) By 3 pm it had dimmed in intensity and by 4:50 pm it was sunset!
We reached Malda by dusk and heaved a sigh of relief as we checked into the Golden Park hotel by the highway.
The next day, we entered North Bengal. Our destination was Siliguri and the chicken neck corridor into the North East. In this region, the road is flanked by Nepal to the north-west, Bhutan to the north and Bangladesh to the south-east. We saw several cars with Bhutan license plates.
Our first glimpse of tea bushes made us stop and take a break. Some stretches of highway were quite beautiful. We approached Siliguri by the scenic Fulbari-Ghoshpukur road, crossed the Mahananda barrage and reached the Sawasstika eco resort at sunset.
That night, we slept in a bamboo cottage in the midst of a tea garden. Early the next morning, we were rudely woken by a loud banging on the window! We presumed it was some animal and went back to sleep. Later, Somendu photographed the culprit — a woodpecker who was furiously knocking on the glass window! Meanwhile, I was on the front porch, drinking my tea and watching all the other birds flitting about the place. The entire place was abuzz with their activity!
Refreshed with this immersion in nature, we continued our journey eastward towards Assam. The big moment on this day was crossing the Teesta river — a massive stretch of water that seemed placid today, but is capable of immense destruction when in full spate.
This section of NH 27 through North Bengal is yet incomplete — the section from Dhupguri to Alipurduar was completely broken and in disrepair. We resolved that on our way back, we would take an alternate road via Hasimara that meanders through tea gardens and is supposed to be very scenic, albeit a bit longer.
It was close to 4 pm when we crossed over into Assam. Even though the light was fading, it was easier to drive here because the traffic was more orderly and the roadside stalls were set back away from the highway. We stopped for the night at Cygnett Park Meghna hotel, Bongaigaon.
The last leg of this journey to Guwahati was a short drive. As we left Bongaigaon, we could see hills to the north and south of the highway. There was a good deal of greenery and open fields along the road, as well as many lakes and ponds, with moored boats draped with fishing nets. We crossed the Manas river, which flows down from Bhutan and joins the Brahmaputra. We also saw signboards for the Manas sanctuary.
We entered Guwahati via the Saraighat bridge across the Brahmaputra and navigated our way to our Airbnb. We had travelled 2855 km from home. And the real adventure was only about to begin!
Next: Western Arunachal
Photo credit: Somendu Dutta
Trip research, planning and driving: Somendu Dutta
