Morning walk along the Brahmaputra
The starting point of my North East trip was Guwahati. I had sent the bike by train and had flown down myself. I stayed in a hotel near the riverside, and took advantage of the location to go for a lovely early morning walk in the crisp and cool air.
Giant barges of the National Disaster Response Force berthed by the bank, with Umananda island in the background
The walkway along the river goes above a vibrant fish market - enabling me to get some lovely overhead shots
The sheer energy of the place was palpable - the varieties of fish, the clamouring of the customers, the shouting of the fishmongers...
There is a temple on that little island, and the ferries are run to enable visitors to get there
There was nothing much to do till the train frieght agent opened, so I decided to check out the only thing open in Guwahati at this early hour - the Kamakhya temple!
Alas - the place has been aggressively modernised and cleaned up - thus losing all its ancient patina and charm. What a pity - they threw out the baby with the bathwater.
Devotees have smeared the carving of Ganesha with 'shendoor' - and this really makes it jump out of the frame!
statue of Agni - god of fire.
I wanted to take a darshan of the place - but look at the line! Ridiculous!
It's like a cattle pen! I regretted and worshipped from afar.
This little fellow is wearing a sacrificial garland - may be destined to be an animal sacrifice. Tantricism is one part of hinduism that is still into animal sacrifices.
Claiming my bike!
Since I had sent the bike by a private freight contractor rather than as a railway parcel - I had quite the adventure getting the bike unloaded! The entire freight compartment had been decoupled and shunted off to an empty track, and there was no platform to unload the bike. Luckily there was a three wheeler there, and the driver agreed to be the intermediate unloading point. Otherwise, I really wonder how that bike would have come down...
