Visiting Central Arunachal Pradesh had always been a dream
for me. Although I travel pretty often throughout India, no other place has
been able to quench the thirst I have had for travelling to the North-eastern
part of the country. I was always fascinated by the culture, people, flora-
fauna, variety of climatic conditions & diversity of landscape of
Arunachal. Thinking of it, to me it always felt like mini India. Just like how
India has people belonging to various religions and linguistic groups, same way
Arunachal has 16 major tribes and 40 plus sub tribes; all totally different
from each other. Some tribes like Monpa, Memba follow Tibetan Buddhism, while
some like Apatanis, Galos, Tagins largely follow Donyi- Poloism, some of the
Nocte & most of the Mishings are Vaishnav Hindus while large chunk of all
the above tribes follows Christianity. Ditto when it comes to the landscape
& climate. From the snow clad peaks & freezing temperature of Tawang
& Mayodia to the humid plains of Brahmaputra near Pasighat, from the
incessant rains of Ziro to the summer heat of Aalo- the state has it all!
Having already visited the western Arunachal i.e. Tawang,
Bomdila, Dirang during my earlier trip to the state, I finally decided to visit
the central Arunachal Pradesh this time. Soon I prepared and finalized the
itinerary along with my friend who was super excited to travel with me to
Northeast for the first time. Shortly we booked our tickets, got the inner-line
permits ready through a friend in Delhi, fixed places to stay and (not so) patiently
waited for 5th March 2017.
Day 1:
We boarded the early morning Vistara flight for Guwahati
which was gonna take us there in 5.5 hrs via Delhi & Bagdogra. The last leg
of the journey; from Bagdogra to Guwahati lasted barely for half an hour or so.
As we entered Assam’s aerial space, I looked down from the window. That shimmering
serpentine silhouette had grown familiar over the time; after all I was
travelling here for the fourth time. Seeing Brahmaputra- the so called lone
‘male’ river in India; from flight is always a sight to behold. The sheer vastness
of its width and the grandeur with which it flows is unmatched anywhere else in
India.
Finally around 2 pm, we arrived at the ‘Lokapriya Gopinath
Bordoloi International Airport’ at Guwahati. We had pre decided to keep it a low
budget trip as even a budget trip to NorthEast often ends up costing a bomb due
to limited transport options, dearth of good hotels and extremely high cost of
vehicle renting; we almost have to be ready for anything! Accordingly, we
collected our bags and instead of a cab, booked ourselves two bus tickets to
the city centre known as Paltan Bazaar- the area around Guwahati Railway
station.
As we got off at Paltan Bazaar, seeing bags in our hands,
various travel company guys approached us themselves rather than us having to
search for them. We told them our intension to travel to Ziro. As I was already
aware & now the same confirmed from the travel company guy, Guwahati- Ziro
direct buses had stopped plying a month ago due to bad roads and the only way
to reach Ziro was via Itanagar. Accordingly we booked ourselves two semi-
sleeper seats for the 6:30 pm bus by Deep Travels, which would reach Itanagar
around 5:30/6 in the morning. (Deep travels & Network Travels are two
reliable private road transport services for various destinations in NorthEast.
Deep travels currently has an advantage of online ticket booking facility on
redbus.com over its rival, however the kind of road connectivity that Network
travels has in nooks and corners of NE is unmatched. Network travels: 0361-
2605335 & Deep Travels: 09435118527)
Having quite some time in hand before boarding the bus, we
kept our luggage in the cloak room at Deep travels and headed to Guwahati zoo.
Introduction of private taxi services in Guwahati saved a lot of our time and
energy in bargaining while doing these small intra-city trips.
Coming back to Paltan bazar in time, a mini bus was arranged
to take us till Guwahati Inter State Bus terminal (ISBT) on the outskirts of
the city. Another 35 minutes and we reached the ISBT and boarded our Itanagar
bound Volvo bus. The bus that was supposed to leave from Guwahati at 6:30,
finally left at 8. The reclining seats were pretty comfortable if not
luxurious- good enough for the night journey. With all the day long travelling
through various means, it didn’t take us too long to fall asleep. (Guwahati-
Itanagar 2017 Rates: Semi sleeper Rs.490, Sleeper Rs.590)
Day 2:
Our eyes opened directly in the morning around 5. The
scenery outside was almost unbelievable! Having travelled from the scorching
heat of Guwahati, we were surrounded by misty plains near Arunachal border.
Soon we reached Bandardewa check post- the first town in Arunachal Pradesh. As
the formality goes, all the passengers in the bus were asked to get down and
cross the border on feet after showing the inner line permits to the security
guards. In the meanwhile our bus was thoroughly checked and we were finally
allowed to enter Arunachal Pradesh.
After another 45 minutes or so we reached the town of
Naharlagun- often called as twin city of the capital Itanagar. Our bus dropped
us at the Naharlagun bus stand. Just outside the bus stand, there were a lot of
sumo counters running shared sumo service to various towns in Arunachal like
Ziro, Daporijo etc. We booked two front seats in the sumo for Rs.350 each and
headed towards Ziro.
The road from Naharlagun to Ziro was very scenic. Winding
roads, greenery, water streams… everything was perfect…. Other than the
pathetic condition of road. The road distance although just 100km, takes 3.5 to
4 hours to cross.
After about 3 hours we reached a place called Yachuli from
where Ziro was about 12km away. We thought we were about to reach Ziro, hence
gave a call to our hostess in Ziro to let her know that we would be reaching in
about 15 to 20 minutes so she could leave in sometime from home to pick us up
at the Hapoli (New Ziro) sumo stand. She replied saying the road from Yachuli
to Ziro was worse than what we experienced till now and would take us another
long hour to reach Hapoli!
Finally from the hills, we descended down to the valley and
entered Ziro. Hapoli town is the first place we approached while entering Ziro
valley. The never ending sumo ride was over! Our hostess Amu had come to pick
us up in her car.
Seemed like our tryst with bad roads was far from over, as
the roads in Ziro valley seemed almost inexistent. Most of the times the car
was going up and down struggling to move ahead and find its way through the
massive ‘craters’ that had formed on the roads! For once I thought that
Mumbai’s roads after all are not that bad!
In about 15 minutes we reached the house of Amung family in
Old Ziro- our hosts here for next two days. Amu showed us our room so we could
settle down and freshen up and she went to prepare breakfast for us. (Home
stays in Ziro are a great way to experience the local culture and flavour which
would not be possible in hotels or resorts. Homestays here typically cost about
1000 rupees per head per day inclusive of breakfast & dinner as of 2017.) Homestay
of Amung family is located just next to the Ziro military airstrip. Their house
mainly comprised of a traditional kitchen cum dining & family room built in
traditional Apatani way and a modern house with bedrooms just next to it. Their
backyard had a small kitchen garden and a well for themselves. Further ahead,
they had a small bamboo garden and endless paddy fields just after the bamboo
garden.
After freshening up & having breakfast, Amu took us out
in her car to show around. First we headed to Kardo forest where a 25’ stone
was discovered in 2004- shaped like a Shivalinga. Kardo despite being just 7km
away from Old Ziro, winding and mostly kaccha road took us half an hour to
reach the ‘Sidhheshwar Nath Temple’. Needless to say, it has now become a
frequently visited place by Hindus who have shifted to Ziro from outside states
for work and tourists alike. What startled me was that the Shivlinga is
surrounded by White-red Donyi-Polo religious flags along with the saffron flags
of Hinduism. When asked Amu about it, she said that even the Donyi-Polo
believers in Ziro valley come here to pray to the Shivlinga. Another stone of
lesser height just next to the Shivlinga is believed to symbolize Goddess
Parvati while a comparatively much smaller rock at the base of the Shivlinga
naturally looks like face of Lord Ganesha.
Moving from Kardo, we drove back to Hapoli and took another
road leading outside the town to go to Tarin high altitude fish farm owned by
the government. These are basically 6-7 numbers of large terraced ponds where
fish seeds are sold. Apatanis follow an efficient practice of rearing fishes in
the same field that of the paddy, which helps them earn money after paddy is
harvested.
Driving back towards Hapoli, we halted at one of Amu’s
friend’s newly built resort called ‘Holiday Time’ for some coffee. Amu
mentioned that her friend is very creative and most of the resort was built by
himself with very little help from labours. The resort basically had a dining
area and small cottages- barely enough for two people constructed on water in a
mid-sized pond. The pond also has fishing and boating facility.
Next she picked up a friend in and we drove to Hari Basti.
The road leading to Hari Basti seemed very beautiful. It gave look of a narrow
causeway with the paddy fields filled with water appearing like endless
waterbodies on both the sides. We parked the car in village and roamed around
the village on foot observing the village. Babo- the tall wooden T-shaped towers
instantly attract one’s attention. Babos are erected during Myoko festival in
front of Apatani homes (only that of Donyi-Polo followers- as a large number of
Apatanis follow Christianity and have completely abandoned their old practices)
as well as one for the entire clan near Lapang (an open air wooden stage
prepared for meetings and gatherings during festivities). Nago- small makeshift
hut like structures are prepared in the village open areas for the departed
souls to come and stay with the villagers and enjoy festivities. Bamboo
skeleton topped with egg shells and decorated with chicken feathers are also
seen outside most houses. We even saw a Nyibu (Apatani Shaman cum priest) tying
a cock to the bamboo structure and sacrifice it later. Nearby there was a Donyi
Polo temple known as Medar Nello. Sadly it was shut. We were then told that
these temples are opened only on Sunday when weekly prayers are held.
From Hari village, our hostess took us to one of her
friend’s home in Bulla village in the traditional manner. The host of the
house, his wife, mother and two cute daughters were gracious enough to welcome
us inside. The host seemed more than happy to show us all the essentials of an
Apatani home. From daos (Apatani daggers) & cane backpacks to dried meat &utensils
made out of dried bottle gourd, he showed us everything. He was happy to show
us a special dao he had; the handle of which was adorned with the teeth of
tiger and boar and the belt of which was made of cowry, its cost being
somewhere around 15,000 Rupees. This house, just like all the Apatani houses
was scattered with different body parts of the pig sacrificed during Myoko
festival rituals. Legs and some other unrecognisable parts of the pig were
hanged from the hearth; entire skin was cut open and was being dried just next
to them. Intestines and liver which looked still fresh were hanged in the open
in Sun for quicker drying. Despite all this their house didn’t stink at all!
While we were talking, the hostess served us with glasses of warm Apong- the
rice/ millet beer. After savouring some more, it was time to leave. Before
that, I asked them if I could take their family picture and they happily
agreed.
We then headed home and rested for a bit. Amu informed us
that due to the ongoing Myoko festival going on, there was a cultural program
happening in Hari village in late evening that day and that she was planning to
go with her husband and we could join them if interested.
After an early dinner, the four of us headed to Hari
village. A lot of crowd had assembled. It was quite a chilly night. The dancing
and singing performances had started. Straight away, we went to one of their
family friend’s house from where there was a direct view of the stage where the
performances were going on. As we experienced, during Myoko, every Apatani
opens up his heart as well as the doors of his home to anyone and everyone, to
come, drink as much Apong/ Chai, eat pork or whatever is there on the menu;
everything for free. There is no stopping! And if you are a traveller like us,
then just be ready to be subjected to the unbelievable level of hospitality and
warmth you’ll experience. I won’t lie, I had totally fallen in love with the
concept and taste of Apong and I didn’t leave any opportunity to have some more
of it here as well.
From one home to another! We went to one more family friend
of our hosts in Bulla village. Just as we entered in, we saw an entire gang of
friends sitting and joking around amidst all the alcohol flowing and all sorts
of delicacies served on the table in front of them. We were warmly asked to
join them in. As I said earlier, us being the only non-locals there out of
approx. crowd of 20 people, we were subjected to a lot of curious questions and
glances. Soon came more glasses of Apong- this time home brewed Kiwi flavoured
variety! Don’t even get me started on how tasty it was! I couldn’t resist
another two refills of the same which was anyway forced poured into my glass
without giving me any option! But hey I wasn’t complaining… A lot of food just
kept piling up in the plates with more speed than what we were eating with.
Eggs, dry fruits, salads and what not! We literally had to show them the shape
of our inflated tummies so that they stop serving more. A bit tipsy, I was
wondering if it had been our festival time, back in Mumbai or Delhi, would we
have been so welcoming to strangers and showering them with so much love;
especially when it’s our own private time to enjoy it with our families…? In
most probabilities not! The owner of the house then gave us small gifts- a
small golden silhouette of Babo towers and a small container of homemade
‘Tapyo’- the local Apatani herbal salt made from various grasses. (Apparently
the process of preparing Tapyo is painstakingly long and very time consuming.
Also the ratio of amount of raw material used to that of the quantity of final
product is miniscule due to which the salt is sold at almost Rs.400/KG.)
After all the attention that we received, it was time to
leave. It was almost 10 in the night- a lot late compared to the local standard
time. After all the customary goodbyes and thanking the family for all the
amazing time we had there, four of us left for Amung family’s home.
Day 3:
While planning for the trip, I had contacted Mr. Christopher
Michi Tajo- who is the owner of Ziro based Northeast Tours and Travels. He had
been very helpful and patient throughout all the calls or messages I sent him
while planning for the trip. In fact I was supposed to be staying in his
homestay in Michi village in Ziro valley. But his family had to head to their
native place at the end moment and there was going to be no one at his home;
even he was away touring entire Northeast with his loyal European clients who
visit NorthEast every year. Within no time, Christopher arranged for homestay
for us- with the Amung family.
As was discussed earlier, Christopher sent his cousin Bentu
to drive us around. Bentu was a young enthusiastic boy. He gladly agreed to
show us around. We quickly had the aloo paranthas Amu had made for us and left
with Bentu for sightseeing around 8:30 am.
Bentu took us through various Bastis. First Hari then to
Hong then Hija, Bulla etc etc. In every village, we parked our car and walked
around clicking portraits of old Apatani ladies. It was still pretty early, the
village streets still looked empty. Old ladies and men seemed to be in rush to
reach the paddy fields.
Later he drove us to the beautiful hillocks some 10 minutes
driving distance away from Hong to the venue of annual Ziro Music Festival
that’s is held in September. It was quite a sight! Since the festival ground is
at a considerable height, we could see a 360 degrees view of all the bastis and
the seamless paddy fields between them. This ground is surrounded by a lot of
Kiwi fields; sadly it wasn’t the season and we couldn’t spot any kiwis in the
farms.
Next we headed back to Hapoli to see the District Museum. We
were the first ones to enter in as the caretaker Aane opened the locks of
various rooms for us. The museum has an extensive collection of Apatani
utensils, bamboo crafts, hunting equipment, fish traps, traditional weather
protection shields, traditional handloom, jewellery etc. divided in various
galleries. What surprised me was that there were no entry fees taken from us to
see the museum.
Not very far from the museum is Hapoli market. Although we
couldn’t spot any in the farms, the market very much had a lot of kiwis being
sold. Maybe they had learnt the technology to cultivate kiwis even in off-
season. We walked ahead and we saw the stall owners selling dead rats and beef
steak. Rats are apparently eaten on occasions and are not part of their daily
food. Another stall had the vendor
selling fiddleheaded fern- a local fern plant used as vegetable- which if not
eaten grows into a massive tree resembling palm! She also had dried squirrels
stuffed with wooden rods. Out of curiosity, we asked if even this was eaten,
Bentu said that the squirrels aren’t eaten but are used as essentials in
Apatani rituals. Bamboo shoots- another widely used food item in all of
North-East was the only food item common at all the stalls!
Then we went to the Government handicrafts and handloom
emporium. There they have live demonstration areas for various arts such as
shawl knitting, carpet making, bell metal arts, cane & bamboo workshop etc.
We were successful in catching glimpse of an old Apatani artist making smoking
pipe by moulding bell metal. I couldn’t resist picking it up from the emporium
just next door!
Driving through the narrow streets surrounded by lush green
bamboo groves on both the sides, we reached Tai Lampii- a shallow cave formed
by huge rocks piling on each other. Tai Lampii cave is associated with
seclusion one would have to go through when one caught a particular epidemic
disease called ‘Tai Sliime’ so that everyone doesn’t get affected by the
disease. Tai Lampii is known as an important landmark in Ziro valley as there
is no other place in Ziro valley which has a natural cave and the unique
formation of similar massive rocks around it.
While driving back, alongside the
road we noticed peculiar formation of bamboos topped with skull of Mithun
(local breed of cattle). Bentu quickly told us that this was a graveyard of the
people following Donyi-Polo faith and the families who didn’t have their own
piece of land beside their homes, come and bury the deceased in this open land,
while those who have their own land, they often bury their relatives just next
to the house or in the bamboo grove owned by the family in the backyard.
Bentu then took us to a smaller basti known as Nani village.
Due to ongoing Myoko festival, we caught a Nyibu (Apatani Shaman cum priest)
performing rituals and chicken sacrifice. The red white Donyi-Polo flags seemed
furling outside almost every house here which meant very few in the village had
converted to Christianity and were sticking to their indigenous faith. From
Nani basti, we went to the circuit house which is situated at one of the
topmost points within the city. Cold breeze and the beautiful view of Old Ziro
and Nenchalya basti in the background provided us with quite a few
opportunities to pose for the camera!
It was our lunch time by now. We quickly ate some puri sabzi
and omelette in one of the North Indian eateries on the main road and moved ahead.
There are no restaurants in Ziro. Maximum you will find are either these small
North Indian eateries or the dining service provided by various hotels and
resorts.
From here, we went to a place called Kelya where a number of
underground bunkers were made by the Indian army during wars. Quite a few of
these army bunkers are present in the area which are no more in use and are
surrounded by lush green forests and wild grown of fiddleheaded ferns.
We then went to the oldest Hindu temple in the town. The
Shiv Mandir here is constructed around a small stone shaped like Shivlinga.
Just next to it is a Gayatri Mandir. A five minutes’ walk away is the Assamese
place of worship- known as Namghar.
Driving through Mani Polyang hillocks- locally famous as
picnic spot, we went to Michi village. A lot of old Apatani ladies had gathered
there for a traditional dance. Sadly it was over by the time we reached,
nevertheless I got to click a few amazing candid pictures of the ladies in
their traditional clothes, jewellery and cane baskets on their back.
We then drove to Mudang Tage basti. Bentu promised us to
show an interesting place. We parked our car near a small lane in the village
and asked us to follow him. He got us to this small metallic spade hung on a
tree enclosed within bamboo fencing. An information board by Department of
cultural Affairs, Govt of AP read that- this metallic spade known as ‘Turu
Dipe’ is locally worshipped and was first found in this very location and has
been an object of worship since time immemorial. Bentu added that the spade
often goes missing from its place but comes back to its location on its own,
something which i had to unwillingly digest in front of him.
Then he took us to another ritual site known as ‘Dora
Kullu’. Dora Kullu is basically a unique case where a small area within the
basti has grown Banana trees- something that is not found anywhere within the
Apatani valley. The site is revered as the divine intervention of the
environmental deity- Su Myoro.
Bentu satirically told us that this was all that’s there to
see in the Apatani valley and that he would drop us back to our homestay. We
shared a cup of tea with him in our homestay, paid him Rs.1500 as was decided
previously and said goodbye to him.
Tired with all the wandering around, we rested in our room
for a bit.
It was getting pretty cold again as the Sun had already set.
We went to the kitchen to sit around the hearth to warm up ourselves. Amu with
her elder son was cooking bamboo stuffed chicken and egg- a local speciality.
After cooking it in the fire for about half an hour or more, she split the
bamboos with daos and scooped out the chicken that was cooked inside. She also
made the fern sabzi which we had seen earlier today in the market. I couldn’t
wait to try it all! Not to mention, both the items were so yummy that I had to
repeatedly help myself to refill the plate!
Day 4:
….. and then it was time to leave from Ziro. Throughout
these two very happening days we spent in Ziro, we had created a special bond
with the Amung family- especially Amu who had now become like an elder sister.
Although it was just two days, the every bit of time that we spent here was
making it difficult for us to leave. Amu too looked visibly a bit sad.
She then served us the sticky rice porridge and chicken
along with the fern veggie for breakfast. She even packed a bottle full of
Apong for us to drink later and good 2 kilos of their homegrown rice.
Since mister Amung was busy that morning, Bentu on his own
came to pick us up and drop till the sumo stand which was approx 7km away. We
then took goodbye pictures with Amu & family and left with Bentu for sumo
stand.
We reached the sumo stand around 9 45 am. Bentu refused to
take any money for coming all the way to pick us up and drop so far. People
here were being so kind to us at every step that it all started feeling very
unreal- especially for someone like me who has grown in a metro city where
nobody has time for one another leave alone taking so much pain for someone who
you met only a day ago!
Bentu said that 2 sumos were waiting to go to Daporijo and
thankfully 2 seats at the back in one of them were empty. (There is no official
sumo connection between Ziro and Daporijo, which means if one has to go to Dapo
from Ziro then he has to get into one of these 5-6 sumos that leave from
Itanagar for Dapo via Ziro. If you are lucky and if someone gets down at Ziro,
then and only then will you be able to travel to Daporijo else you have no
option but to try the same thing next morning or hire an entire sumo for
yourself costing somewhere around 8000-9000 rupees. Ziro to Dapo sumo tickets
are not sold beforehand, however one can definitely talk to people at the
counter as they have information as to which sumo would have empty seats or
seats getting empty at Ziro. Cost for one person for Ziro- Dapo journey is
Rs.500- 2017 rates)
Share sumos generally are cramped up to their maximum extent
by stuffing 2 people in front, 4 in the middle row and 4 in the back row. And
even if one of these people is even a bit on the healthier side, it becomes
uncomfortable for the entire row- especially in an arduous journey like Ziro-
Dapo that takes almost 7 to 8 hrs to cover just 167 km distance cutting through
the serpentine roads that are in awful condition. Luckily it was just me and my
friend sitting in the last row and we didn't have to face the nightmare of
sharing it with 2 more people.
Thankfully at least, the landscape outside was on our side.
From the flat terrain of Ziro, we reached considerable height within no time.
From the Ziro valley that grows almost no bananas, we were crossing the outer
hills which were totally covered with banana trees!
Soon we stopped for a 5 minutes break. Two of our
co-passenger girls walked little bit down the hill and plucked some fresh
vegetables for themselves. We noticed that they were eating something from a
plastic container during the journey, we looked curiously looked into container
and we were horrified to see live caterpillars in it. Apparently these
caterpillars are eaten by almost all the tribes in Arunachal as they are
supposed to be protein rich. They noticed our curious glances and told us that
these worms are sold at 400 to 500 rs per kilo and are a local favourite.
Although the Apatanis are the dominant tribe in the Ziro
valley, just as we cross the valley and move towards the hills, we start seeing
settlements of Nyishi and Hill Miri tribe alongside the road.
Around 1 PM, we reached a major Nyishi village named Raga.
Further ahead we stopped at Godak village for lunch. Godak had a small dhaba
and a roadside vegetable- fruit market. Except for the driver, nobody had lunch
there as we all had our supplies stuffed in our bags.
After an hour or so, we crossed a place called Laa… and the
unthinkable happened… our Sumo completely broke down in a reserved forest. Our
driver got down and analysed the damage. The looks of despair on his face us
very worried. He said we may not be able to move ahead as its condition was
beyond repair. We were stuck in a reserved forest wow!
A few sumos travelling behind us stopped and tried to help
our sumo driver fix the problem. Although Dapo was still some 44 km away, it
seemed like today was going to be a long long day!
While they were fixing the sumo, everyone started walking
around to kill time. We could hear sound
of a water stream around. We walked in the direction of the sound and saw a
very beautiful stream running under the road. A board closeby read that it was
a medicinal plants conservation area. A list of plants roadside read that this
small conservation area was home to some 30 rare to extremely rare herbal
plants used as medicines. Our sumo had
indeed chosen one awesome place to break down at!
After an hour or so, the sumo was fixed and we drove further
ahead. It was almost 4 pm and we were clearly running very late.
Around 5:30/6 pm, we halted at a place called Belo, from
where we could see a distant but spectacular view of Daporijo town! It had
already started getting dark. Our co-passengers had gotten pretty friendly by
now. Although they totally refused to buy our claim that we were travelling to
Dapo on a vacation and not for any work. It was very difficult for them to
digest that why on this earth would someone come almost 3300 km far from Mumbai
to Daporijo for nothing!
When we had started from Ziro, we were hoping to reach Dapo
around 4:30pm but the unexpected delay caused on the way, got us to the sumo
stand at 7 pm. Mr. Dosh Dasi, director of Mell Botom resort in Daporijo, was
sweet enough to come to pick us up in his car. While driving towards the
resort, we observed that Dapo was much bigger a town than expected. Mr. Dosh
showed pointed to various landmarks of the city while driving. We drove along
the unused airstrip, the helipad, Dapo fire brigade, office of the Indo-Tibetan
police force, camp of CRPF and a unique place of worship where a Hindu temple,
a Gurudwara, a Namghar (Assamese temples) and a mosque stood next to each
other. Just across them was a catholic church. We soon reached Mell Botom
resort on the banks of Subansiri River, however it was pitch dark by now and we
couldn’t see it but could just hear it. We checked into the room and rested for
the night to recover from the dreadful journey we had survived today.
Day 5:
This morning, I woke up quite early. I took my camera and
decided to take a walk in the front garden of resort. From the gazebo viewpoint
in the garden, I could see stunning view of the Subansiri River. Taking a
glance bit farther, I could see a small river- Sigin flowing into the much
bigger Subansiri. Just a little ahead of the river confluence are two riverine
islands better known as twin islands.
Just within the garden of the resort, there is a famous
landmark of Daporijo- the Laila Majnu tree. These are two trees entangled with
each other. The Laila tree looks identical to a female anatomy with two legs,
female genitals, breast, naval etc. while the male tree is largely burnt. As
told by Mr.Dosh, the story goes like- there was a couple in Daporijo (timeline
unknown) who loved each other a lot. However, the girl’s father was against
their love, making things difficult for the couple. This pushed the couple to
commit suicide at this very spot. Since then these trees have become a symbol
of love and are often visited by couples who write their names on the trunk of
the tree to get blessing for their love.
Just outside the resort, there was a series of steps leading
down to the river. With the beautiful misty view of the river I could see from
the resort, I could hardly control my temptation to go to the river and dip my fit
in it. It was such a quiet time of the morning- my own personal time. No one
around to disturb or to see me. I enjoyed every bit of that time clicking
pictures and happily walking in the shallow waters of the river. I realised I
walked too far when I reached the confluence point of the two rivers. A few
mithuns were grazing along the bank feasting on whatever grass that had grown
along the river bank.
As pre decided, Mr. Dosh came to the resort to take us
around to see a few places in town. After freshening up and having breakfast,
we first headed to the Ligu basti. Tagin tribe is the main tribe in Daporijo
while Nyishis and Hill Miris tribes form the remaining minority in Daporijo.
Ligu is one such village of the Tagins. It is just about 2 or 3km at the max
from Daporijo- just a right on the Dapo-Ziro road towards the exit of the town.
We roamed in the village, walking through the streets,
clicking photographs… We observed the unique way in which the Tagins made their
houses. Just like Apatanis, even tagin houses are made on stilts- purpose being
the same, to provide shelter to poultry and pigs under the raised platform.
However other than this one thing, everything else is different- the roofing,
the way the house is supported, the criss-cross bracing of bamboos for
additional strength, outward tilting bamboos acting as buttresses to hold up
the house against the earth.
From the village, we went to the local market. The local
market was full of all kinds of meat being sold. Dosh ji also told us about the
local variety of oranges grown in Daporijo and bought some from a vendor for us
to taste. Indeed the oranges were very juicy and very sweet opposed to the sour
oranges we are used to eating. A lot of vendors even seemed to be selling
handicrafts and traditional ornaments.
We then went to the Arunachal state transport bus stand to
check out options to go to Aalo- our next pit stop. We were willing to start
for Aalo either today or tomorrow morning at the latest. As enquired in the
transport office, there was no vehicle that was scheduled to go to Aalo that
day. (Just like Ziro- Dapo, there is no official road connection between Dapo
and Aalo as very few people happen to travel on this route. A bus for Aalo
leaves once or twice in a week depending upon the number of travellers and most
importantly availability of drivers. If we had to leave for Aalo, the only
option was to catch one of the private uncomfortable ancient looking buses to a
place called Basar and get off at Bame and catch a shared sumo for Aalo which
is another 40km from Bame. By look of the overstuffed buses and the luggage
piled above and every corner inside we knew it would turn out to be another
nightmare journey. Plus the bus would leave at 2:30 PM and would drop us at
Bame at around 11 in the night if everything goes as planned. Any untoward
incidence on the way would just aggravate the travel time. 11PM in Arunachal is
as good as post-midnight as all the hops, hotels would shut by 8 PM max. Dosh
ji also warned that Bame is a small village and we may not find any place to
stay at night. We instantly gave up on this option. Other option was to hire a
sumo privately which would cost something around 8000. This option was crossed
out too! By now me and my friend were getting a very weird gut feeling of being
trapped in Daporijo forever!
Helplessly we went back to the transport bus stand and
enquired for options tomorrow. The answer wasn’t very comforting. He told us
that a bus will leave for Aalo next morning 6:30 AM if there are enough number
of people else a sumo will be sent to Aalo. If there are no enough people even
for a sumo, then there was a doubt even about a sumo leaving from here. If that
wasn’t enough, there was a third condition, that the bus/ sumo even if it gets
enough passengers, it will leave for Aalo only if a driver is available!
Dosh ji being an influential person in town, he cajoled the
person at the counter into giving preference to the two of us as we were
travellers. He cited some orders of local DC to give preference and assistance
to tourists as and when required. That man at the counter looked pretty
convinced and asked us to reach the bus stand at 6 30 AM sharp and assured us
that he would do his best to look into the matter. Half convinced about the
entire conversation and with the uncertainty of being able to travel to Aalo
the next day, we left from there.
Dosh ji then took us to the circuit house which he had
recently taken over for operation from govt on few years of contract. We sipped
some hot milk tea there and then climbed the hillock called ‘Tanium Putu’ just
outside the circuit house- which is the highest point inside Dapo town. Within
5 minutes we were at the top of the hillock. It was overwhelming to see a 360
degrees view of Dapo from here. Daporijo although considered a comparatively
dirty and unsophisticated town compared to others in Arunachal, it certainly
looked very pretty from top. (A few of travel blogs and guides I came across
while reading about Daporijo, mentioned that Daporijo is extremely dirty and should
be avoided if possible etc etc. Although it is partially true that the city is
dirty and has piles of garbage collected on the roads every few meters and
feels especially dirty after having travelled from a pretty place like Ziro, in
my opinion, it’s a bit harsh to call it unsophisticated and worth avoiding.
Every place in North-East has its charm and Dapo certainly has its own. Dapo
minus all the garbage looks like a dreamy place always lost in fog. That misty feeling
one gets while roaming on the streets of Dapo is not even felt in Ziro.)
While at the top point, Dosh ji mentioned about Menga cave
temple situated 19km away from Daporijo. Even I had read in one of the blogs
that while in Dapo, one must go to Menga cave, not for the temple but for the
scenic landscape along the way. Dosh ji told us that the road is really bad
that side (I was wondering how worse it could get!) and it would be better to
take a tempo rickshaw for the journey. He then took us to the local rickshaw
stand and bargained with the auto guys. He got them down to 1100 for the round
trip (a total of 38km) from their original quote of 2000. Dosh ji was carrying
out some renovating work in the resort that time and had some work back there;
hence he stayed back in Dapo while me and my friend left with the rickshaw
driver to Menga.
While travelling, we actually realised that the road was
worst we had seen until now and had no traces of concreting or tar work done in
recent past. Due to the continuous raining large puddles had formed on the way
and the patches without puddles had become muddy and extremely slippery.
(Although rainy season starts in the mainland around mid-June, it starts as
early as end of February in North-East. If you travel to North-East around
March-April like I did, chances are that it would keep raining every now and
then)
As we crossed first 7-8 kilometres on this stretch of road,
we started ascending in the taller mountains. This is exactly when I realised
why everyone was recommending travelling to Menga. Subansiri River flowing in
high speed, suspension bridges built across its large span, tall mountains
covered with lush green trees- everything was spectacular! If this was less,
the clouds had literally come down appearing as if they were moving along with
us to Menga. Words are literally falling short of what we experienced and saw there;
hence I’ll let my photographs do the talking here!
Soon we crossed Sippi village- another picture perfect
location! The village is so beautiful that it almost seemed unreal. There was
so much mist around that the visibility had become less. Other than the road
and the houses alongside, nothing beyond was visible. Everything was so dreamy
and flawless!
After another 8 kilometres of clicking uncountable pictures
in my camera, we finally reached Menga village. Menga village is although much
smaller than Sippi, it’s no less spectacular! A stairway from the village leads
up to the Menga cave temple. Menga cave is basically a large shallow natural
cave with few small entrances for entering much narrower and deeper cave
chambers. The main cave has a Shiva temple. There is nothing much to see here
other than visiting the temple. The other smaller chambers are extremely
narrow- barely enough for one person to crawl- and hence may be unsafe.
One can see astonishing view of the entire Menga village as
well as the confluence point where a smaller rivulet meets the Subansiri. After
clicking pictures, we then headed back to Daporijo and reached an hour and half
later around 3 P.M.
Having nothing much to do for the later part of the day, we
chose to relax at the resort while enjoying the spectacular views of Subansiri.
Day 6:
As decided on the previous day, we reached Dapo bus stand at
6:30 A.M. with our bags. For very long time, it was just the two of us in the
entire bus stand. Apparently, nobody else from the entire town was interested
in travelling to Aalo. Guy at the counter was doubtful as to whether it is
feasible to allow a sumo to leave for Aalo with just the two of us. We too were
pretty tensed about getting to travel to Aalo today. Other than this state
transport sumo, the only other option we had was to hire an entire sumo for
ourselves. The situation here was so bad that the two of us had actually
decided to go for it as our last option. That would mean a huge hole in the
pocket for nothing! Just when we had no hopes, two teens came to the counter to
enquire about travelling to Aalo. Before the state transport guy could tell
them, we excitedly told them that this sumo is leaving for Aalo if they get
enough number of passengers to travel there. They quickly went out and came
back with their luggage! Another lady soon joined us.. Finally it was five of
us and the sumo was definitely leaving for Aalo. The state transport guy then
called up a few drivers to enquire about who was free and ready to drive to
Aalo that day. In 10 minutes, the driver showed up too! We then bought the
tickets and finally left from Dapo and heaved a huge sigh of relief!
Today’s was going to be another long journey just like what
we faced while travelling from Ziro to Daporijo. As we started cutting more and
more distance, the driver kept filling the empty seats with people wanting to
travel to the places on the way. Just an hour after starting, our sumo was
stuffed with 10 adults including the driver and 3 kids!
On the way, we crossed places like Marde, Maro, Tirbin etc.
Tirbin-which is almost halfway through, seemed like a decently big sized
settlement. 3 adults and 3 kids from our sumo got down here while one person
joined us for the journey ahead.
Another hour and we reached a place called Bame which is a
junction on the Aalo-Silapathar road, from where a left turn goes to Aalo and
right turn goes to Silapathar in Assam via Basar & Likabali. From Bame, our
driver took a shortcut via Nyorak village.
Finally we reached Aalo in another 1.5 hour that is, around
3- which means an 8 hours journey including the lunch break. I definitely
deserved a medal for this! Thankfully our hotel- Hotel Toshi palace was right
opposite to the APSTC stand in Aalo. We checked in and rested for some time. I
could see from the hotel corridor that, there were quite a few other hotels
& restaurants around- something which was missing Ziro & Daporijo. Aalo
is bigger and more modern city than the two. Wider roads, large play grounds,
schools, shops, restaurants, bakeries, shopping complexes, travel assistance,
liquor shops, bars- one will find almost everything in Aalo.
In the evening, we met the owner of the hotel- Mr. Pakge Ete
with whom I had had a telephonic conversation while I was still in Mumbai.
Pakge ji is a very knowledgeable man. We had a great conversation with him in
his terrace restaurant. He gave us great insights into the Galo society and how
Galos have remained largely unaffected despite rapid conversions taking place
by Christian missionaries in rest of the state. He stressed how the Galos are
highly educated and have been on highest posts in the government- be it chief
ministers of the state or various IAS officers! (Galo tribe is the third
largest tribe in Arunachal after Nyishis and Adis. Galos mainly occupy the West
Siang district in Arunachal of which Aalo is the district headquarter. About
90% of Galos still follow Donyi-Poloism.)
After dinner, Pakge ji left for his home and we came back to
our room to rest. Pakge ji asked us to be ready by 9 AM next day so that he
could show us around the town and take us to a few Galo bastis around.
Day 7:
Pakge ji was here at sharp 9 with his son. Four of us then
drove to the handicraft emporium in town. The emporium here was very similar to
that in Ziro- a large central retailing area and studios for various kinds of
handicrafts and handlooms at the back. Variety of crafts done in cane was
especially worth seeing. A smaller replica of suspension Cane Bridge especially
caught our fancy. The emporium although had more stuff belonging to the Galos,
it even had wooden toys made by the Memba tribe who occupy Northern part of
East Siang district close to Tibet border.
Just across the main road is the
Donyi Polo temple. Mopin- the biggest festival of Galos was right around the
corner. Obviously so, the entire town seemed to be in the mood for celebration.
Pre- Mopin community gatherings were happening everywhere. A football match was
being played in the large front ground of the Donyi- Polo temple. As Pakge ji
told us, this temple was originally being constructed as a Hindu temple but
later was occupied to serve the Donyi-Polo believers. That pretty much
explained why the temple looked like any other Hindu temple in mainland India.
Donyi- Polo beliefs although
ancient, it was only recently that the religion was officially founded and all
its oral traditions were put into writing. During this process and maybe due to
aversion to Christian conversions, this ‘new’ religion seems to have picked up
most of its rituals from Hinduism. Couldn’t help observe how there was a notice
board at the steps of the temple to remove shoes before entering, the way a machete
was hung at the entrance which is to be vigorously shaken (just like how we
ring bell) while entering the temple, the ‘humanized form’ of various
Donyi-Polo deities, ritualistic mantras, tying of holy threads around the wrist,
usage of incense sticks in front of deities etc.
Next we went to the district
museum situated in a busy of the town. This museum didn’t seem to be in a very
good condition. The exterior was ill maintained, the paint had worn off. Looked
like the museum here didn’t get many visitors and was in a neglected condition.
Nevertheless, it had a very good collection of exhibits and artefacts related
to the Galo, Adi and Memba communities of the district.
Next, our host drove us to
outside the town- to the Galo villages on the outskirts of Aalo. First we went
to see the hanging suspension bridges near Paya basti. These suspension bridges
used to be the only means of crossing the rivers in Arunachal. All these
bridges are still very much in use, the only change being, most of these have
been converted into metal suspension bridges than the earlier bamboo & cane
ones. An abandoned broken bamboo-cane suspension bridge can still be seen just
next to the Paya suspension bridge.
Ngune Bane village- just about 5
minutes drive away, was where Pagke ji took us next. There he took us to a
typical Galo house made with traditional materials. He explained us each of
elements of the house in detail. Largely, all the Arunachali houses look
similar from inside although different from outside. He explained us how the
local wine is made. We even got to sip some freshly brewed wine while he showed
us the decorations inside the house made of horns of Mithun & tusks of wild
boar! We thank the hostess for the tasty wine and took a walk around the
stepped village and met other locals.
Next we went to Kabu basti- the
closest village to Aalo town. A very well kept clean village situated right at
the banks of Siyom river! A local informed Pakge ji that a Donyi- Polo Pooja was
taking place in a house nearby if we would like to go and see it. A lot of
locals had gathered outside the house. As they saw us approaching, they
graciously welcomed us inside their house. The host requested the helper woman
to serve us some Apong. Next she got us big green stems of bamboo filled with
Apong each for all of us. She also served cooked French beans to munch on. The
host, although busy with the function going on at his place made sure that we
were comfortable. During the short time we spent there, he talked to us about various
topics ranging from tourism to politics. Soon it was time for them to have
lunch. Pork – rice was served to all the male visitors. We were offered the
same, but we politely refused as it was time for us to leave. As we stood up to
bid goodbye to the wonderful hosts, the lady of the house rushed inside and got
a large jar filled with apong to refill our empty bamboo vessels to drink on
our way back.
In less than about 15 minutes, we
reached Aalo town. I and my friend visited a few sumo counters to enquire for
options to reach Guwahati. Apparently there was no direct service to Guwahati
from here. The only two options of break journey we had were either via Itanagar
or Pasighat. The option through Pasighat would have been to go further ahead in
the East and come back to the West through the plains of Assam. The Itanagar
option made more sense to exit the hills of Arunachal via Basar, enter Assam
and reach Itanagar via North Lakhimpur. The only problem was that this sumo
journey to Itanagar would be a 13hours back breaking journey on bad roads-
which meant no sleep for sure. Seeing no better option, we decided to just go
for it. (Aalo-Itanagar shared sumo cost Rs.1200/head in 2017)
Our sumo left from Aalo around
4:30 PM. To our luck, although we got two seats at the backside, the other two
seats were unoccupied making the dreadful journey at least a little bit bearable.
Day 8:
The sumo was running before time
(or maybe the sumo counter guy lied to us regarding the drop time in Itanagar),
we reached Itanagar at 3:45 AM!!! Other passengers with us being locals, soon
dispersed and we were left to wander around the dark streets of Itanagar
looking for a place to crash. Expectedly, all the hotels were shut. We tried
knocking a doors at a few hotels to no luck! We spent the rest of the time on
the streets with a few suspicious looking people around. The least we needed
after a painful overnight sumo journey was a bed to crash in. To add to our
misery, it started raining. The feeling of helplessness started sinking in.
Felt bad more for my friend who isn’t a regular traveller and I had made him go
through so many long journeys just by luring him to tag along with me to see
some of the best landscapes India has got! Poor fellow still wasn’t complaining!
Soon it was 5AM. The city seemed
to be slowly coming back to life. Tried my luck with hotels again, and this
time we got a single bed room in Pine ridge hotel just in the main road,
F-sector of Itanagar.
Sleeping till good 11 AM, we
freshened up and left for a brief city tour of Itanagar before catching an
evening bus for Guwahati- another overnight journey!
Farthest place first, we went to
the serene Gyker Sinying lake aka Ganga lake. We took a circular walk all
around the lake and refreshed my memories of the first time I had come here in
2011. Ganga lake is definitely a not to be missed spot while in Itanagar.
Next we went to the zoological
gardens just on the way from the lake to the city centre. Itanagar zoo was
surprisingly very well maintained. Healthy animmals, cleanliness, and internal signage
everything was in place!
Itanagar’s Jawaharlal Nehru state
museum seemed recently refurbished in part and they have done it so well! They have
completely changed the museum from inside, also added new exhibits and
galleries. After the refurbishment is complete, it will definitely be one of
the best in eastern India.
Along the same road on the
opposite direction is the Itanagar Buddhist Gompa. A short winding road took us
to the Gompa which is situated at a height compared to the rest of the city.
Just the next day, the Gompa was expecting visit of the Dalai Lama. For HH’s
visit, the entire gompa was re-painted only the finishing touch being given to
them when we visited.
Reaching back to the hotel, we
had a late lunch and boarded a comfortable sleeper bus for Guwahati and then to
the second leg of the trip- Meghalaya!
