A Million Moments

Arunachala! Mountains lit by dawning sun. The beautiful Indian land of rising sun located in the north eastern part of our rich & diverse country. The traveler in me did not stop at North Sikkim but later visited multiple places like Badami-Pattadakal-Aihole belt, Shimoga-Chikmagluru, Aero-India & Mysuru which kept the photographer in me alive but the writer was wanting more. After postponing the plan to travel Meghalaya & Kaziranga indefinitely I was clueless where to go until I saw a post on Instagram which was about a group travel to Arunachal Pradesh! I did not think twice & made the bookings, who knew perhaps this would go on to be one of the best decisions that I ever made this year.

Arunachal Pradesh like Sikkim is again at a very strategic position on the maps of India being bordered with three different nations, Bhutan on the west, China occupied Tibet to the north & Myanmar to the east. The northern border being sensitive compared to others. Formerly known as North-East-Frontier-Agency or NEFA was under Bhutanese, Burmese & Tibetan rule until the 1914 when the Brits decided the present day McMohan line with Tibet which would separate the present-day Arunachal from Tibet. During the Sino-Indian war of 1962 China indeed occupy it despite of the heroic feats of Indian army who were not prepared to take on numerically advanced Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The Chinese, however soon realized that they could not keep it under their control as people of Arunachal were not ready to accept them, winter was coming & it would be difficult to keep the mountain passes open for logistics. India too was re-grouping its forces in the plains of Assam at Tezpur & would eventually hit back harder. For one or more or all the reasons, Chinese declared the unilateral cease-fire on 21^st Nov 1962 and went back to pre-war positions. But to this day, they keep claiming it as Southern Tibet. No worries country men, our Sentinels of Indian Army are guarding the Arunachal proudly & strongly with enough back-up to their teeth in 2023.

My trip began as I landed in Guwahati on the sunny afternoon on day 1 and met my dashing troupe & our wonderful trip captain. Twelve people from different corners of India from different walks of life had come together to spend 7 days together exploring the western part of Arunachal Pradesh while creating memories for life.

The long haul:

The downside of exploring North-Eastern state is longer durations to cover smaller distances. Our first stop for the day was Nameri Jungle resorts, 20kms ahead of Tezpur in Assam. Nameri is located at Assam-Arunachal border. Nameri is where the plains of Assam meet the hills & mountains of Arunachal Pradesh. It is famous for water-adventure sports, Bird-Sanctuary, Jungle safari & much more. But for us it was nothing but a night-stop before we head further. The night was chilly yet the conversations leading to  bonding of the travelers kept it warm and cozy. So it was end of day 1 at Nameri jungle resorts.

Day 2 of my trip was a travel day & destination for the day was Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh. We were going to leave behind the plains of Assam & enter the hilly regions of Arunachal Pradesh. The group was lively and the atmosphere was lit up with old Hindi songs. We were playing all sort of travel games, chit-chatting and getting to know one another individually. Some of us had already hit it off while waiting at the airport the previous day for the entire group to arrive. There was a quick stop at the Orchid garden before we continued our journey.

Arunachal is also well known for its orchids. As we climbed up, the weather & view got pleasant together as though it was a competition! We stopped at this small family run hotel for lunch that served us traditional food. Traditional food even at hotels are served on copper plates which is very aesthetic.

Post lunch, after the interaction with family & their pet it was time to bid them adieu and move on. We stopped further at this very photogenic spot to click pictures for our grams. While most of us resorted to clicking pictures some of us spent small moments absorbing the silence with only the sound of the river flowing through the valley. After spending quality time there and with another tea stop we reached Dirang at night and no we did not retire to our rooms but continued to play fun games till late night!

In the next blog we will explore Dirang and read about some interesting stories… 😊