Archive for March 10th, 2008

10 Mar 2008 North East Day 2: Guwahati Temples
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Today was a day for temples – it seems Guwahati is called a city of temples – there are quite a few of them here.
First we went to the Arunachal Bhawan (found it after a loong search – as it is in a small house on the end of a smaller street) and applied for the ILP (In-Land Permit) which is required for going into Arunachal. If you don’t want to “waste” a day in Guwahati – I would suggest that you get the ILP from Delhi or Mumbai. Anyways – I missed out on that option – and spent the day in Guwahati. 
As I said – a day for temples – Kamakshi Devi (the line was sooo looooooooong I didn’t even think of going in) – Umananda (small temple on a river island – very nice place to go) – had lunch – and the Balaji temple (very beautiful South Indian temple – nicely landscaped – unfortunately my camera went crazy – the mirror got stuck and many photographs came half black :-((((( )
And last of all Kalakshetra – a nice park with a small museum and a big open-air theatre – very nice place. 
Well – that was the end of the second day – quite uneventful and not the best – but lets hope for the best – should get my ILP tomorrow – and then its off to Arunachal – Bomdila and Tawang – then Kaziranga. Lets see what else can go wrong. . .
It seems the North-east area hates my camera – last time I had come to Calcutta – and my SLR was stolen – this time – first I got fined for using the camera yesterday – and today the mirror got stuck – now till I can get it repaired I’ve lost the ability for auto-focus . . . . . but I guess things could be worse 🙂


10 Mar 2008 North East Day 1: Shillong
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Reached Guwahati early in the morning and met up with my old friend – Nakul. Even though we had met after many years – it felt as if we had met yesterday. Went to his place – met up with his cousin. Relaxed for a while and then had breakfast – which was so heavy it was more of a lunch !! 
Nakul had to go to Shillong for a small site visit – and asked me to tag along. Also a few architects from Nepal had come to attend a workshop organised by Nakul – and they joined us for the trip. Two hours up – the journey was through a small winding road. We stopped at the “Orchid” for some lunch – and it was absolutely beautiful. The lake was on three sides of the restaurant. and with the large windows it looked simply amazing. Unfortunately the food left much to be desired. 
Further on we went to Shillong Peak – which had a panoramic view of the entire city of Shillong – however the weather became foggy and getting good pictures was not possible. Still – it was beautiful. Then – but not before getting in a small tiff with the **supposed** authorities about the use of a camera – we went to the Shillong Club to meet Nakul’s client – owner of one of the best restaurants (The Bamboo Hut) in Shillong and he asked us to wait in his restaurant while he took Nakul along to the new site. The food here was amazing and the ambience of the place was also cool.
None to soon the day ended and we reached home. . . . .

Dushyant Ahuja
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained

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