Trip Archives: Up the Brahmaputra

A ‘quick’ (up-hill) ride into Shillong, the so-called ‘Scotland of the East’.

In the afternoon I went to see the daily Siat Khnam, basically a lottery but with an interesting way to draw the number. Three or four dozen Khasi men stand or sit with their bamboo bows in a semi-circle around a straw target and then shoot their arrows at it for a set amount of time. The total number of hits (arrows that stuck) is counted (usually hundreds) at the end and the last two digits are the winning number. Before the end of the shooting you can place bets. I participated but didn’t win anything.

There was also a TV team there filming the event. At the end, being the only foreigner there, I was interviewed. The camera man had been to Germany and spoke German fluently. I should try to contact him to get a copy of the interview…

Cycled: 17km

I spent yesterday and today in the city: Over breakfast in the street I met Sun, a backpacker from Vietnam on his way to Cherrapunji; had my pants fixed once more, at a tailor who had his workshop in a tiny building towering above a busy market street; went to the Siat Khnam again but didn’t win, again; spectated at the Mega Mock Exercise, a nation-wide disaster drill, in the city center; had lunch in a restaurant ‘specalized in muslim dishes’ which was situated next to a liquor store; got a bus ticket to Silchar.

The bus left at 8pm. Getting the bike inside was a bit of an issue, and it ended up being strapped to the roof. The bus ride itself was quite strenuous – dusty and uncomfortable, but probably still better than cycling on this busy and sandy road. I didn’t regret it too much.

My plans for Silchar were grand. There is another Degree Confluence (almost) nearby and it would have been most interesting to try to get to it. But…

I arrived in Silchar very early in the morning. Was it 6am yet? I’m not sure. It was still dark and shops were obviously still closed, but a tea stall next to where the bus had stopped was sweetening my morning. I had a chat with an elderly fellow who recommended a hotel. He also told me that the train to Agartala, my next destination, would leave soon (6.45am or so). I didn’t quite get the name of the hotel he had recommended but I had one on the map that I tried first. The door was barred by an iron lattice which wasn’t locked, so getting inside wasn’t a problem. The receptionist was sleeping and wasn’t easily woken up. It turned out the place was fully booked (or the guy was too sleepy to be bothered with a guest).

I cycled around town with the rising sun and tried various other hotels but all of them were full. At some point I gave up and rode straight to the train station and boarded the train to Agartala.

On the train I met a British train aficionado who was here to study the old narrow gauge trains before they were being upgraded to standard gauge, which is planned for 2014 or 2015 (can’t remember). He got off after a short while.

Agartala is a city located at the Indian border with Bangladesh, in the Indian state of Tripura. It has a Bangladeshi consulate and one is supposed to be able to obtain a visa here.

I arrived quite late in the day. The streets were busy with people, cars and trucks, and it was dark when I found a hotel that wasn’t full nor too expensive.

My stay in Agartala was successful in that I managed to obtain a Bangladeshi visa. It required several visits to the consulate, though. It is located somewhat towards the northern edge of the city and involves a long walk or a short autorickshaw ride, or some cycling.

On the first visit I was told to come back the next day because the officer who’d deal with my application was not in. Everyone else (i.e. expat Bangladeshis – some had India-Bangladeshi passports) could hand in their application without problem.

The next day I was allowed to fill in the application but before it was processed I had to pay the visa fees into an account at a bank. So back to the city and back to the consulate afterwards, to present proof of payment. Then I was told to come back later in the day (or was it the next day? – memory is getting hazy there) to pick up my passport.

Back at the consulate I was told that I couldn’t have another visa for Bangladesh because I had just been there and one is supposed to have a gap of 3 months between visits. That, of course, didn’t go well with my flight plans, having booked my return flight for March 23rd. After some back and forth and forwarding my flight confirmation emails to the clerk I finally got the OK for a ten-day visa (for the same price as a 30-day one, of course).

I stayed a few more days in Agartala, mostly because I wanted to see the Holi celebrations, the festival of colours. The population is predominantly Hindu here and people told me that the festivities would be well worth watching. In the end I was quite disappointed, as I only saw very few people actually throwing coloured powder at each other. I did receive my own share of colour, though.
Yesterday I was told that the real celebrations would be held today, but that turned out to be false as well. Literally no-one was celebrating.

While waiting for Holi I spent a lot of time in the streets with tea and snacks I felt like I was constantly eating or drinking (tea).

I also went to the movies a couple of times during the last days and watched the sequel to 300 in 3D and a Bollywood movie which I don’t quite remember the name of.

I’ll leave India tomorrow and cross back into Bangladesh.