As I boarded the flight in Chennai to Kolkata, I had a strange feeling. Here I was, flying to the place I had so much wanted to experience. At the same time, I was unable to forget the indeterminate amount of news about Assam, the many wishes of luck & ‘safe trip’ and other misgivings. All these thoughts were floating through my mind only till I boarded my connecting flight at Kolkata to Jorhat. After what seemed like a half hour of normal flying, the plane took a sharp turn to the right. A look out of my window gave a sight to behold. I was floating in a sea of clouds, with the mighty snow-capped Himalayas providing a perfect backdrop.

I landed in Jorhat – one of the smallest airports I’ve ever seen. It consisted of a runway and a short apron for handling one flight at a time. I got down from the flight and took a walk to the terminal. Here I was, in Assam. In the so called “North East India”.

What I got to experience in the next seven days was pure bliss, unexplainable beyond words. From the daily life in Cinnamara, to the hills of Nagas, to the forests and rhinos of Kaziranga, to the ocean of a river known by the name Brahmaputra and many other events, it was an unforgettable week.

Instead of rambling along, I’ll try to use the limited photos took using my Nokia 5800 to show this pristine and serene beauty of a place.

It makes me feel happy that India still has got places that we can hope to run or fly in, to escape from the routine, stress-filled and chaotic life that we all live. As I look back at my week-long sojourn, an epitaph in Kohima’s WWII cemetery crops up in my mind:
Dearer still, as the years depart
His memory lives within our hearts