North Eastern Odyssey 3 - Aalo

Swift rivers, sliding slopes

After Ziro we travelled to Aalo, around 360 Kms away. As the road was hilly as well as terrible, it was a very long drive. We stopped overnight at Daporijo, about 6 hrs away. We were supposed to stay at a homestay run by a local family but there was a mix up and we didn't have a place anymore. Finally, after much going around the small town, we ended up in a 'work-in-progress' hotel with some 'stay-able' rooms. It was pretty bizarre but since the region is fairly safe, we put our trust in the family running the hotel & who lived in the premises too. Our other option was probably our vehicle which was not an incentive. We ate a small, simple meal cooked by the owner's wife and crashed out. We left early the next day onwards to Aalo. 

A Miri tribal home balancing at the edge of a steep slope

 Banana plantations are in the midst of the wilderness

Jhoom cultivation (slash & burn) is practised in most areas of the North East. Here, in Arunachal Pradesh it's at the pace of every two years. It is not surprising to see forested areas suddenly throwing up patches of cultivated crops.

Bridges like these and some even
more rudimentary are the lifelines across 
rivers. This bridge's strength could only 
accommodate pedestrians & two-wheelers

Enroute we came across many hidden springs like 
these which seemed touched as if with magic

Aalo is north-east from Ziro and approx 6 hrs from Daporijo. The town lies on the banks of the Siyom and Sipu rivers. Locally, the river around Aalo is known as Yongmo and is revered. We spent our time in Aalo trekking along the river, visiting an Adi Galong tribal village, the local market and shopping a little at the local stores. 

Our trek alongside the river wound in & out of dense foliage

Minyong, an Adi village across the river from Aalo
spread out on its banks 

A rudimentary bridge built & put up by the villagers themselves

Listening to snippets of life in Aalo from our two young guides, we realised a simple life is not attractive enough for the younger generation. They are well aware of developments beyond the mountains, thanks to the widespread reach of satellite television. The youth here are university graduates or at least have finished high school. Farming and other traditional occupations are not appealing anymore. It's not that they are unhappy with life at home, but they long to experience the glitz and glamour of big cities as they see  broadcast on their television sets. 

Mithun (a large animal of the bison species, domesticated in
the North East) horns in a home represent wealth & prosperity 

An offering to the Gods inside a home, by the village shaman

Adi home on stilts & with large sun-decks, to make 
the most of the sunshine

Our rest stop in Aalo. Was comfortable & not too bad

Employment levels are low and opportunities are limited to what they see around them, the things they feel are within their reach. Joining the government or the security forces is top of the list. The former for the same reason as the rest of India - job security, a spot of 'extra' money to be made and it allows them to mostly live not far from home. The latter for similar reasons (except the extra money) and the power connected with men in uniform, in these parts. 

The unhappiness with the state machinery which they feel has left them behind in the development game is palpable. Basic necessities like good, regular healthcare services, higher education facilities, motorable roads, regular public transport service between villages and towns are all they are asking for. Inspite of the lack of these and the adversities, the people are full of grace, generous and also very thankful they live in peace (as compared to their neighbouring states and with China breathing down their necks at the border). 

Arunachal Pradesh does not have the trappings of development - the big houses, office complexes or industries. But the people aren't poor, they live within their means, are self-sufficient and have learnt to live with what life has given them. But one can feel the winds of change in the people and the place. It's coming. I fervently hope the change is for good. 

Temporary halt on the highway as the road was cleared of 
a minor landslide. These are seen as common occurrences here

North Eastern Odyssey 2 - Ziro

I seem to have begun the narration of our trip from the tail-end with Kohima. I am going to rectify that and begin from the beginning. :)

We arrived in Guwahati and post a quick lunch we started our drive towards the state border. Our night halt was at Tezpur. We had driven for approx 4 hrs through a quickly darkening landscape though it was barely 5pm. The sun disappears earlier here and rises much earlier than in the rest of the country. This was a bit disorienting at first and took a little getting used to. 

We were travelling during the ten day Durga Pujo festival. All along the route that evening and next to our hotel in Tezpur too, we saw numerous pandals and people dressed for the festivities. The music and prayers lasted until late in the night. 

Durga Pujo pandals along the way. This in Tezpur.

By 6PM. Night fell early here. 

During the next fortnight, we made early starts to take advantage of the daylight as well as to cover the long distances from one destination to another. From Tezpur it's approx 300 Kms to Ziro, our first stop inside Arunachal Pradesh. It took us a little less than 9 hrs to get there, largely due to the deplorable condition of the roads, especially, once we crossed over the state border from Assam into Arunachal Pradesh.

There are many rivers that criss-cross the state, we found ourselves crossing a stream or a river often enough. We passed some of the many dams that dot the state. The need for these dams, though, is hotly debated. And the government plans to build many, many more. If the plans go through, the politicians, bureaucrats, contractors and timber merchants are certainly going to make hay while the sun shines though it's anybody's guess if the people will truly benefit.

Breathtaking views enroute as we climb into the hills

Making the most of a sunny day. Make-shift platforms
like this are used to dry food, clothes or to soak in a little sun.

One of the many dams that dot the state

Ziro was absolutely beautiful. Breathtakingly, wondrously beautiful. We stayed at the Blue Pine Hotel which was clean, comfortable and warm. It was surprisingly large and well maintained for a rather remote place like Ziro where many outsiders don't venture. Then we found out that it hosts bureaucrats who come on official visits. Enough to keep this property in business and well-maintained. Now, there's even a Ziro Festival of Music bringing in more visitors in autumn. 

It was harvest time. The community works together to
make sure everyone's harvest is brought in turn by turn. 

Threshing the paddy immediately. Unlike in other
parts of India where harvesting is completed
before threshing starts

Local market in Ziro. Early mornings are the
best time to see the markets in full flow

Prized larvae that is found near the river beds in autumn.
It is considered such a delicacy that word of this haul had
spread & right before our eyes, it was sold out, in minutes.

The older women of the Apatani tribe were tattooed and wore large nose plugs. (They were shy and hesitant to be photographed, so I didn't get too many photos.) It's a tradition that has been banned consensually by the tribe itself. The youngest lady we saw with the tattoos (no nose-plug though) seemed to be in her mid-40s. The legends (1 & 2) around the tradition are many but soon the nose plugs and tattoos will no longer be seen but the stories will survive. 

An elderly Apatani woman with the trademark
nose plugs and tattooed face. 

Apatani man off to work in the fields/ forests 

Houses built on stilts with ritualistic
symbols in & around each home.

Babos or ceremonial poles are seen in individual
homes as well as in the central square in the village. 

The houses of the Apatani (like in many other tribes in Arunachal Pradesh) are built on stilts. This allows them to keep livestock below the house as well as keeps the cold from seeping up through the earth. Ziro can get pretty cold in winters, it seems. The construction of babos during the Myoko festival centres around it being a fertility symbol. Myoko is a month long festival held in March and it seems like a thanksgiving for nature's bounties and prayers for a good harvest. 

Shaman's play a huge role in the lives of the Apatani. The tribe are sun-moon worshippers (Dyoni-Polo) though many have converted to Christianity in recent times. They manage to happily co-exist with these two religions in their lives. :) In and around each house we saw symbols to as per the instructions of the local shaman. Depending on what was required - warding off evil or protection of the Gods etc. the symbol would differ. But they were a bit spooky - some with egg shells or feathers on bamboo sticks.

Each home here has a central fireplace
where all the cooking and eating takes place.

The open fireplace is meant to warm the rest of the house too. They have rooms leading off this main area, partitioned by woven bamboo matting which makes it easier for the heat to permeate..

Above the fireplace is space to keep meat which is
allowed to naturally smoke and dry. The longer the meat
is dried the tastier it is & therefore more valuable.

At the graveyard, structures are put up
depending on the manner of death, the
gender & the role of the person in the community.

The graveyard was simple but again quite eerie. When we were there, a shaman had just been interred and his grave was covered with a lattice of bamboo sticks adorned with feathers, egg shells and sprinkled with blood from a sacrificial chicken (in the foreground of the photo). There were similar structures all around but the shaman is considered the most important person in the village and therefore had the most impressive grave too. 

We had a great guide who being an Apatani himself was able to take us around the villages, meet the tribes people and even gate-crash a wedding ceremony. The people were warm, friendly and very welcoming. Such a contrast to our busy city lives where strangers are kept at an arm's (and a leg's) distance.  But then I say this each time I meet people far, far away from urbanised life. There's a greater sense of community, belonging and far less cynicism than us city dwellers. 

A wedding feast in progress. We were privileged and very
grateful to have been allowed a glimpse into their rituals.

Country roads

In late 2013, I made a crazy trip to Arunachal Pradesh. Crazy because I dislike long road trips. Being cooped up in a vehicle for hours together does not hold any appeal for me. In most cases, the journey on the road is not broken by enough rest stops. The day's travel as planned invariably is a long one and the destination must be reached at a reasonable hour in the evening/ night.

It proved to be all this and more on the trip to this North Eastern State. Before I tell you why, I must mention beforehand that the trip was worth every jolted and jarred bone, ridiculously early starts (such that I'd never call it a holiday) and sometimes missed breakfasts (thanks to the early starts!). The views were beautiful, the hillsides green and silent, the roads free of traffic and the people ever friendly and cheerful. Though a bit surprised that 'Indians' were visiting their state. The majority of tourists they encounter are foreigners.

Roads as we know in our urbanised lifestyles (where potholes & puddles take on larger than life proportions), are non-existent in this state. They are merely tracks cut into the hillsides and if they was ever any tarmac on them, it's long gone. Almost every day I & my fellow travellers had to travel 5-6 hours on an average to reach our next destination, which on regular roads (as we know it) would have taken us half the time. As it's the eastern most part of our country, the day begins early and night falls early too. As early as 4 AM and ending by 5PM. Therefore, for practical and safety reasons it was crucial that we started and ended our road trips while daylight lasted.

 

Nightfall by 6PM enroute from Guwahati to Tezpur

 

Our first sight of the roads in Arunachal Pradesh as we crossed into the state

  

The road is carved out of the hillside while a river flows at its foot

  

Streams flowing down the hillside continuously erode the surface of the roads leaving mud and stones in its wake

The network of roads are the lifeline of this state. There are no railway lines since the state lies in a mountainous region. The closest rail heads are along the state border in Assam. Villagers are able to connect to the nearest towns only via this network of roads. During the monsoons, landslides and flooding block parts of this network isolating people for weeks on end. While travelling through just one small part of the state, even in the good weather we had, we could not escape the realisation of how cut off the lives of the people here are.

We had great mobile connectivity (imagine that!) in the towns where we halted and we saw almost every household with cable television (thanks to satellite dishes). But travelling from one place to another is a daunting task. The state transport buses plying these roads are few and far between. Days went by when we would pass at best one state bus a day on the roads we travelled. There were no private buses that we saw of. Taxis and vehicles for hire cost a pretty penny. So, they take to walking long distances in the hilly terrain which is probably the reason they have the reputation of being a hardy and resilient people. Obviously, this affects access to schools, healthcare services, jobs, markets etc.



Well maintained roads like these were few and of short stretches but very welcome!

A 'minor' landslide being cleared on the route out of Arunachal Pradesh

One must admit that a fairly commendable job is being done by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) who maintain and keep roads and bridges motorable in this border outpost despite inclement weather, soil erosion and the remoteness of the area. Nevertheless, even they seem to be able to manage just the bare minimum.

On their election campaigns, when the politicians talk of development in the North East and lifting the region from its isolation, one can only ask them to travel and experience these roads instead of air dashing from one helipad to another making fancy promises they never intend to keep.