Repeating yesterday morning's itinerary, we had our breakfast at the same place but wisely minus the milky tea. As we were proceeding towards the bus station we were accosted by the 'shared jeep' touts and as we peeped inside the middle seat seemed empty. Promptly we jumped in. After a while the jeep was full and we started our downhill journey towards Guwahati. Shillong was looking more appeasing in the early morning mist and we reached the outskirts of Guwahati without incidence and in a peaceful slumber. We had had a break for tea in between and it had been refreshing. Here Sudha had noticed the excessive plastic waste around. Everywhere the eyesore was there majorly in the form of 'use and throw' plastic glasses. Usually I dont have these vehement feelings towards it but this time even I was upset, that would point towards the extent of Sudha's disgust.
As we were entering the city limits of Guwahati, we saw vehicles crawling ahead. After a while we saw an army contingent ahead checking every vehicle entering the city limits. In turn our jeep too stopped and we were asked to get down minus our luggage. And here's my luck, because my bag was locked they wanted to check it! And respecting the uniform I opened the bag and these people rummaged inside it for a while. Satisfied, we were on our way again. This is a routine incident in these parts but for people coming from comparatively peaceful parts of India it is quite disturbing. Though it was the kind of situation one doesn't digest immediately and the only after effect was a subdued-ness settling down with me n Sudha.
Taking in the sights of Guwahati with its malls and cinemas and shops we moved ahead. Having not decided on the place of stay we decided to get down at the last stop, Pallika Bazaar. In between Sudha noticed a posh hotel but by the time both of us debated on the matter our jeep had already moved ahead.
We reached the same spot from where we had embarked on our journey day before yesterday. Without thinking too much, subconsciously we started moving through the busy market towards the government guest house we had occupied earlier. On the way Sudha noticed a hotel we had come across in the LP and she thought we should try it out. Leaving me with our luggage she went to check out the rooms. When she came back she was quite optimistic about the place but in this time that I was alone my mind was on all the dots we were presented since yesterday and without an conscious effort from me my mind was busy joining them. Last month while surfing channels I remembered hearing news about Delhi and Guwahati being on alert on the Independence day. But as one hardly registers dangers related to far off places I had only registered it in my subconscious mind. Now on this hazy canvas we had a clear picture painted by the man at the bus station warning us off, the grim faced security personnel checking every vehicle. As a result I very aggressively told Sudha that it would be best if we don't stay in the midst of a market place and the best bet would be the familiar tourist guest house. We moved on, crossed over to the other side of the railway station and reached the tourist rest house with such peace, only a little less than home coming.
After freshening up, the creatures of habit had the customary Paneer Butter Masala. We had noticed the bathroom tiles being quite greasy and here returning from the restaurant Sudha complained about it at the front desk. We had had long discussions about the state of these government-run establishments- the dilapidation inspite of good locations and unobstructed capital flow. The negligence and apathy of the staff is appalling. We were informed that the house keeping staff would be sent up and accordingly in a while two supervisors and one cleaner was there. Now this whole event is worth description. The cleaner equipped with abundant cleaning powder and instruments was left to do his work,meanwhile the supervisers were busy chatting outside in the corridor. Here enters my enthusiastic friend- to my absolute utter surprise Sudha actually started supervising the cleaner. Even though there was a communication gap with the cleaner speaking only Assamese, Sudha still managed to get across with her limited knowledge of Bengali. She absolutely gave him a crash course on cleaning, herself an extremely neat person. And the guy too proved to be an ideal student cleaning everything including the fittings to the bucket and tumbler with zeal. Sudha is one such person who always amazes me with so many of her qualities, so common but still so uncommon. The way she is interested in every human around her, and not just interest she has as much empathy and curiosity about them. I could almost say that she had befriended this guy, just a teenager. In the course she had enquired about his home, family, education, career prospects, about everything and imparted some really well meaning advice. Though I'm not one of them one comes across these friends of universe and is touched by their well meaning and unbiased advice. I have. After this training session, both of us dozed off and rested till almost tea time.
By tea time we ventured outside for a stroll. Though not very tired we werent in a mood for sightseeing. Also enquiries at the reception lead us to believe it to be quite unsafe to venture far off. We first made our way to the State's handicrafts shop. I wanted to buy the Mekhala-Chadar, the traditional attire of Assamese women, for my mom. This dress is similar to a saree. One or two pieces were interesing but Sudha suggested I check out the Calcutta Market too. We then moved towards the park and the lake visible from our balcony. Orienting ourselves we reached it. The place was holding some function, and we thought the occasion must be the Independence day eve. I loved the artificial animal statues there and after trying the swings in the children's park we went for a stroll along the lake. Compared to other parks around the place was well maintained, especially clean. Still it wasnt exactly Wards Lake. We rested on a bench and started chitchatting about anything -from far off ideologies to observations about people sitting around us. The lake has boating facilities and many were making use of it. The whole place was lively in that sense still we had a sub conscious feeling of the trip ending and tomorrow noon couldn't come faster. In our minds we had already started moving towards Calcutta. The day ended uneventfully.
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