Forget tea and the one-horned rhino for a while, there is a corner of
Story and photos by PEERAWAT JARIYASOMBAT
http://www.bangkokpost.com/en/070405_Horizons/07Apr2005_hori51.php
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The vast basin of Brahmaputra River in the northeastern Indian state of Assam invites visitors to come and witness its huge tea plantations, its rare one-horned rhinos and the Ahom or Tai ethnic minority who share the same roots as the people of north Thailand. The plane lurched and I woke up. The seats around me were empty. The aircraft was bound for Guwahati, the capital of
Looking out of the window I could see hundreds of crests of the Patkai Mountain Range that separates
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The rare one-horned rhino roams freely in |
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Four-wheel drives are handy for exploring the wilderness of Kaziranga, but the noise they make also drive rhinos away. |
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Workers pick tea leaves in a plantation of Addabarie Tea Estate. |
Over 800 years ago, these high mountains were roamed by Tai people, who invaded deep into the
"Our forebearers had developed a remarkable civilisation there," remarked Dr Prasert Prasartthong-osoth, president of Bangkok Airways who was so impressed after learning of their history and the land they had made their home that he decided to fly his aircraft directly from Bangkok to Guwahati.
The aircraft made a turn over the river allowing me to
view
More familiar than the look of the countryside were the features of Ahom people who looked every bit Thai from the way they carried themselves, notably the generous easy-going smile on their faces.
Their trademark friendly smile probably reached
They once played a major role in the region and
It's remarkable how Ahom people have still managed to retain their culture and traditions given
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Nikhe Namchum, a Tai Phake girl, performs the traditional bird dance. |
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A colourfully attired shop attendant poses for the camera. |
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A pilgrim at |
I came across a group of dancers dressed in skirts and white shawl performing the traditional Tai dance to the accompaniment of drums and gongs. Several Tai words appeared in their song. These performers hailed from Namphake, a village with a population of about 1,000 in Dibrugarh district of the state, and they call themselves Tai Phake.
Accompanying us on this trip was Theeraphab Lohitkul, a features writer, who never missed a beat. On this occasion he walked up to a girl with small nose and sweet eyes who was doing the bird dance, which is quite similar to the one you see in north Thailand, and said something to her.
"Nikhe Namchum," the girl replied. She was telling her name.
"Ever been to
"No," she said, shaking her head. By her looks and gentle manners, she could have easily passed for a Thai on a
The Tai Phake are one of three three Tai ethnic minorities still surviving in
They originally belong to Mogoung in
That they have been able to stick to their old beliefs and customs is a remarkable achievement in itself, given that everything else in
I detected strong Aryan influence in
Legend has it that King Daksha organized a sacrifice to insult Lord Shiva. Sati, daughter of Daksha, appeared uninvited at the scene and after seeing her husband Shiva being insulted she committed suicide. Shiva was furious and descended on Daksha and destroyed him. Carrying Sati's dead body on his shoulders, Shiva started the dance of destruction. To calm him down and spare the world his wrath, Vishnu released his chakra which cut through her. Her genitals, the yoni, fell at the spot where the
All day the temple compound is packed with Brahmins, pilgrims, merchants, beggars, cattle and pigeons. Me and my guide forced our way through the crowd into the temple whose ceiling and walls were blackened with smoke. Under the pale light of an exhausted electric lamp, I lined up on a narrow staircase that descends to a darker underground chamber whose floor was littered with yellow flowers and banknotes. Murmuring something in his language, the Brahmin priest on duty anointed my forehead with red powder and then directed me to sprinkle my head with water drawn from a holy spring.
"Make a wish, about love if you please," he instructed me almost in a whisper.
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Early morning rendezvous ... for a view of rhinos from close range, ride elephants. |
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The |
I left the temple and travelled to the countryside and I found it more comfortable than the city. It was like stepping back into rural
No trip to
"Indians drink tea five to six times a day. When we can't find anything better to do we drink tea; when we are happy we drink tea; and we also drink it when when we are sad," said Dalip Pande, summing up tea's place in the daily life of Indians.
We hit Addabarie Tea Estate, 25 kilometres north of Tezpur district. Tea plants grew waist high carpeting entire hills.
A legacy of the British going back more than a century,
"We're not sure where this batch of tea will go, probably
Sharma supervises one of the 13 tea plantations owned by the company. It may sound easy, but his responsibility extends to area covering 700 hectares.
Next stop was
I got on a jeep and rode along a dusty road that cut through the park. The ride was bumpy. After a while we stopped by a lake and the driver pointed to what looked like grey dots on the other side. I looked in that direction and saw six rhinos grazing at leisurely place in the company of white cranes. Once declared an endangered species, their number has now swelled to almost 2,000.
Lady Curzon, wife of the British Viceroy to
"The number of the rhinos is growing," N. K. Vasu, the park director proudly declared, "We also have more tigers, water buffaloes, swamp deer and various rare birds."
It wasn't wise to approach the rhinos on a jeep so we decided to return the following day. The next morning I rode an elephant admiring wildlife and the greenery as we made its way through thick shrubbery and tall grass. Along the way, I spotted a large flock of swamp deer, water buffaloes and their
crescent-shaped horns.
As we approached our target, we became more cautious. The rhino cast a suspicious glance at the elephant before returning to what it was doing _ enjoying a mud bath. There it stood built like a battle tank, its skin thick like armour-plating conveying an aura of invincibility that's associated with the animal.
We were watching from a distance of 10 metres. This was the Great Indian One-Horned Rhino, the second largest of the five species that still exist. And if you didn't know,
On the way out of the park as I walked past the security checkpoint, I heard a
local, a Tai, say: "Did you have a nice trip, sir?" And then he smiled.
It was a sincere smile and it reminded me of home,
country.
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