The start of the trek to Bhuvan Pahar at Motinagar, Cachar, Assam
Members of the entourage (from left, our nephew Rohan, Amrita, yours truly, Anu’s elder sisters Manju and Rekha) on the banks of the Barak River, Fulertal
O yes, back to the past. These pictures are from 2008, when we made a trek up Bhuvan Pahar (Bhuvan Hill) in the Cachar District of Assam, in conjunction with Shivratri, a celebration dedicated to Hinduism’s Lord Shiva. Shivratri usually falls in early March (this year it was on March 2). We started the trek from Anu’s home, in Fulertal Village after lunch, one day before Shivratri. The journey started with a ferry ride across the Barak River, and then on a rickety taxi (typical of all taxis in the Silchar area, packed like a canned of sardines – that’s part of the fun), to a village named Motinagar. If I remember correctly, we reached at about 4 - 5 pm. We then filled our tummies up, and bought some essential items like kerosene-dipped torches, nylon rope and plastic sheets. Then began the night-long trek up the hill.
No, there’re no lights to light the hill track up the hill. But because of the throng of people, we could see the trail lighted up by a thousand torches. The nylon rope and plastic sheets are for people to build make-shift shelters against the rain and wind at the top of the hill (yeah, it was drizzling, and freezing cold that night). Eight of us were huddled up in a 6’ x 6’ make-shift tent made of polythene sheets and tree branches, till about 5am, when those who wanted to, queued up to enter the small Shiva temple for prayers.
The queue of pilgrims at the top of Bhuvan Pahar at 5.30am
The crowd was astounding. People of all ages, from sari-clad grandmothers who had difficulty walking, to toddlers, were climbing up to the hill non-stop throughout the night, despite the rain. By the time we were done with the prayers and wanted to climb down, the trail became so jam-packed with people that nothing could move because people were still coming in (the festival lasts for about 3 days I think), while many who have done the prayers were on their way down. We heard that the over-night rain caused landslides and there were reports of people falling down. One man, who was right in front of us in the crowd, suddenly developed fits and fell on the stone steps. We finally decided to give up the trail and cut across the forest as nothing could move. Some in the crowd decided to head back up to the hill top as there were some shelters and tea stalls there. We reached the bottom of the hill at about 5pm that evening, skipping breakfast and lunch. Some of the villagers had to stay another night on the hill before returning.
Exciting sort of trek huh?
Mouth of the Naga cave temple
The Naga cave temple, it goes deep down and if you go further through some very tight crevices where you have to crawl and squeeze through, the cave opens up into a vast, pitch black cavern with no known end (actually, I think nobody’s stupid enough to go grope for the end).
A scary looking sadhu (holy man) at the foot of Bhuvan Pahar
