Sivasagar: En route to Serenity

Time is precious and so is money (of course!). It is very tough to manage time when there are subjects to read and chores to do. The toughness level goes a step higher when schedule is hectic, time is scarce and effort to squeeze the same out of such a schedule seems alike to collecting water from a roadside mirage. And if you stay at your college hostel like me, you would pretty much be able to relate to the months of struggle to save money for your smallest holidays because you do not want to put your mom into worry for that. I had heard a lot about trips from my friends - the places, culture, food, expenses, challenges and moments to remember for lifetime. The stories they tell are quite fascinating. Hence this time when I did have a 3-day holiday gap between my competency list, I decided to go on a trip to Sivasagar with my partner.

Travelling is an investment, experience is the profit.

First of all, we had discussed with every Sivasagar friend of ours from our batch and girlfriends of our friends; they could not tell us a lot about their place. So we took the help of Google Maps. We had been planning the itinerary since 10 days or so to include as many interesting places as possible and also to hold the budget into place. If I have to give you an idea, we had spent approximately 3.5 thousand rupees per person. It definitely would fluctuate according to accommodation, transportation and food facilities one would prefer to use.

We had decided to take a bus (AC-sleeper class) through redBus. That had made our journey quite affordable. The cabins had been acquainted with proper AC arrangement, comfortable beds, a charging point and a small rack for shoes and water bottle. They also had provided us with individual pillow and blanket (very warm) and also a complementary wet wipe sachet. The redBus team had picked us up in their own vehicle from their counter and dropped into the ISBT premises. From there we had found our allotted bus and started our happy journey. The roads were not that smooth but the night view from the window glass was to die for. The street lights were lit which burnt the red unfueled fire on the hair of Krishnachura (Royal Poinciana) trees.

The bus wobbled along the pebbly roads and stopped at a roadside dhaba for a break. As an early sleeper and earlier riser, the busy night scene of the place had left me astonished. Life looks different at night. The waiters had no time to breathe but to prepare food plates. Every plate was prepared with precision without any mistake, within seconds. Me and my partner were hungry. We ordered two plates of roti-sabzi. That 70-rupees plate was the best roti thali of my life. They had served three rotis, dal, sabzi, fried potatoes and a bowl of simple kheer. They also had onions and pickle on side. The meal was simple yet delicious. People of all classes - rich and poor - were having the same food on the same tables. I was happy to see the uniformity of that moment.

We had slept until 4 a.m. in the morning the next day. The downpour got denser. I was lying on my back half-asleep. The road suddenly welcomed me with the green and flowery canopies, and the sweeter-than-sugar pitter-patter of the tiny silvery raindrops were coming directly from heaven. It was like a sliding tunnel of endless life celebrating its endeavor through colorful reproductive foliage. After a total of 8 hours, our journey in the bus ended at the ASTC port of Sivasagar. It was neat and clean, decorated with flowers as well as tiny saplings. The rain was not going to stop by any means. The only shop open at that time was a tea stall with lots of baked items. We had tea and finally it was time to search for a place to stay.

We were not convinced by the hotels near ASTC as they did not seem to meet our expectations upon cleanliness and hygiene. We did browse a lot of them but finally decided to go for some expensive place as that would be safer and cleaner. Suddenly a name had popped up on the screen with beautiful pictures of the interior and exterior of a hotel nearby. Me and my partner had decided to go check the availability of rooms there. It was a quiet place. There was no counter and no receptionist. Only a phone number was written on a paper and left upon the tea table. We had called the person. He appeared. He seemed to be in deep sleep; there was also a caretaker boy with a strange hairstyle inside a dark room. When enquired, they told us to wait as there would be a double-bedded room available after 12 o'clock. They charged us 1200 rupees for that and we were pretty happy that it had costed us less than what we had expected. But the room was nothing like we saw in the pictures. There were blood stains on the bedsheet. All of a sudden, a couple had exited a room and we were very happy for we were going to finally get that room. When we went near the door of the other room, we saw a fresh stain of blood on the bed with a huge diameter. Our sixth senses smelled something suspicious. We wanted to leave that hotel as we had not yet checked in and demanded our money back. They told us clearly that once paid, the money could not be returned. We disallowed any second thought and had left the place saying that we would return back. We finally found a reputed old hotel called Hotel Talatal and checked in there. The owner was nice and did not bother us much. He seemed proud and happy that more people were considering his birthplace for tourism. We got two rooms for 800 rupees each. We had our freshening up session and decided to have our breakfast.

Eat the problem or the problem will eat you.

While strolling the rainy streets of Sivsagar, we came across a bakery-cum-restaurant known as Bakevilla And Foodvilla. There were two separate spaces for the bakery and the restaurant. The place was well-lit. We went there for urination and must say the bathroom management was decent. We both had tea. Additionally I had some namkeen and my partner had a pastry. The bakery food was average but again, it is hard to find a decent washroom at an unknown place. While sipping the hot tea from the plastic cup, the thought of losing my pair of spectacles threw both of us into unseen horror. It seemed that I had left them in that creepy hotel. That meant we had to go there again. So we made a plan to eat up some of their energy and irritate them. Let us save the other part of the story for later for a more conclusive ending.