Ranikhamar: Splashing Soloka Waters And Embracing Kulsi

A random day it was, like that of our random plans. It had been a while that me and my friend sat over a phone call and discussed about exploring something that was less crowded; for tourism pressure over the local communities, places and their resources is real. After talking for a while, we finally had decided to visit the Soloka Dare Waterfalls the next day. It had been in our bucket list for a long time but we could not check it off because of our hectic schedules and many more reasons.

Since it had been raining unpredictably on some or the other day, we had to be careful with the things we were going to carry with us. At first, we were very excited to sit under the flowing waters of the waterfall and destress while getting a nice bath. We were about to pack extra clothes for the waterfall fun, but then came the day of dusk. My periods hit me hard and the probability of enjoyment got reduced by half. My friend too had cancelled his plan to jump into the waters. We were about to postpone the plan to post-period dates. However we had come to the conclusion of not doing so as we get very few breaks in our schedule. So why waste them?

Open your arms and see the world hugging you back.

We had started our journey at 7 am the next morning. It had taken about 2.5 hours to reach the destination. It was located in Ranikhamar/Barigaon which was at a distance of about 56 kms from Guwahati. On the way we had two tea breaks. A very few shops were open and that too the breakfast was not ready as it was quite early. One of the famous shops was Madhumilan Bakery which specialized in sweets. The prices were decent and the gulab jamun that my friend had tried was amazing. It was bright outside, a perfect day to dive into the cold waters of gratitude.

However we had later realized that we were focusing more on the regrets than the beautiful sun and the changing sceneries. To make the most out of it, we had started to embrace the journey and ultimately the day turned out to be way more gorgeous than it was a while ago. The tea gardens were full of new tender foliage. After passing a lot of smooth and pebbly roads we had reached the waterfall premises. We were welcomed by the small stream flowing nearby and the magical view of a distantly visible waterfall known as the Soloka Dare Waterfalls. The waterfall was surrounded by hills with dense vegetation. It was wearing a blue veil over its head. The sky was pretty blue that day.

There was a single car in the premises. The ticket counters were not functioning; they might be shut down on the public holidays. I do not have enough information to correctly deliver about the tickets. We were afraid that it might be closed but it wasn't. My friend had parked his scooty near a tree shade and we had finally begun taking careful steps through the muddy and slippery pavements. There were tiny benches near the waterfall to keep our belongings. I do not have any idea where to change clothes as we did not. On a big rock was written that our safety was our responsibility. It seemed to be a bit scary. Also there was not a single visitor except us. The locals had stopped allowing exploitation of the tourist attraction which had occurred earlier in the form of picnics and parties of alcoholics. That might also be the reason of less crowding possibly.

As were had pulled our pants up above the knees, we had to carefully enter the waterfall. It was slippery at some points with its rich moss population. There we met two young local boys who were joyfully playing inside the waters. They had come with their dog and splashed water over each other till the point of kid's exhaustion which everyone knows is obviously infinity. Watching them playing around had added immense glory to the scene. The water was clear as we had visited in the month of September. However it turns muddy in the rainy season. The day was hot. The heat was masked by the cool air sent from the cold water. It was totally peaceful around. On the flat depressions over the huge rocks, the water was resting forming foamy bubbles. Two birds were sitting on a nearby plant. They were singing a passionate love song promising to never stop adoring their lovers.

We had been sitting there for about 3 hours talking about life, predictions of the waterfall formation process and unnecessary politics. I literally could sit there for the whole day and still embrace the falling beauty with the same love and compassion I had done when I had seen it for the first time. The sounds of the cascade had washed away all my stresses. As we had started taking photos before leaving the place, there came a photography crew with professional photographers and big cameras. They had come there with a couple for a cute pre-wedding photoshoot. However I was shocked after watching the lady climbing the rocks with her heels on, and I stumbled with my barefoot. Heels require skill; I was completely convinced that day. We could also see a rainbow before we had left. Trust me, leaving that place was hard.

Nearby situated was a river named Kulsi. We had decided to visit that too as it would take less than 5 minutes to reach that. We stood under a tree and watched the peaceful flow of the river water. My friend had told me that the river was half the size when he had visited it the last time. It was a wrap to the short but wonderful day. We had finally headed back and had our lunch in a restaurant named Flavours. We had a tasty non-vegetarian Assamese Thali and it was very pocket-friendly. The short one-day trip was complete with good food and satisfied mood.