North-East Natters Part One: Bonhomie in Bomdila

Gontse Gaden Rabgyeling Monastery

Bomdila? Why?
On a salubrious afternoon at the fag end of July, we got off the crammed last seat of the Sumo share-taxi in the main town square of Bomdila. The air was crisp, a pleasant respite from the muggy plains of Assam. We yawned and stretched, and our joints croaked and cracked, as we collected our rucksacks from the luggage rack atop the Sumo. At once there were touts all around us. Hotel room? Onward to Tawang? Tomorrow? Book your seats on the Sumo today, sirs. It might get full otherwise. 

On the road to Bomdila

A tea break

Another halt before Bomdila

All seats sold out in this season? That too to a town as remote as Tawang in West Arunachal Pradesh? This chap had to be kidding! At his behest, we scouted for a hotel on the main street, but none of them were quite appealing. We had been travelling since Saturday before dawn with a night's halt in a pathetic excuse of a hotel room in terrible Tezpur. We hadn't eaten anything worthy of being called a meal. It was past lunchtime in Bomdila. Most eateries were closed, and the only roadside stalls were those of multicoloured raw beans and corn. Not a single restaurant had food? Not a single Momo stall, which are ubiquitous in faraway Bangalore? After roaming around, we walked into an inn, where we nearly barged into the kitchen and prodded the innkeeper, a woman, to give us some food. Anything would do. 

"We have Thupka," she said. Of course! Bomdila is a town full of Tibetan-origin folks. Bring us the Thukpas, we said. She served the noodle soups with chicken shreds in them. After one glance into the soup bowl, I began to wonder: Was this trip a big mistake? 

This Thukpa in Bomdila was sad!

A sense of foreboding had come over us when we reached Paltan Bazaar in Guwahati the previous day. The untidy surroundings, the dust and grime that we sought to escape in our home cities, the dreary bus ride to Tezpur, the filthy surroundings of the decrepit guest house that we stayed in, the tepid, unappealing food that we had since we landed, and the disparaging laughter of the Malayalee soldier of the GREF unit of BRO, whom we met that morning at Tezpur bus station, and who rode with us in the share-taxi till his military camp in Tenga. 

Malayalees are typically cynical people, we concurred. All three of us - Jose, Sachin, and I - are Malayalees, and we know our kind well. 

"Malayalee-oo? Ivideyo? Endinna?" Malayalees? Over here? Whatever for?

That was the first thing that the GREF soldier told us. Y'all are coming from Bangalore and are going to Bomdila and Tawang on a trip? Devamme! Oh my God! There's nothing over there!" He said that with much incredulity, using the typical gesture - of flicking the fingers as though you were sprinkling holy water - that Malayalees often used. 

In the balcony of our room at Doe Gu Khill guest house

The terrace lookout to the woods surrounding the road leading to the guest house

Can't stop admiring the sylvan surroundings

Walking to the monastery

Young monks walking up to the monastery for the evening prayer

As I finished the bowl of Thukpa - I gulped it down because I was hungry - I began to wonder, was he right after all? Nothing looked promising so far in the North East. Even the Thukpa was rubbish. Were all those advertisements that showed mesmerising Arunachal and enchanting Arunachal just exaggerated gimmicks? Or were we missing the real thing?

Eventually Google put us on track. We returned to the taxi stand and hailed a taxi - a Maruti Omni - to highly-rated guest house attached to the main monastery in Bomdila. 

"Two kilometres uphill, sirs," said Ali, a tubby, one-eyed taxi driver. "Only 100 rupees. Anywhere you go in Bomdila, only 100 rupees." 

Ali, or one-eyed Ali as we chose to refer to him, asked us where we were from, where we were headed, and whether we had prior bookings in Tawang or even at the monastery guest house for that matter. He gave us an alternative to the share-taxi drive to Tawang: I can take y'all to Tawang, in and around, show you around everywhere. In a share-taxi, you can't stop as and when you feel like. But with me, you can. I'm from Bomdila only and I know this place all too well.

We didn't dispute that, and we told him that we would consider the offer. First, the guest house. We had to put down our bags and rest a little, and unwind later evening with a drink. 

The Doe-Gu-Khil guest house on the Gontse Gaden Rabgyeling Monastery campus was an absolute delight. At first glance, we liked the room we were shown and the environs. Overlooking most of Bomdila town, the monastery and the guest house sat in sylvan settings, amid woods on the hillside, offering fantastic vistas from the balcony of the guest-house room. Trainee monks reside in the adjacent building. They also cook and provide food for guests in the dining room of the guest house. 

"We serve only vegetarian food," the caretaker apologetically said. It didn't matter. We liked the place and took the offer, bidding Ali goodbye. 

"But do you want me to take you to Tawang?" he asked. We told him that we had already booked seats for ourselves on the share-taxi. "That can be cancelled, sirs. You come with me right now! I'll cancel the booking and get you full refund. But you have to tell me soon so that I can refuel and ready another taxi for you. No, we won't be taking this van. I have another van, which can take the beating of the harsh road to Tawang."

He gave all of us his number and told us that he would wait for our call, one way or the other. Eventually, we didn't call him. 

We awoke to the gentle chants of prayer and drum beats and cymbals from the monastery, and another, somewhat inaudible chant from elsewhere. The latter turned out to be a protest march staged in the Buddha Stadium near the main intersection in Bomdila. Gurkha community folks were expressing their solidarity with the Gurkhaland movement in Darjeeling and chanting slogans against the West Bengal government of which Darjeeling was part. We were more interested in the former. So, leaving Jose who was still asleep, Sachin and I visited the monastery and spent some time in the courtyard, taking photographs and breathing in the pure mountain air. After the squalor of Tezpur, Bomdila was indeed rejuvenating. While we roamed about aimlessly, Jose awoke in the meantime and went on a more purposeful walk to town. He returned after dark with a bottle of Blenders Pride whisky and plastic cups. We were determined to preserve the sanctity of the monastery guest house and so, not only did we finish the contents of the bottle that night, but also packed it along with the used paper cups and disposed of the waste in a thrash bin in town the next morning, leaving behind no signs of alcohol consumption in the guest house. Even the packets of chips were duly disposed of. 

View of Bomdila from the monastery

It was the dinner that was the highlight of our stay in Bomdila. Simple, vegetarian fare that was absolutely delicious. Steam rose from the casseroles containing hot chapatis, dal, vegetable curry, and rice. I had goosebumps after the meal, for it was the best vegetarian meal I had had after the meals in Kanha National Park. 

When we returned to Bomdila after our stay in Tawang, we fervently hoped that there were rooms available in Doe-Gu-"Chill" - that is how they pronounce "Khill" - guest house. Thank the Buddha, we got rooms here. On our return journey, our trio rose to four of us with Jarshad, whom we met at a tea break after Sela Pass enroute to Tawang. 

Jose's photograph of Bomdila by night

View of the hills the next morning as we left for Tawang

We met Ali again at the taxi stand and asked him if he would take us to the guest house again. Because of a certain confusion over how to go back to Guwahati - I just didn't want to even pass through Tezpur again, let alone stop overnight - which also led to an altercation, we eventually booked ourselves on a bus that went straight to Guwahati bypassing Tawang. Eventually, after booking our tickets, we called another cab and rode up to the guest house. 

In the evening, I think the boys called Ali once again, this time to ask him to take one of us to the liquor store. He didn't answer the calls. 

It rained all evening and night in Bomdila. Even the lights went out later at night after dinner. In the evening, while the boys sat in the room and drank, I sat in the veranda outside the guest house, chatting with a senior monk who lived in the adjoining dormitory. They served me tea, two cups of hot brew while a chilly rain pattered on the asbestos awning under which we were sitting. He told me about the exploits of the Dalai Lama, about how he first took refuge in Tawang and Zemithang after escaping from Lhasa; about the struggles of the Tibetans and the Chinese occupation of Tibet; about how at least one member of every family is chosen to be ordained as a monk; and all the internal schisms among the Buddhists and things like that. 

Rainy night in Bomdila on our return leg

"You are from Bangalore, right? There is a big Tibetan monastery not far from Bangalore. I have been there. Have you?"

I told him that I'd heard of the place and even passed by on our motorcycle ride to Madikeri. But was I Bangalorean? I smiled. I could have explained to him, just as painstakingly as he did the Tibetan struggles, how I was returning to Bangalore for the last time and how I was moving back to my hometown, Mumbai. But I didn't. Like the grand Buddha statue in Tawang, I only listened to him with a smile. 

One of our tea and pee breaks on the way to Tawang

Getting There
Bomdila is the headquarters of the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. From Tezpur, it is 156 kilometres by road that winds uphill after Bhalukpong, the entry point to Arunachal Pradesh on the banks of the Kameng river. On the other side of the river lies the Nameri Forest Reserve (in Assam) and the Pakke Tiger Reserve (on the Arunachal side).
From Guwahati, the shortest route is 276 kilometres via Kalaigaon and Kalaktang, while the longest is 335 kilometres via Tezpur. The bus service, however, takes a middle route, via Orang and bypassing Tezpur, which is 308 kilometres. The bus takes 12 to 14 hours in either direction, depending on floods or traffic in the plains of Assam and landslides in Arunachal.

The road is prone to landslides. As the Jawan from Haripad had pointed out, the soil here is not firm. With the slightest rain, whole mountainsides come sliding down, blocking the road to Bomdila and Tawang. Fortunately, we did come upon a landslide or two, but we didn't get stuck anywhere for more than 15 minutes.

If you can book a car and drive to Bomdila, it would be the best thing. There is no other way to get here, unless you can afford to book a helicopter. After Bhalukpong, the route is daunting and achingly beautiful. The thick rainforests will leave you spellbound and the clouds descend till you are at the same level; after a point, even above them! We went in the rains and thus, we got to see several waterfalls enroute. Do check with police officials in Guwahati or Tezpur about road conditions irrespective of the season that you choose to visit these places. I think in summers, you won't have problems, unless the Brahmaputra floods the plains of Assam and leave you stranded over there. 

Where to Stay
Doe-Gu-Khill guest house, certainly! Warm folks, delectable food, clean rooms and tranquil surroundings. There was a medium-sized hotel in the main town square, but I can't remember its name now. For the price that they charge, it isn't worth checking out. 

What to Do
Other than the monastery, I think Bomdila is renowned for its apple orchards. So, if you come here in the right season, you will get to see the apple orchards I guess. Bomdila only serves as a stopover otherwise for people headed to Tawang.