My Travels - Kaamroop Kamakhya, Assam

Being actually very lazy by nature, the fact that i seriously love travelling, caught me by surprise and did send me into a mode of 'self-examination'. Time and again smallest of the things have sent me into that mode and i have never liked myself more after every such 'examination'.

Travelling to new places, meeting new people (actually, you later realise that everywhere people are surprisingly the same as you, just in a different language), absorbing new cultures, new rituals, facing new difficulties- boils down to one word: Excitement! And every trip brings an energetic rush in the blood vessels.


I have to confess, but, most of the trips that i have been to have been a 'Surprise!!. One such visit has been to wowwwwww! , the abode of clouds, ahaaa, Meghalaya!!!! That too during the monsoons...

We were going through our usual, routine phase of misunderstanding and not talking and stuff.. when one rainy evening, back from office, he silently handed me a paper (we were not talking, remember!?) which as i soon saw, had a list of flights and trains to Shillong.. whoa whoa.. "but i want to see Meghalaya!", i sighed out loud. With a slight thumph on my head and a smile,"Hey, stupid, Shillong is in Meghalaya, don't you know?!", my knowledgeable husband clarified to me.




Grrrrrrrreatt... wowwww.. yayyyyyyy!

Now, our train tickets did not get confirmed, so we took a flight to Guwahati, to be picked by his college friend Mr.Dinanath, from there and to Shillong.


It was an early morning direct flight, our first together; and it was mostly empty (seems not most people go only to Guwahati). Assam was soooo green and clear, but very sticky ( because of the humidity). We had to meet Mr.Dina and his family at the Kamroop Kamakhya temple, dedicated to Devi Kamakhya. An A/C deluxe Airport bus service took us to Kamakhya. There was a huge crowd, and i had not imagined that it would take us so long to lay our eyes upon the shrine. Tickets of several denominations are sold and we bought those of Rs 101/- ( we didn't know that meant an approximate time of 3 hours in the line of devotees, while the ones sold for Rs 501/- meant less than 1/2 an hour's waiting time in another line through another side entrance!! phew!) The whole place exudes energy, power, divinity. You would almost feel that in your veins, the 'shakti' and the love of Maa Kamakhya!



Note:- There is a special line, way shorter and faster than the ordinary line for civilians, for the defence people and their 'known ones', who literally throng the place.



It's a BIG, ancient temple with a huge courtyard full of figures of the most of our Gods and Goddesses. There is a small temple outside of the main griha, where we broke the coconut offerings. The way to the main shrine is a long, sometimes dark, tunnel-like passage with stone walls. Every inch of that passage sends you into a period centuries ago. With all the chanting around us, it's crazy not to get bowled over when the first glimpse of the Devi appears, rustic, scented with incense, smeared with 'sindoor', all glittery and gorgeous! Behold.

Though heavily crowded all through the year, the visit is nowhere met with any kind of uneasiness, all thanks to the well-managed system for 'the Darshan'.


I will now leave my readers to rejoice in the divine presence of Mata Kamakhya till we meet again!