the forgotten city of gaur

place: gaur

district: malda

state: west bengal

location: some 350 km from kolkata

fame: seeped in history

location of gaur of NH 34

history is confusing, history is head-ache, history is beautiful, history is narcotic, history is powerful, history is attractive, history is gaur.

some time ago while casually browsing through wikipedia i chanced upon a place in madla district of west bengal namely gaur (the historical  towns of palassey and pandua are nearby) which was not very far away from the india-bangladesh border. i read about the place and a beautiful picture of the ruins of the (now defunct) city attracted me. the place seemed magical, out of bounds (for some reason) but its history and architecture intrigued me and i longed to go there but i knew it was only a fancy. why would anybody in their rightful minds, living in the comforts of kolkata go to gaur? how many know about the place anyway? but who has control over what would happen next? none i am sure!!!

ruins of gaur (lakhnauti)

even if i had to go to north bengal, why not the hills of darjeeling, the doars of jalpaiguri, the royalty of cooch behar, the english heritage of murshidabad (capital of erstwhile undivided bengal) or even a walk by the farakka barrage. whosoever goes to malda in any case and what for?? not for the mangoes surely!!!! but then as luck would have it, a friend who happens to stay in malda was to get married and i was invited. i was ecstatic about the visit, it would be after all a first time journey beyond nadia district (i had been no further than ISKCON mayapur near nabadweep).

i couldn't see the farakka barrage clearly as it passed by during day-break and it was still foggy. the barrage is a bottleneck of sorts in india-bangladesh talks whereby india is accused of diverting much of ganga water through this flop barrage, am not getting in politics now, though i rightfully should. the barrage was improperly planned and did not considered the plight of bangladesh (so unbecoming of india), you could say it was a construction (big and beautiful nevertheless) done in sheer haste and with many loopholes in post-implementation. i reached english bazaar (headquarter of malda district) early in the morning and it was spine-chilling cold out there. the place was covered in thick fog but i was happy to have come there for the first time. i was glad for my friend getting married to a good guy. it was also a first time i was seeing a bengali marriage from so close and i enjoyed every bit of my stay in madla. bengali hospitality is rocking man!!! the girl's dad (and the whole of her family) was great and treated me like his own son. busy though he was he gave me careful instructions to go the gaur (of course after the day the marriage was solemnized) and told me to be a bit careful, and not to go with pockets full of cash and cards. he said a beautiful place though it was but mostly undeveloped and poor.

my friend's marriage

i always find it interesting to travel either alone or with very few people (bonus if intelligent and wise), more so if the place happens to have significance this big. i was unsure of the roads (after it left NH 34 that is), the people and their reaction to a city dweller (a couple of times in malda town itself while roaming around the streets people asked me if i belonged to the place). my friend's uncle had clearly told me, you look alien enough to attract trouble and i kept that in mind. i had taken little money and was explained by the friend's dad the intricacies of the route and the bargain and almost everything. after a long and difficult ride through a highway and then through a red rickety road lined by thousands of beautiful birds looking for food i reached gaur.

road to gaur

the place was eerily silent, isolated but stunningly beautiful. it felt like i was dreaming. i decide to keep low and fixed a van (yeah you got to hire a van and go around, its environment friendly you see) for a hundred bucks (he asked for 400 in the beginning but lessons in bargaining came handy) and made it a point to talk in accented bengali and not in a language (mix of english, hindi and bengali) whereby the locals take me for someone spoiled from the cities. i didn't after all wanted to make myself an easy target. i wasn't afraid a bit of anything, least of kidnapping or money extortion. whenever i reach a magical place i forget every danger that might be possibly lurking around. i was trying hard to remember what all i had read about the place and was pinching myself hard (metaphor) to make me believe that i was finally and amazingly in gaur.

gaur: first sight

the van passed through narrow gullies with a few kids (laughing and running behind me as if they had spotted salman khan) and many water buffaloes shitting around. the driver kept on showing the monuments, chasing the kids away from me and cautioning me against the buffaloes (though i kept telling him i wasn't afraid of them anyway). he told me about his past, his present, about his hut, his wife, his children (he even showed them to me), about his livelihood and almost everything else. i was finding hard to understand his bengali but i pretended to be comprehending every detail (i couldn't have possibly said, 'i beg your pardon' as i often say to those onsite wallahs when i don't understand their accented english thick with french). the vanwallah said it had once rained gold in gaur (gosh!! they still believe in all this, what has the left done all this while in bengal) and that there are hidden treasures underneath but the government doesn't allow any digging except by archaeologists. he said about the villages around gaur, about the hindu families, about the muslim families, about the poverty, about opportunity, about ASI and almost everything he knew. i was all ears but also looking around the place, it was no less than heaven, so beautiful and so quaint. the place was magical no doubt. the roads, the ponds, the water lilies, the ancient buildings (of hussain shahi dynasty from 15th century AD) et all. the place was casting a spell.

a pond at gaur

withing hours i had seen the entire place, the monuments are now well preserved by the archaeological survey of india (ASI). gaur was a walled city with huge gates that served as inlets, mosques, palaces, mausoleums, prisons and excavation and research is sill continuing. for people interested in details a visit to the metcalfe hall in kolkata would do good, that good is still pending on my part though. i was impressed by the brick work, by the huge gates, by the architecture (primarily muslim) but what impressed me the most was the brick enameling (bits of it still survived and i imagined how marvelous it would have been back then) and the layout of the city. i even saw a brahminy kite from very close and being fed by the workers there.

remains of a palace

remains of a palace

remains of the palace beside the chamkan masjid (1450 AD) (it maybe a mausoleum or a prison though called a mosque, when discovered it was full of bats, and thus the name chika or chamkan mosque)

gumti gate

the gumti gate (1512 AD) was used as the eastern gate to enter gaur and now stands closed. the brick structure was quite beautiful and imposing

gumti gate

note the brick enameling from the gumti gate

another gate

another gate beside gumti gate and still in use (very impressive indeed)

qadam rasul mosque

the qadam rasul mosque (1531 AD), note the remarkable brick work

fatah khan's tomb

fatah khan's tomb (1658 AD - 1707 AD) allegedly died of poisoning by enemies. he was the son of aurangzeb's general to bengal, dilwar khan

firoz minar

firoz minar (1486 AD- 1489 AD), 26m high, with spiral stairs to reach the top was built by alauddin firuz shah as a victory tower after his win over barbak shah. one of my favorites, am charmed by towers anyway.

salami darwaza

facade of the dakhil or salami darwaza (1425 AD) which served as the main gate from north to enter gaur. built by barbak shah. it was very majestic and cool inside, i fancied the architecture

by this time i had seen almost the whole of gaur and i was mighty impressed and thanked my stars to bring me here. i saw some of the most remarkably preserved and beautiful structures from the past and i loved it. and am sure everybody will. i wasn't feeling like going home, but i had to, my hosts would be worried if was late, i was alone and gaur isn't exactly a tourist's paradise (however beautiful). the vanwallah told me that there was just another monument left to be seen after which it was time to bid good-bye. all good things have to come to an end and so did my visit to the remarkable place. the baradwari mosque (the mosque with twelve gates) was the last i saw and its considered to be the most amazing building by the shahs who ruled here for about half a century.

baradwari masjid

the baradwari mosque (1526 AD) built by nasiruddin nasrat shah is one of the most remarkable construction consisting of twelve doors (i could count only eleven though, the picture shows ten)

i finally left the place, thanked the vanwallah for his efforts, for his patience and for sharing so much of his professional and personal life with me. i was a happy and satisfied man. i left for malda in another rickety journey and returned to kolkata soon after having conquered one of my dreams. am not sure how safe the place is for girls but every man worth his knowledge of history must visit gaur. its a one day visit, one can go from malda early morning and return by dusk. it will not fail to charm you like it did me.

finally a token of thanks to my vanwallah without whom this trip wouldn't have been half as good and to my friend for inviting me to her marriage and to her lovely parents for being such wonderful hosts and treating me one amongst their own.

the vanwallah

my vanwallah with his van, lovely man, god bless him

and one last pic of the baradwari mosque, please bear..

baradwari mosque

mesmerizing meghalaya

one fine day in a posh guwahati hotel, i woke up to hastened slogans from my dad, "wake up or you will miss the car". i doubted if i heard it right. he had already booked the car and i was supposed to be the more enthusiastic one. yes, it was going to be meghalaya, unexplored and little heard, except for the conflicting reports of cherrapunji and nearby mawsynram to be the wettest place on earth.

route map of meghalaya

we left for meghalaya via national highway 40 and jorabat was the first town in meghalaya's ri-bhoi district followed by byrnihat, umling, nongpoh, umsning, barapani (the place of a big lake, umiam, famous for angling and from where the east khasi hills district starts, though i couldn't photograph it), mawlai and finally shillong. we had been stuck up in a major traffic jam for quite a while as it was christmas and tourism was at its peak but we nevertheless reached shillong by noon. the villages that passed by looked more like cluster of homes no bigger than what we used to draw when kids. my heart was pumping fast. it happens all the time when i embark for an unknown place fathoming the hidden treasures i would see. i had never imagined dad would stretch the journey this far. i hadn't prepared myself. i just knew bits and pieces about the state. it had some of the tallest and the most breathtakingly amazing waterfalls in india i was well aware of. it had one of the finest cluster of limestone caves, deep and big, that was known too, but meghalaya would be so pristine and beautiful i had no idea. that meghalaya would ease my mind of all the trouble i had no idea, that it would bring me in peace with nature and make me a lover i had no idea. meghalaya was heaven. beautifully and perfectly painted by god himself.

on the way to shillong peak

amidst deep gorges, endlessly dark forests, a line of tall areca nut trees (areca catechu), small streams, lakes and people selling pork, pineapples and bamboo shoot pickles we reached shillong. my first reaction was, god!! such a tiny wonderful city. it looked straight out from a comic strip, much like where noddy lived. the roads were undulating and pockets of city unclean and forgettable but otherwise the city was stunningly clean and beautiful. the office of india post, the assembly and all other major buildings were no more than a kilometer of each other. we halted beside a hotel and booked our rooms. it was very cold and getting colder. it was around noon, we kept our luggage in the hotel, had a cup of tea and left for sightseeing.

view from shillong peak

a bird's eye view of shillong from shillong peak which at 1961 m is the highest i have been so far (if not the chilliest), amazing isn't it?

we went around seeing shillong in a mahindra scorpio and shillong peak was to be our first stop. it was amazingly beautiful. the whole city looked so puny but stunning, it was the first bird's eye view for me. the weather was cold and intense. there was an indian air-force base around. the place was clean and a few shops sold souvenirs, pineapples and pakoras. there was an observation tower from where we also experienced minor earthquake tremors. it was an amazing feeling. we took a few snaps and left for the nearby elephant falls (am a game for falls but they have to be big and amazing to appease me, the likes of victoria, iguacu and niagara).

observation deck at the peak

elephant falls was good for being the first fall of my life but i wanted to see more. the rest i saw in shillong was ordinary. the shillong cathedral was huge, but the one in kolkata, st paul's cathedral in pristine white, is by far more appealing and rich in architecture (gothic revival). this one was beautiful too, no doubt but blue somewhat puts me off. parks and lakes in cities don't amuse me even a bit and moreover it was getting dark. we retired for the hotel and were ready to start the next day for cherrapunji (sohra). the same night i did a round of shillong streets and it was great.

elephant falls

early next morning the same car took us for the mawsmai falls (also called the nohsngithiang and the seven sisters) and the mawsmai caves in the village of mawsmai. nohkalikai falls was certainly in our itinerary but the driver wasn't pretty upbeat about it. he had also mentioned of an unnamed fall at wakhaba viewpoint of which i was sure to research after reaching kolkata. to reach cherrapunji we took a turn for state highway 5 from a place some miles before the town of laitlyngkot on NH 40. first came the duwan sing syiem viewpoint from where we could go down a deep gorge (on staircases that is, till a point and no further) and take stunning pictures and then follow our road to cherrapunji and mawsmai.

duwan sing syiem gorge

looking above from the viewpoint the road that we had been following looked small, insignificant and lost in the hills. but believe me you don't feel even once that your car would skid while pacing on the narrow highway, its all the magic of beauty, beauty at its best. the locals drive so fine, you feel amazed at their finesse.

state highway 5

amazing view

first came cherrapunji, my heart gave a beat (i was actually in cherrapunji, it meant a lot to me) and i read a road sign that arrowed to nohkalikai and another that proclaimed cherrapunji being the wettest place on earth followed by lots of blah blah blah, but we took straight for the village of mawsmai famed for the falls and the caves. the place and its terrain was beautiful, i can't describe how much. the narrow roads, the deep gorges off it and the vast expanse of clear blue sky, unending golden-brown plains and the few shops and fewer people. god, meghalaya was taking my breath away. it was making me fall in love, a deep unsaid love.

mawsmai

mawsmai village is the location of a cave and a fall of the same name

ethereal beauty

the mawsmai falls are called by a few more names including the seven sisters falls (for the seven trails of water that go down during monsoon) and the nohsngithiang falls (hard to pronounce) and are the 6th tallest in india (of the ones known and widely publicized though not entirely true). it was dry when we saw it but the path of water plunging 315 m deep in the gorge below was nevertheless fascinating, i could imagine water flowing down it and became william wordsworth for a split second. i was becoming a lover.

mawsmai fall - dry

the mawsmai caves were beautiful too but i was expecting bats inside. i found none, not even a spider or a cockroach. it was not very deep but only fit people will be able to cross it and i did (phew!!). my dad said he had done on an earlier visit but i was finding it hard to believe until he gave me a i-am-your-dad-and-you-ought-to-believe-me look.

mawsmai caves

we returned back from mawsmai and headed towards nohkalikai, allegedly the tallest waterfall in india. it had to be sheer beauty i knew. the driver told me it could only be seen from far away, and that it was worth seeing only during the monsoon and it wasn't exactly what one would call a' beauty'. i wasn't paying attention though. i just looked outside the window and wondered what the fall would look like and why god made meghalaya so thick with beauty and amazement.

finally our car halted and we booked our tickets (yes, most of the sights in maghalaya come at a modest price of around 20 bucks per person plus 50 bucks more if you happen to carry a camera, and of course i had a camera, no prizes for having guessed that right).

the first scene of the mighty nohkalikai left me speechless. my heart was beating so fast i can't describe. it was love at first sight. i had never seen such an amazing thing in my life ever before. it was sheer beauty and idiots are those who think otherwise. i didn't mind the distance, i didn't mind the low trail of water plunging down. jets of thundering and misty water falling down smoothly and from such great height, i could even hear the sound from so far away. the blue pool of clear water beneath was amazing. i can't describe it man. let the picture say it all.

nohkalikai falls

nohkalikai falls, 335 m, the tallest plunge fall in india, and one of the most amazing places i have ever ever seen and perhaps would ever come across

myself

my camera wasn't just stopping, i took a zillion photographs of the beauty (who cares what the driver said) and from every possible angle and was amazed to find the wrong mention (done in haste) that it was the 4th tallest fall in the world when it was actually only the tallest in india (the height is a mystery and there might be many more still undiscovered and possibly taller). here is a prove with my parents as witnesses.

mom n dad

dad and mom posing in front of the board by SBI falsely claiming nohkalikai to be the 4th tallest in the world when it's only allegedly the tallest in india

i just felt like staying there forever and not coming back but my parents were in hurry. my dad had commitments back home and we were getting late but i still climbed down many staircases to go further deep in the gorge and took more pics and finally returned to the viewpoint. the cloud was lovely here.

the clear sky

we decided to leave, but i was satisfied having witnessed heaven from so close. all the while returning i kept thinking of nohkalikai (it has a tragic story behind its name which you need to discover for yourself). then came the wakaba viewpoint from where i saw yet another fall whose name was nowhere written. i was sure of one thing though. it appeared taller than nohkalikai and mawsmai falls (we were looking at it from close and that made it appear taller maybe). it could either be langshiang falls (337 m) or maybe the kynrem fall (305 m). the view wasn't particularly amazing from there.

unknown fall

the unknown waterfall from wakaba viewpoint. notice the trail of water at the bottom left. the viewpoint was wrongly constructed (or maybe i was at the wrong end) and you just got to have a tiny look at the otherwise amazing fall

unknown fall

another pic of the unknown fall. thankfully one can see more of it here

we reached our hotel and left for morigaon in a car the same day. the driver was a bengali and that made me feel good (kolkata connection you see). he talked little, said he had ambitions of becoming a model. he was a good driver and dropped us right in front of our apartment. it was already dark and he had to go back all the way to shillong tired and driving.

i visited the holy shaktipeeth of kamakhya in guwahati a day later and then headed for kolkata and the moment i reached my city i told the world about how amazing the state of assam (for the true souls) and meghalaya (for just about anybody) was.

kamakhya temple, guwahati

hotels in shillong are a bit expensive but they are comfortable no doubt. they range anywhere upward of 1500 bucks per night on a twin sharing basis but other than that it's pretty cheap. the food, the artifacts, the traditional clothes, the bamboo handicrafts, the pineapples and the pickles are good buys. bargaining is rampant and widespread.

P.S: the unknown fall i had seen at wakaba viewpoint was the wahkaba falls about which nothing is mentioned on the internet though my guess says it would be anywhere between 200 m to 250 m tall and a few months later a friend i had made there sent me the pic of mawsmai falls in full glory, here it is..

mawsmai falls

mystic assam: an affair to remember

two things i had never imagined would be true even in the craziest of my fancy.

• one, that someday my dad would arrange for a trip and 
• the second, that an outing with family would be so wild, berserk and on-the-go

with my dad at kaziranga

it was december at its chilling best and the year of 2010 was just around the corner and we started off on a trail that lasted several days across two of india's most amazing states.

the route i took

it has been months to those days of adrenaline-rush but i still remember nicely every-bit-of-it (not an exaggeration my dears). the train journey in a three-tier air conditioned compartment jam-packed with enthusiastic tourists was a good way to predict the days ahead. i had started off from kolkata on 23rd december and reached guwahati the next day and from the night of 24th started a week long tour that would transform my world in a big way. it made me take travelling in a serious way like never before.

the train to guwahati

the journey to morigaon was amazing. i saw brown hills, green grasses, mighty rivers and beautiful people. it reminded me of the sceneries we used to draw as assignments in kindergarten. assam was lovely and fresh. i stayed at dad's room and met his students and tell you, these guys are so humble and down-to-earth. you don't get their types in the big cities anymore. i hadn't come to assam to rest but to explore the state and the same night, much before day break, we took off on a non-stop journey (in a car packed with mom, dad, i and three of dad's friends). i had little idea that this journey would be the biggest of my life thus far.

kaziranga wilderness

first it was the beauty and the wilderness of kaziranga and my god what a journey that was (gives me goosebumps till today, the mere thought of it). it captivated and enchanted me. the road leading to the park (NH 37) was lined with deep and thick forests and my fancied imaginations made up for the moment. all that i had read was about to be true. we reached bagori and entered the park. it was biting cold and not even 7. i was ready with my camera. we arranged for a jeep which charged 800 bucks for an hour and coupled with the entrance fee, guard fee and some other fee which i don't remember the whole amount summed up to probably 1300 bucks (not bad for an hour in the wilderness). i was energetic at the beginning but felt bugged down at the end of the jeep safari. it was more of a loot than sheer thrill but kaziranga was nevertheless good. it could have been better had we not been in a hurry. i have no one to blame and on the contrary i salute the people who protect the animals out there. we took a small but wonderful bus from bagori and the road that continued for the next two hours leading to jorhat (NH 37) had beautiful tea gardens on both the sides and lush green forests that were part of the kaziranga national park. we had seen three rhinos, a hog deer, a barking deer and a stork, so all was well.

elephant safari at kaziranga

a camera friendly rhino

a trip to assam is probably incomplete without seeing this mighty and royal beauty, the one-horned indian rhino. it was the third one i had seen that day and from the closet. it appeared to be a camera friendly rhino unlike the two others. what a beauty.

next was the holy vaishnav island of majuli via jorhat (a bustling city in the middle of assam) and the city has an airport too for the comfort seekers. the ensuing trail to the shore of the mighty brahmaputra (kamalabari ghat) on a rickety bus full of people was fun amidst much chaos, sweat, gossips and sun. the open fields and then the first sight of the river and her numerous sand islands was mind-blowing much like seeing a gregarious group of children clustered to the bosom of her mother. it was sheer thrill.

on our way to majuli

a boat journey, a long one, where one could see just the shore of not-so-distant land took us to the main island i had been so longing to see in my life. it's allegedly one of the largest in the whole wide world (perhaps the third in my list). the island isn't exactly the most photogenic place on earth or a place tourists would flock to in mighty numbers (though i had seen a firangi too). on the contrary i would suggest only die-hard fans of raw nature to come here. it was difficult on the island with my mother around. there were no good hotels, no good food, but good people and good culture aplenty, and it’s absolutely safe to venture around even during night. we visited a local fair and bought certain artifacts. i could see the beauty of the island only the next day when the rays of the sun broke the darkness and the bamboos filtered the sunshine on this land so pure.

mom at a local fair, majuli

the next day, a local auto-wallah doubled up as our guide (he was an amazing man) and showed us the largest xatra (vaishnav maths) around, the auniati xatra, and i can't tell you the feeling of an early morning tea with your mom and dad and then heading for uncertainty. the kutcha road lined with bamboos on both sides and sleepy villages passing by with kids readying for school and i far from kolkata and my office was sheer enjoyment. the xatra was beautiful. the monk huts (we interacted with a few monks too), the ponds, the water lilies and the main temple. it was amazing. i even met an ascetic who changed my world in ways more than one.

auniati xatra, majuli

auniati xatra, majuli

we headed back to the ghat. the wait for the ferry back to jorhat on the mainland was both long and boring but then how often do you get to get bored back in a city and i loved that bit too. my parents were enjoying too and that was good for me. i liked their sporting and no-crib nature despite being used to comforts. plus i am always with my parents giving them all the necessary details and bore them to depression (haha!)

the autowallah

the next in line was the historic city of sibsagar. the city is famous for its ahom kingdom buildings, temples, lakes and beauty and surely it didn't disappoint. i loved the cleanliness and it apparently looked like a slow paced city but it was beautiful for sure. my auto-wallah (it’s better to hire an auto for sightseeing) doubled up as guide for free (they effortless do it and are oh-so-good at it). he showed me an iron bridge that was one of the earliest in india (research pending on it). the shiva dol, the vishnu dol, the rong ghor, the talatal palace and some other smaller buildings and they were a revelation of sorts. i had visited gaur in malda (west bengal) a few months ago and both the historical visits (sibsagar and gaur) had left me spellbound.

shiva dol, sibsagar

i was feeling good, relaxed, amazed, thrilled, enchanted and had got enough food for my mind and topics good enough to come back and research. i had thought of going further to dibrugarh and tinsukia and maybe digboi but we had little time.

rong ghor, sibsagar

the journey from sibsagar turned back towards towards meghalaya (another heaven on earth, it's sheer beauty man!!!) via guwahati (the largest city in north east india and marvelously stunning too) but that would be covered separately. this one is entirely for assam (the state that housed my dad for more than an year) and the state where i met and befriended some of the most unspoilt, lovable and caring people on earth who harbor a deep love for peace, culture, hospitality and good mannerism.

vishnu dol, sibsagar

carving on the temple wall

beside talatal ghar, sibsagar

brick columns, talatal ghar, sibsagar

on the whole assam is a wonderful place to be, full of greenery, beautiful and small hills, lush green forests and tea gardens. it’s rich in culture, history and good-food. people are friendly (like everywhere else in india). the state is inspiring and tough. hotels are of all types in the major cities ranging from anywhere around 250 bucks to 1000 bucks (and even more) per day on a two-person sharing basis. it's good to carry a map and discover the place of your own.

beautiful road

friends i made

the lovely people i met in assam (L-R) name-don't-know, debabrot, kunal, heerok and chewang flanked by the physics sir (in thick mustaches)

the national highway 37 runs through the middle of the state connecting most of the major towns on the left bank of brahmaputra while national highway 52 runs on the right bank.

beautiful assam

god bless assam and god bless india