Parasuram Kund Yatra - Day 6

Golden Pagoda

Our last day at Parasuram Kund (PK) started early. The ladies were busy celebrating Kanu - Kanu (or Kanu Pidi) is celebrated on the day after Pongal, focusing on sibling bonds and gratitude. They prayed for their brothers' well-being by placing rice balls, leftover sweet pongal, and sugarcane on turmeric leaves outdoors for crows to eat, symbolizing family unity. Some of the menfolk (including me) did our tarpanam after finishing morning Sandhya prayers. We cleaned our room by moving the mattress and sweeping the floor of dust using. It was good to do the prayers inside the room away from the strong winds blowing outside.

We then had our breakfast. Each of us had carried a tiffin carrier to pack our lunch. Our catering team had prepared Pulihora, Curd rice, Dry Potato bhaji, pickles and some fryums. We packed this in our boxes and then waited for the buses to arrive. We were ready by 8.30 am as informed but the bus came only around 9.45. After loading the bags into the buses, we boarded it and were soon on our way out from PK. Although, the lodging was not comfortable, we had gotten used to it after 5 nights here. We left PK with a heavy heart not knowing whether we will ever return here.

Within a short time, it started getting warm as we descended from the higher level. The roads were narrow and not smooth. The first hour of the drive was not very pleasant and we kept telling the driver to drive slowly as the bus was shaking and rocking. Some bags fell down from the luggage rack and, luckily no one was injured.

We drove about 2 hours to a place called Namsai which is about 70 kms from PK. There is a famous Burmese style Buddhist temple here called the Golden Pagoda. This was opened in 2010 and is in a large area of approx. 50 acres. Beautifully manicured lawns and lovely designed temples here caught our attention. Some pictures of the Pagoda are given at the end of this blog. We had our lunch here in the park under the shade of some trees as it was quite pleasant. The lunch was sumptuous albeit a little spicy. After lunch, some of our yatris also visited some shops outside the complex to buy some fruits, ice-cream, tea etc.

Bhupen Hazarika Bridge

By 2 pm, we left this place and proceeded towards the Bhupen Hazarika Bridge which is one of the longest bridges in India. It is approx. 9 kms long and connects the two states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam over the River Lohit. The distance from Golden Pagoda was about 65 kms. On the way, we had a halt at a place to buy some articles, fruits etc. We reached the bridge in about two hours. After driving a kilometre or so on the bridge, we stopped to take some pictures. Then, we left towards a town called Tinsukia located some 55 kms away. Along the way, we stopped at a restaurant for tea break. Our caterers had packed some Mysorepak (sweet) and some mixture (snack) for us to eat. They were delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed them.

Then we drove towards the Tinsukia railway station which we reached by 6 pm. We were to leave that night by Rajdhani Express to Guwahati. Our organisers had arranged for Satwik dinner comprising of Aloo Paratha, mixed bhaji and curds. Some of us did our evening prayers at the railway station which was very clean and empty. After the prayers, we had our dinner and waited for our train which was delayed. We did some window shopping at the shops in the station. While we were waiting for our train, the famous “Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari” train came there – this journey takes about 75 hours !!

The Vidyarthees who had accompanied us left by a separate train to Sikkim around 8.45 pm. Around 9.15 pm, our train came and we quickly boarded it. We were informed in advance about our berth & bogie details which made the boarding of the 50 odd yatris smooth. Inside, we quickly settled down and made our beds. It was nice to sleep in a clean (although slightly cramped) bed after many days. The AC was perfect which helped me to slip into deep slumber in no time. Normally, I am not comfortable with sleeping in train but this time I was more than happy.

Thus ended Day 6 of our yatra.