Ol' Man River silently keeps flowin'

Brahmaputra, Guwahati, Assam, India

It was already twilight when I reached the Sukreshwar Ghat of the Brahmaputra river that flows through the heart of Guwahati. One could see the 4km long Saraighat bridge which connects the North and South Guwahati and Umananda Island (world’s smallest river island)… and dotted along the scenery were numerous small boats carrying dark shadows… resembling people… but faceless, nameless and with a sense of purpose that was perfectly alien to me.

The silent waves of the mighty river were such a sharp contrast to the fury it unleashes in Assam during Monsoon… but I can’t imagine Assam without the Luit criss crossing through the heart of Assam… it has inspired romance, poetry, nationalism, courage and prosperity and is one of the most potent symbols of the Asomiya identity.

I adjusted my new DSLR camera to a distant boat which was swaying in the gentle waves like a paper-boat and just then a few birds flew over the river with such mighty grace that I remained transfixed at them long after they disappeared into the distant sky… everyone returns to their home, to their roots... sooner or later… and we are all blessed to have something called Home. What is a human being without history, without roots we won’t know from where we are coming from and where we are going… this sense of earthiness overwhelmed me and I made a huge effort to detach myself from those thoughts for the moment and concentrate on clicking the fotos.

After clicking fotos to my heart’s content I went to the park on the banks of the Brahmaputra and sat down for a while… in introspection… about our lives in the Big city… my longing to come back to my home-city… I always felt that I belonged there. 

And in the stillness of the night in my room… I slept off.. still thinking of the man rowing the small boat and disappearing into the fog...