Jorhat Trip(s) : The Cultural Capital of Assam

When you hear the word Jorhat, many words of appreciation comes to our mind. We have been told from our childhood days that you will hear the sweetest version of Assamese language from a Jorhatian. One of my aunt is from Jorhat and I know it. In Assamese it is, "Jorhator manuh xokolor Axomiya aataitkoi mitha." Nowhere else you will find the greatest gamut of all things Assamese that Jorhat is bounty with. It is regarded as the Cultural Capital of Assam.

History meets the modern

Jorhat has produced a number of noted people of historians, writers, poets, journalists, musicians and actors. Jorhat had been the last capital of the Ahom Kingdom. It is also an educational hub with some of the famous institutions like Jagannath Barooah College (famously known as JB College) established in 1930, HRH The Prince of Wales Institute of Engineering & Technology established in 1927, Jorhat Engineering College, Toklai Tea Research Institute, Assam Agricultural University and many more. It has some of the oldest establishments in Assam. You want to know Assam and its rich history, you need to visit Jorhat. 

In the title you will see I wrote trip(s). This is because I am going to take you on two major journey to Jorhat made during the last two and a half years. One was in 2015 and the other very recently took place in the month of April. 

In January of 2015, we had training in ONGC Cinnamora. The whole of our batch had arrived inJorhat. All had arranged their stay, some with relatives, some hostels. For some of us, one of batch-mates, Siddhartha, who is a Jorhatian arranged a hotel. We arrived at Hotel Swagatam. The architecture of the huge building was of 80s and 90s era. I felt excited. "Wow, we will stay in some history." And it was, the doors were partioned in the middle with beds and table felt like dating back to those era. The way the edges of the walls curved reminded me of the typical design of houses in the Old Guwahati area. During the stay of some 20 days, we went for training. Whenever we were free, I would sometimes with Abhishek (fondly we call him by his surname Dutta) or Kailas, my then roommate from Kerala or sometimes if all were tired, would venture on my own to see whatever I could track in my path. For Kailas it was a surprise as the hotel owners were Keralites who had arrived decades ago and settled here. We could hear some Malayalam conversation between Kailas and them. The hotel premises had coconut tress, a common factor of Assam and Kerala. It is a great feeling to find your native in a new land. Each day we had breakfast at Dolly Chat House, then catch eda cab from Garali and headed for Jorhat-Mariani road crossing Toklai and stoped at the junction leading to Cinnamora.  Then we would reach ONGC for the training.

On January 11 of 2015 I woke up early. After brushing my teeth, I got ready to take a morning walk. Dutta, Bidyut and Kailas were still sleeping. Around 7.30 am I went down the hotel stairs. To the front was the fire station. I saw a road on side of it and unknown of anything and not even switching on GPS purposefully , I started walking straight.  I took a turn and to my left I saw a huge tank (pukhuri). It was the Rajmao Pukhuri. Majestic with a jogging perimeter around, I took deep breadth of the fresh air and strolled around.

Rajmao Pukhuri

I saw some joggers, some sitters by the pond and some fitness enthusiast. I clicked a few photos with my then Nokia Lumia 830 Windows phone. Nokia always gives great photos with its Carl Zeiss lens. To the left of the pukhuri was an open space where kids were playing. I came out of the premises and walked ahead. To the left I saw red walls on which was written "100 Glorious Years". I craned my neck out and was inside the Jorhat Tennis Club. Standing grand, I saw kids practicing Tennis with their instructors and some parents on the spectators arena.

Jorhat Tennis Club

I was again on the road and came to a junction. Talking right I saw a white building and it was Big Bazaar shopping mall. I kept wandering ahead, again took a right turn inside a lane. I realised I was at the other end of the pukhuri on the right and the Kushal Konwar Indoor stadium on the left. The designs were spectacular and a bit further was the Jorhat Club.

Premises of Jorhat Club and Kushal Konwar Indoor Stadium

I kept walking and Jorhat Stadium appeared. A huge playground with  people running ans playing. I came to a point where on the right was a huge wall made of boulders at the bottom and large blue  barriers above it.

Jorhat Stadium

I wondered what it was. I made a point to go on that right road by evening. I kept on walking and came out to the JB College Road. More walking led me near the entrance of Jorhat Stadium. The building was curved resembling the outer rim of a playground.

The Huge Wall

Opposite of it was the commerce department of JB College. Crossing the stadium came the Children Park. The whole area felt that Jorhatians are great at sports. At the end was KB Road. I must say one thing, from what I have observed, roads in Jorhat are quite wide. The major road with the turnings are a look. The Circuit house gave a British feeling of the then era bungalow. I realised I had circled as soon I saw Big Bazaar. At the square, I saw Doss & Co., one the oldest departmental store in Northeast India in a British styled architecture named Cally Buildings and it is still running. I went back to the my hotel to freshen up.

Doss & Co.

Afternoon shined, I and Dutta came out to explore. I took him through the same road and went straight to those Huge blue walls, I saw behind those walls was a swimming pool of the Aquatic Complex managed by Jorhat Swimming Society. It was a modern pool with all the infrastructure. I then realised Jorhat apart form a education hub, it is also a sports hub. We will know in the coming paragraphs how much more Jorhat has to offer in terms of sports.

Jorhat Aquatic Complex

After few minutes we entered a handicrafts exhibition of Assam Mahutshav. We saw great works of cane and bamboo by local artisan. We entered the Gandhi Park. The park has a decommissioned Hawker Hunter Aircraft of the Indian Air Force displayed at the centre. I got so thrilled, I clicked photos of  the aircraft from different angles.

The legendary Hunter aircrat

Assamese hand-loom and crafts

Our next aim was to visit another cool beauty. We took the NaAli Road (ali means road in Assamese). Crossing the railway track we dropped from the autorickshaw at Lichubari. We entered a road and saw a beautiful Church; St. Mary, the Mother of the Church; inside the premises of Don Bosco High School. We kept on turning and walking and saw grand entrances of  two more institutes of Hemlata Xhondikoi Memorial Institute and Dr. J.K.Saikia Homeopathic Medical College.

St. Mary, the Mother of the Church in Don Bosco High School premises

Finally we reached our grand destination.

Jorhat Gymkhana CLub

The Jorhat Gymkhana Club was established in 1876. It is a sports paradise. It has a 9-hole golf course circuit (third oldest golf course in the world), lawn tennis grass courts, and organises horse races, polo, billiards, swimming and cricket. We wandered thought the lush green golf course with small mounds here and there.

Golf Pavilion

Sprawling golf gourse

I was spellbound. We also saw the  clubhouse and the buildings within the region. A few kids playing football saw us and were eager to get themselves clicked. I took photos of them and they were so elated to see the photos.We came out and ventured to further in a road named Club road. On our way we saw many architecturally bold designs of residential homes on each side of the road. I knew, were walking through a posh locality. Finally we reached a junction with Baskin Robbins right in the front. Glancing the area I saw signboards and came to know we had reached Bongal Pukhuri locality. Catching a transport we headed back to our hotel by 6 pm.

In the golf course premises

In the evenings, we would go and see the night life of Jorhat. Through KB road and Garali, the main market place, we would take the footpaths and leisurely look at the commercial buildings, restaurants and different branded showrooms. I would hunt for book stores as I do wherever I go. Sometimes we would have snacks at a street stall. Siddhartha would guide us through the city. We went through the AT Road, crossed Baruah Chariali square and reached Sohum Shoppe shopping mall. I feel Jorhat as a mini Guwahati as I alwyas say this to Arunabh. With the availability of so many infrastructures, it represents the features of a growing city at the same time retaining its brand of  being our Cultural Capital.

Now fast track to 2018, I was on my second major trip to Jorhat from Dibrugarh on April 28. It was a long time I met Siddhartha, almost two years. After months of postponement, finally I decided it was time to go. I boarded a Golaghat bound Traveller cab and in three and half hours, Jorhat welcomed me again at the Bypass point in the afternoon. Siddhartha picked me up on his motorcycle and we went to his home in Kenduguri residential block. Freshening up, we had lunch. We talked for some time. Siddhartha took his leave for work and suggested I take a nap to revitalise. I woke up in the evening. We had some snacks and watched television. We discussed about movies and I booked tickets for Avengers Infinity War. Somehow we got tickets for May 1 morning show. I phoned Arunabh who lives in Bongal Pukhuri about my arrival, He too invited me for Lunch. Night came early and after dinner, we retired to our beds for a good night sleep.

Bhogdoi Bridge

Next morning, after breakfast, we got ready. Siddhartha took out his car and we headed for the central area of the city. We crossed the rainbow shaped Bhogdoi Bridge on the AT Road and neared Garali. Vivid images of my past trips played before my eyes. Wow, that same wide AT Road and Garali cross section at left. Those old and new buildings merged together like a fusion of music genres. At the intersection of JB Road and AT Road, he took left and things looked familiar. I remembered I had stayed here. Yes, this was the road leading to Doss & Co. We took a detour before our main destination and halted at Rajmao Pukhuri once again. This time I clicked some photos of the pond with my D-SLR. Siddhartha being a cricket fan, automatically got engaged in a cricket match being played by small boys in the nearby open space.

We were back in the car. We drove through some turns and and was back on the AT Road. Passing through the Bypass at the other end, we entered National Highway, NH37. Suddenly rain started pouring. We passed Regional Research Laboratory (RRL) Campus and reached Swargadeo Chaolung Siu-Ka-Pha Samanway Kshetra (Memorial) in Mohanbandha. The entrance was huge, representing the gates of Ahom Kingdom (1228 AD -1826 AD). The memorial is dedicated to the Founder of our kingdom, King Siu-Ka-Pha who entered Assam in 1228 AD. Ahom Kings made a 600 glorious years reign and established the modern greater Assamese Society. The Symbol of our people, the Great Dragon sat atop the entrance.

The large Gate of the Memorial

After purchasing entry tickets, we waited for 5 minutes for the rain to cease. Then we started to walk forward. I was surprised to see huge buildings on all sides. There was a  central building at the front. To right were some smaller houses and a large building, all designed in typical Ahom architecture having the trapezoidal roofs with curved sides.

Ahom designs in the architecture

We walked straight and climbed the seemingly infinite stairs to meet our Swargadeo, our Chaolung Siu-Ka-Pha's majestic statue.  I revered at the sight. I walked 360 degree around his statue to look and feel the true royality of our great king. He was sitting on his throne like a brave and grand ruler. People clicked photos, we too clicked a selfie. We did some photography from this top level of the grounds below.

With the towering statue of Swargadeo Siu-Ka-Pha

Exiting from the back, we took two sequential left turns and reached the Museum. The entrance was adorned with display of canons. Before entering, we saw that photography was prohibited inside. We removed our shoes and I put my camera inside the bag. Security checked our belongings. We handed over our smartphones and camera bag. There was a huge road-map on the wall. It depicted the road young Tai Prince Siu-Ka-Pha with his people took from Mong Mao, now present in the Yunan Province of People's Republic of China. They entered Myanmar and subsequently reached Assam crossing the Patkai mountain range in some years.

Further ahead was a display of the court of a Ahom king with his ministers. The museum has a prestigious collection of instruments, clothes, crafts used by Ahom people. There is depiction of statue of different tribes that comprises the Greater Assamese Society. We felt entering into history for a brief moment when reading the explanations. There was a feeling of peace and calm. We came out and walked around and finally was out on the road again.

The majestic monument

We reached back to Siddhartha's home, had lunch.  In the evening I went to meet Arunabh in Garali. He introduced me to his friend Charlie. We climbed atop an over-bridge,  I took some city shots in my D-SLR. I have always wanted to eat the famous Baba Roll of Jorhat. Arunabh took us to a food joint at Garali marketplace. He ordered three Baba Rolls. Baba roll is very big fired Roti (bread) stuffed with lots of vegetables, onions, chicken and Mayonnaise. It is very large and big, hence justifying the name Baba Roll. We gossiped for some time.

Garali street with its shops and food joints

I returned to Kenduguri. We now were to visit Siddhartha's family members staying in the residential areas right of the Nimati Ghat-Jorhat Road. There was a family function and all members had gathered. I was introduced to his cousins. After the performance of the puja we had prasads, fruits and sweet payash (milk rice). All of them were very nice to me, I felt like I had known them from a long time.

At night Siddhartha reminded me that after another 40 hours it was Labour Day (May 1). So there would be no transportation available. I had totally forgotten about it. The next morning, April 30, we went to INOX Cinema in ABS Mall. We enjoyed Avengers Infinity War. It was houseful. After the movie, Arunabh came to meet us. I introduced both of them to each other. We discussed about my return to Dibrugarh. Siddhartha bade us bye and we two vroomed on a Bajaj V. We went to the bus depot and Cab depot and enquired about transport availability. There was no chance of a vehicle on May 1. So I decided to get back on the same day.

Arunabh took me to his home for lunch. I met his parents and we chatted.  Post lunch, Arunabh took out his car and we reached Kenduguri. I informed Siddhartha and his parents about my immediate decision to return Dibrugarh today itself. Thanking them for their hospitality, I bade goodbye and Arunabh rushed me through the bypass road. We tried to stop two buses but in vain. so we reached the end of Bypass, he steered left and reached the cab depot. We hurriedly caught a Dibrugarh bound Traveller and luckily there was one last seat available.  I immediately sat and thanked Arunabh for his immense help.

AT Road

These two are the memorable trips of Jorhat I ventured into. There still are a lot of places to visit in this city. Next time I plan to visit some literary centres and other scenic tea estates nearby. I also wanted to visit Majuli Island but time was short and also Assam Agricultural University. This will happen in the future. Jorhat is incredible.  A location to visit again and again. The list of attractions in Jorhat never ends.

Eternal beauty