Thu - Missed the Terrorist attack|
- As I arrived and walked around I went in the Poki House historic artists house museum ( didn't see it all on account of load-shedding)..Then there was a huge duststorm, since the second hotel was adequate I had to accept it. - Then I walked past the market the patrolling soldiers seemed to hover nearby me. Then I read in the newspaper that yesterday 12 people had been injured by a hand grenade there ..wow I could have been right there if I hadn't suddenly decided to get off the bus yesterday.
- It was practically flaming dark before the dust storm stopped
| Fri- Explore- Hills and Ruins|
- Today as I left there was incredible wind and a touch of rain
- Went to Agnigarth hill, but the views weren't incredible and theres not that much else to see - it's an OK park. - Then walked 2Km east to a Boro (ethnic Bodo) suburb where there is another hill this time with the ruins of what must have been a huge temple : Bamuni.. earthquake maybe ?.. not much info
| Fri - Explore more : Museum|
- I walked back near to the river edge and in the centre of town I pased the old Circuit House which houses The Tezpur Museum - It's good that they have collected the items, but it lacked maps and explanantions.. so It didn't put the artifacts in context.. turns out they are in the process of building a new building .. so I hope they improve the info
-
A newspaper editor has just been shot so students were staging a protest for freedom of speech
- Then I passed the Tourist Info ...of course the worker was off on election duty. I passed the library and they were having a 50th anniversary celebration event .. they were very kind and gave me Borasal
- Some students directed me down to the nearby Ganesh Ghat, which has a nice park next to the river with great views
| Fri - Explore more : Park, Station and Hill
- I continued west to the nearby park, but it's cafe was closed. So I continued to the rundown railway station, which must have been amazing 80 years ago when the freight came down to be loaded onto the river steamers.
.... I continued west through a poor cow rearing suburb and found away through it and then up to the top of the Oguri Hill. It's a great park with views over the whole town and river, but I was the only person there. - Back around to the library- but the mosquitoes got me before their VIP turned up to open the event.
| | | | |
|
Sat - Library 50th anniversary celebration event
- morning internet
- ran to the library seminar thinking I would be late, but of course they were an hour behind schedule
- the speeches went on a bit .. I think British people are inclined to be a bit more practical and sum up there arguments in 3 minutes instead of 30.
- One good part was a local Assamese female singer
- The "Rice" lunch they laid on was pretty good for the first time I was getting food that was not too spicey .. the sauce was basically "tomato chutney" like we have in England.
- As ever with festivals it's difficult to get everything right.
I think it was a great pity that the event part had been well organised, but not the publicity part ..so there were not enough people there to enjoy the event
- I had just finished reading the "10 years of Oil in India" book Bordoli had given me - and I thought "what is the point in posting the book back to England. Books are there to be read not left on shelves", so I made the decision to donate it to the library so that local people could read about Assam Industrial History and students are more likely to find it useful in there project research.
- I met a number of interesting people including a local celebrity who is a retired Engineering teacher.. here is a photo of him and the youths who live next door to him (They are orphans who are being trained by SOS wih various trades to help them get on in life)
|
Sat- Evening
- since it was Saturday evening the cafes on "Cafe Street" around the Veggie Foods Tower were busy, but I was working on the internet.
| Left cos of Mosquitoes|
|
- I would have stayed more time in Tezpur; it's the best city in Assam so far and the hotel owners were very friendly, but every night I was woken up by moquitoes getting inside the net and biting my hands
- Sat night - the drought really broke it rained during the night enough to leave puddles so that should help with the dust problems.
| | | |
|
