A Wedding Card

Received this 'Biya -Chithi '(wedding card) two days back .Chandra Master's son is getting married .Chandra master(he is a teacher) is one of the many 'village cousins' of my husband.Though my husband's family lived in Shillong for three generations ,they originally hail from this tiny village named Namkhola in Assam. Every third person of this village is a Saharia and most of us are related to each other in one way or another.

The card is  printed in Assamese script and is very simple as per the choice and budget of the family .Like any other Hindu wedding card the invitation provides the names of the bride's and groom's parents and their respective places of residence.It is a common practice in villages to mention the name of every possible close relative in the card along with the name of the host.This card mentions nineteen names altogether .Most of them are brothers,sisters,aunts,uncles ,brother-in-laws,sister-in-laws and even nephew and niece of the groom.We try our best to attend any

such marriage but  are going to skip this one as the kids school are open.My kids are disappointed as they  always look forward to go to Namkhola. .

To make up to this I spent most of my evening along with my kids looking at the old pictures of  our previous trips to the village.We stopped at each picture , talked about it.They asked me questions and  also expressed their own views on them.It was almost like we made a pleasant   virtual trip to the village.I am going to share few pictures here in this post.Namkhola(Mangaldoi Distt.) is almost two hours away from our city Guwahati .As we approach national highway we see these beautiful trees on both sides of the road.The tree with red blooms is called Krisnachura while the one with yellow is Sonaru.

Assam is known for its natural scenic beauty.

We always cross this Buddhist monastery on our way .The monastery is situated on top of a hillock ,the main building is not clearly visible from the road down but we do see this huge Buddha statue through this Bamboo groove.

As fish is one of the most integral part of an Assamese meal ,we often come across this  sight of women catching fish for the meal.

During winters we get to see a large population of migratory birds visiting this part of  the world . Bird flu scare never effects the enthusiasm of the bird watchers here.

This bird is called Hargilla (means the one who swallows bone) or Bortukula .These birds  are  rarely seen  now a days .I don't remember seeing one in my last two three visits. 

This is a Martyrs Memorial situated at Patharighat : it was a benchmark in the history of Indian Freedom Struggle.On 28 Jan. 1894 ,as a retaliation against the exploitative increase of land revenue there was a farmers' agitation at Patharighat. Unarmed but resolute they fought the British Military might .In a desperate attempt to curb the agitation British Authority massacred people,140 people achieved martyrdom and 150 were injured.The martyrs irrespective of their cast and creed were buried in a mass grave here.

No matter how many bus ,car ,taxi services are available ,we always see these overcrowded vehicles.

This is a very famous temple of our area .It is named as Khotora Mandir .The temple is always full of devotees who visit from nearby villages.And once we cross the temple we know that we are just fifteen minutes away from our destination.We have a RCC house there but the majority of villagers still  live in huts like the one below.Will show you around our village some other time.

Have a happy weekend  .