Image source Flickr on Google
Boats in the Brahmaputra river, during sunset in Guwahati, Assam
"Navigating the Brahmaputra River in Assam is no easy feat, requiring a skilled team to traverse its ever-morphing channels. However, aboard the &Beyond Assam Brahmaputra Cruise, guests can enjoy a carefully crafted itinerary that reflects the shared values of ecotourism giant &Beyond and Indo-British company Assam Bengal Navigation. The elegant 18-suite ABN Charaidew II ship offers all amenities, including a gym, spa, an expansive sun deck, dining room, and lounge, as well as a daily changing menu of Continental classics and Assamese fare. Onboard naturalists and historians take guests through daily excursions, offering context and background for all pit stops along the river. The Brahmaputra is one of India’s few “male” rivers, fierce in its flow, giving and taking life in equal measure. It is a vast, braided river that dominates the landscape of northeastern India, Tibet, and Bangladesh.“river of sorrow” and the regular reminders via prime-time news of its wild and wilful flooding. “I spot a majestic rhino pensively staring into the distance and it looks like a regal beast with an armoured carapace, ready for battle”
Kaziranga National Park
Image source Prime on Google
That evening aboard the ship, we drink gin-and-orange cocktails that the bartender has christened ‘Brahmaputra Sunset’. The cocktail mirrors the sky—a deep orange fading into a pale pink. There is a song playing on a speaker and I recognise the baritone of Bhupen Hazarika, one of the state’s most famous singers and unanimously regarded as the Bard of Brahmaputra. It is an apt song to hear on a boat and echoes all the suffering, love and reverence that this river inspires—
A skiff (boat) makes its way home, its boatmen thrown into relief against the technicolour sky. Day fades and the river runs a burnished silver under a full moon. The Brahmaputra's frequent flooding means few villages or towns exist right on its banks. There are no electric lights and the darkness is punctuated by the diamond glimmer of the constellations. We anchor by a sandbank, one of the many unmappable land masses on the river whose edges are constantly deteriorated and carried off as tiny pieces of flotsam. It exists today but might be gone next winter.
GIF source Giphy on Google
For two millennia, settlements have developed along the Brahmaputra’s fertile banks and also vanished due to its flooding and erosion. Our cruise takes us downstream past the palaces, temples and grand monuments built by the erstwhile Ahoms, the ruling dynasty of Assam till the 19th century. We pass fields resplendent with lai xaak (mustard greens) and joha saul (an indigenous variety of rice) which also find their way into our everyday meals on the ship.
The younger boys and girls wear puffer jackets, their phones have Bollywood playlists and motorbikes are parked in the backyards of their stilt homes. Yet, their traditions and life on the river remain unchanged. Taste robust cups of Assam tea in colonial bungalows built by European traders in the 1800s. Ever so often in the monsoon, the floods play havoc destroying crops and yield. For those who live here, the Brahmaputra is where they prey, live and die. Here, transience is accepted as a way of life.
It is fitting that life in the Brahmaputra mirrors the divine Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva and their cosmic functions of creation, preservation and destruction.
The Brahmaputra's largest settled island with a population of over 160,000 where the river is constantly encroaching on what was once a home, a rice field, or a village school. One-horned rhinoceros
Living with the erring flow of the Brahmaputra is not limited to humans alone. The animals of the Assam valley have also learnt to adapt to its changing course. The state's most well-known nature reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kaziranga National Park, is located on the Brahmaputra. Famous for its big five: rhinoceros, tigers, elephants, water buffalo and swamp deer, this park's varied landscape and flora are the creation of the Brahmaputra—from its swampy swamps, bells or riverine lakes to tropical forest and grasslands.
Forest ranger Anil Rongpa
Kaziranga National Park is home to many animals that are adapted to survive the annual monsoon floods. The floodwaters bring life to the park and replenish its water bodies. The animals swim to higher ground to escape the rising waters and return when the levels recede. The park's forest authorities have taken steps to aid this natural process by creating safer animal corridors and elevated areas for the animals to rest within the boundaries. Watchtowers positioned across the park enable its forest rangers to keep an eye on injured animals and poachers.
Kaziranga National Park is home to many animals that are adapted to survive the annual monsoon floods. The floodwaters bring life to the park and replenish its water bodies. The animals swim to higher ground to escape the rising waters and return when the levels recede. The park's forest authorities have taken steps to help this natural process by creating safer animal corridors and elevated areas for the animals to rest within these boundaries. Moreover, watchtowers positioned across the park enable its forest rangers to keep an eye on injured animals and poachers.
On the last day of a cruise on the Brahmaputra river, a crewman spots a tiger. Although the tiger is long gone by the time the author comes up to the deck, there is still much to see. A herd of swamp deer is visible amid the stubby trees of Kaziranga’s northern zone. A group of egrets flies overhead. A raft carrying bamboo floats past. The author's ship follows a ferry carrying locals, their groceries, motorbikes, and a clay idol. The boats on the Brahmaputra have been following this route for centuries.
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