Nameri, 10th May 2008

We woke up at 5 in the morning to the sound of rain. There was no sight of the sun and for a moment it felt like there wouldn’t be forest walk after all. To some it was a relief because, let’s face it, the last few days had been really tiring. We reported at the restaurant in our rain wear and there was the birthday boy, beaming. Sir had specially ordered a cake all the way from Tezpur. A lot of singing and picture clicking later we had breakfast. Amazingly, the rain stopped. We set off for the forest walk. This one wasn’t that arduous. Leeches were omnipresent just like Pakke. But the forest was pleasant and less hostile in many ways.

In the afternoon we were supposed to go rafting in the river. We reached the spot and chose our life jackets. Helped each other put them on and then posed in our yellows and reds for the group photo. We set off in the rafts, four in one. At first it was nothing much to talk about, although the feeling of the water flowing under our feet was lovely. Then when we went over shallow waters, the water splashed over us from everywhere, and that is where the fun began.

Listening to Dylan and soaking in the forest on both sides was sheer bliss. After much cajoling, the rowers finally let us try our hands at the oars for a while. We went haywire but liked it nonetheless. Anish, Dhiren and Deepti got into the water and held on to their rafts. Only Deepti can come up with all this. Hats off to the Talpade siblings.

In the evening we visited the neighbouring village where most of the population belonged to the Mising tribe. We met the chief of the tribe. The jolly good fellow was all smiles. He showed us around his house but did not let us in, saying that his wife wasn't at home. He had a huge farm, cattle and a mini silo. Looking at the rest of the village, this was prosperity. A few goofballs among us couldn't resist cracking 'missing' jokes.

We moved on to another house, where a lady was weaving. We even saw a charkha. We walked further through picture perfect farms. The Assam plains are fertile enough to play host to papaya, coconut, dates and many more varied trees. It was nice to see all of them fruit laden.

We went back to the camp. We had a session on Climate neutrality that set many of us thinking. After dinner, we played DRAW 4 and laughed hysterically. Aditi, Swedyl and I performed that dance for Dhiren, and it was an instant hit. We even played Dumb Charades where the 'Gaanja' episode happened. While playing something struck me - It's amazing how people have so many hidden layers to them, when you get a glimpse of one of them, you see that person in a different light altogether.