To Nameri, 9th May, 2008

We set off for another monastery in the morning. It was bigger than the one we saw before. Two monks, barely 10, looked at us in disdain. They were scandalised when too many people tried to click them. I wondered what their life would be like everyday and what were they thinking when they were seeing so much of colour all of a sudden, with so much city noise dashed in. A sleepy dog made the most of it and got his flea-ful fur cuddled thoroughly. Sir told us more about the place and Buddhism. I saw David pass a tenner to one of the kids. I don’t’ know why but I felt guilty for intruding in the little monk’s home that day. He certainly didn’t want any of us there.

An episode I will never forget was Priyanka’s display of strong abdominal muscles. She made Mini stand on her while she was lying down on the grass. Kudos!! We all cheered. Then our ever-so-enthusiastic CROC stepped up and well, she does have very strong abs. Only we also heard a grunt from the wrong end in the process.

We went through a village called Rupa where some bought prayer flags to take home. I just bought very essential lozenges. We rode back to Balukpong and Hotel Solu welcomed us once again. A good lunch and an intense session n Russel peters by Anish was enough to get rid of my sleep.

We started off for Nameri. After we crossed the Assam border, a few lucky people like me got to ride on top of the bus. It was fantastic – the weather was warm but windy. We sang songs and waved at the villagers. We ducked when there were low lying wires and branches ready to cut us in half. I don’t know when I’ll get to do something like that ever again.

We reached Nameri Tiger Reserve around afternoon. A quiet place with 5-star tents and tree houses, great infrastructure and excellent staff. We oohed and ahead at the rooms we got and set off again on for for a small river walk. The river Bohrelli is not as calm and clean as Kameng.

We came back and washed up. In the evening, we had a session with one of Sir’s ex-students, Chombe. He had a lot to tell us about the real scenario in Arunachal Pradesh. It was quite an eye-opener. What ran through my head then was that setting up a school here wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
The next day was Dhiren’s birthday. So the guys came to our tent and blew up a few balloons. Anish was our supervisor and we were very handicapped elves. Sitting in the lawn gazing at the stars in the constant insect creek almost put me in a daze. We slept off after wishing Dhiren. Since Aditi was fast asleep, we postponed our performance by a day.