Sunday, 1 October 2023

 Our day started very early. The Indigo flight to Guwahati was scheduled at 6:00 AM, which means we had to reach the airport atleast by 4:30 AM. It was a holiday weekend and we expected several people to be traveling. Waking up to an early morning alarm at 3:00 AM, the Ola cab to the airport was scheduled for 3:45 AM. We reached Mumbai Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal 2 to find a long queue to enter the airport. After baggage drop & security check in, we marched straight to the boarding gate. Boarding the aircraft, we had a waiting time of around 40 minutes before the pilot got clearance & the flight took off. Though local, it was a fairly long flight and we landed in Guwahati’s Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport by 9:10 AM.

We knew there would be a long wait in the Guwahati airport before our onward trip. The WhatsApp message from 50 plus representative was very clear that any one who reached the airport early had to wait inside the airport and by around 12:00 noon the group would leave for Shillong by road. A major number of group members were to arrive by a Bengaluru flight which was to land by 11:45 AM.

This left us with very little choice, but to either laze in the airport or to roam around and get a feel of the place. We decided to do a combination of both. We started by finishing off some home-made food to satiate the immediate hunger. Had a refreshing tea from one of the stalls and went around the airport in turn. 

 

Geetha noticed a distinguished looking couple seated in an adjacent seat. Correctly guessing them as belonging to our 50 plus travel group, she stuck up a conversation with the lady & immediately forged friendship with Dr Meena & Dr Shankar. These were the first new friends from this group. Probably seeing Geetha and Dr Meena talking to each other, another lady who had traveled with us from Mumbai introduced herself as Beena & confirmed that she belonged to the 50 plus group.

Around 11:45 AM the Bengaluru flight landed. In the meanwhile, our tour guide Rutuja Joshi (who I later knew was from Pune) was coordinating over the phone with those who had already landed. She instructed us to come out from where we were seated and join a few other members who were seated in waiting area outside.

This waiting area had some ideal photo points, like a couple of life-sized rhinos in their natural surroundings of lush green grass (probably made out of fiberglass). We could also see the stalls put up by the tourism department of all the NE states. 

 

By 12:15/12:30 PM a big group from Bengaluru joined us. After ensuring that every one had arrived Rutuja guided us to 2 vans. The van drivers helped us to load our luggage. Once the luggages were securely packed, the vans left Guwahati airport towards Shillong – the capital city of Meghalaya - with a huge cry of “Ganpati Bappa Morya”.

The vans halted at Gams Delicacy - a restaurant - for lunch, where we were served Assamese thali with roti, sabji, rice, papad, pickles and a sweet dish. The drive continued towards Shillong. Around 4:30 PM  the vans halted at Excelencia Restaurant for tea / coffee / fruit juice / soft drinks break. Here we had a short self-introduction session by all the members. I had read the names of the participants in the group’s WA messages. And as the members introduced themselves, we got to some - what relate the faces to the names. But it would not be until the 4^th or 5^th day, I could actually address a person by his or her correct name!

 

By now it had started growing dark. The drive towards Shillong continued & by 6:30 PM we reached and checked into The Centre Point hotel. By now most of the voyagers (Rutuja started addressing group members collectively by this name!) were tired after the long drive. Dinner was announced for 8:00 PM. Post dinner Geetha & myself visited the colorful & noisy local market. Very soon we returned to our rooms. The next day promised to be equally hectic.

 

First Group foto of this group : L to R : Sitaram, Somappa Megeri, Achhar Singh Gupta, Ray Chaudhury, Yours Truly (Srinivasan), Shikha Ray Chaudhury, Geetha Srinivasan, Beena Vipul Hariyani, Veena Srinivasan, Prabhavathi , Revathi Ramesh,  Shobana, Shashikala, Bhagirathi, Mahendra, Rajesh Kumar Jain, Usha Kiran, Chhaya Dewan, Manju Behal, Meena, Shankar

It is my firm personal belief that a vacation is incomplete unless you spend atleast an hour everyday with books. My e reader is a faithful companion for all my travels. For me it is customary to begin a novel on the first day of travel & depending on the time available complete it. My choice for this journey was “The Black Shrike” by the master story teller Alistair Maclean. I had started the novel during the flight journey from Mumbai to Guwahati. I continued reading for some time and drifted to sleep.

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