January 2008:

As on every trip there are moments of surreal realizations and discoveries. The moments when you lie in bed at night and say "I can't believe I just did that."  The latest trip took us through Christmas and New Years, mixed emotions of being away from home but in the end happy to be sitting in a village outside of Tawang, not celebrating Christmas, with a community enveloped in beliefs distant from the Christian beliefs that have slowly disintegrated to a consumer driven Christmas.  A few days before I was running around Shillong, frustrated at the business of the city.  To dance and sing in Rice patties of the Himalayan Hills, can't be beat as a substitute for the hustle of the city during the holiday season.

However with all the moments, sometimes realities and pain hit us, on this trip we had to take our driver back to Assam because I got one of those never wished for phone calls:  His son had passed away, it is difficult to empathize with the emotions, but needless to say I myself would fall apart if that were the news I got, as a father one can really feel for such a situation.  Our life's our short and the one effect and difference we can make is through our children, not some self absorbed dysfunctions of a parent who wants their children to "have all they did not", but in my opinion the selfless function of giving your children the opportunities and systems to function and deal with what life will throw at them.   One man lost his child and mine turned 6 years near the same day. I wished I could hug him and say how much I loved him, the closest I could get was a phone call - which was good. And I feel for the Driver "Topang" that he will not be able to hug his son again.

Our trip took us from Tawang back down the west side of Arunachal to Ziro - an area inhabited by the Apathani tribe, onwards through areas like Diparijo, Along and on to Pasighat where we had the pleasure of being in an Adi village - after a short ferry ride and a few river bed crossings - to celebrate Indigenous Faith day - The Adi's celebrate and worship the Sun and Moon, not a bad concept in light of the fact that of two things in the Universe they are likely two that affect us the most in our daily life.

Next a pleasurable 6 hour ferry fide down the Bramaputra from Pasighat to Dibrugarh and a short drive brought us to Sivasagar one of the strong holds of the Ahom kings who ruled Assam some 400 to 500 years ago.  A little recovery in hotel and then we were off to rough it a little in Nagaland.  We went directly to Longwa (Konyak Tribe) on the Burma border and spent a splendid 3 nights with one of my favorite families, a family who has 7 daughters and 2 sons, good looking and strong - my friends wife had just had twin girls, sweet and beautiful a joy and pleasure to hold and carry.  Always good to see how villagers deal and handle children after seeing the way westerners and city people do - it is such a simple and natural process. 

We were lucky also to get to another even remote village and see them bringing a Log drum to the village, all the village men were out singing and chanting while they pulled a huge drum into the village - I would guess about 20 to 25 feet long and 15 or so feet in diameter. A great thing, is arriving and seeing these type of activities the way they would happen, not presented or made up, purely a natural part of their life that we had an opportunity to get a small glimpse into.  and a treat to be welcomed openly by the chief and his elders and given lunch on Banana leafs on the ground along with everybody, even if we did not do the work.  We arrived on the 3rd day of pulling, the log had been carved in the forest.  It will sit outside the village till April, when again the entire village including the women will participate and ceremonies will take place to bring it to its final resting place in the Morang (dormitory).

A quick trip into the Ao tribes territory  (with village names like Mupungchuket, Longkhum, Mokukchung (fairly large town) and our trip ended with relaxation in Kaziranga National Park and Nameri National Park.

Each time people contact me for trips and we start breaking down time - it is never enough.  Imagine this trip being 25 days total, and it is still not enough time.  Cultural Pursuits and I can only offer glimpses to a kaleidoscope of cultural experiences that would take many life times to see.  I count myself among the lucky people in the world to have the opportunity to see a disappearing part of an ancient culture.