The Dharmanagar Boys
(thomas;2023-June-25)
Tripura is one of the smaller states in the north-east and we visited just Agartala, its capital, and Dharmanagar. Both are lovely places but the main reason for going to Dharmanagar was not the town itself but the nearby site of Unakoti: a large cliff with dozens of faces and bodies of Hindu gods and goddesses cut into the bare rock... there are giant Shivas, Ganeshes and many others on display. Getting there from D. is easy, just go to the ISBT (InterState Bus Terminal), jump into the next Sumo, wait until it's full (around 10 passengers, normally between 10 and 30 minutes) and off you go. The site is about 20km west of Dharmanagar and the Sumo driver will just drop you there. Some photos:
The problem with Unakoti is getting back to Dharmanagar. There's not a lot of traffic to start with and all Sumos travelling by will be full (as they only leave once full) so finding two places in a Sumo is pretty unlikely. And buses are very irregular. However, we've been to India often enough to know that sooner or later somebody or something will turn up... but it could take some time. So after the visit to Unakoti we started walking back towards Dharmanagar with a view to stop whatever vehicle came our way. We quickly had two lorries, the first wanted a ludicrous amount of money for the hike (well, ludicrous for India... most Indians assume that foreigners are at least millionaires, if not billionaires). The second didn't go all the way to D. but while we were still in discussion with the lorry driver a small car, a Hyundai, turned up. 
We had already seen that car parked on the verges but as it was not facing our direction we had ignored it. Well, it turned out that the two young guys inside were from a town another 20km further to the west (so not at all the way to Dharmanagar) and that they had seen us walk by. So, they decided, just like that, to give us a lift back to D. We would've paid them but they were adamant that we were guests in their state and that it was their duty and responsibility to get us back to Dharmanagar. And that's what they did.
The owner of the car, Sushanta, was a medical lecturer who'd just married; his friend still a student of law. The fact that they drove a Hyundai car is a hint that they were relatively well-off as most Indians, if they can afford a car in the first place, would drive a much cheaper 800cc Suzuki-Maruti. Both spoke very good English (often, Indians who speak English are very keen to strike up a conversation with a firangi) and we talked about all sorts of things during the 50 minutes or so it took us to get back to D.: the lecturer's job in Guwahati, us not having any children (a recurring theme with many Indians), Brexit, the political situation in France... They were well-informed and really seemed to enjoy the conversation. Among other things we told Sushanta that as a doctor -- and if he wanted -- he could certainly find a good job with the British NHS... apparently he had already given some thought to the idea of leaving India but England had not yet been on his radar. So who knows... we may see him one of these days in the UK!
Want to read more? Go back to Meet the Locals or go on to The Dancing Queens of Agartala or go up to Meet the Locals
$updated from: Blog.htxt Mon 04 Mar 2024 16:04:39 trvl2 (By Vero and Thomas Lauer)$