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SevenUp 2023

An unusual trip to the Indian subcontinent for two months in Spring 2023 starting and ending in Kolkata.

We toured six of the so-called Seven Sisters, the seven states of northeast India: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

Unfortunately we had to skip Mizoram, we had not enough time and the state was too remote: transport is difficult in this part of India.

Read on to learn how we fared.

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Thinking of our next trip: what about Iceland, Kyrgyzstan or Nepal (again) ? So much to chose from...

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Path: Photos > People of the North East
Tags: India  SevenUp  2023  News  India

People of the North East

 

(vero;2023-July-25)

Do not miss our blog entries with stories about special persons we met along the road… People were such a defining feature of this trip and we have so many photos and portraits of our encounters that we found that one gallery was not enough to do them justice, we simply wanted to include them all. So we have created two galleries:

People met in the first half of our trip in Guwahati, Meghalaya, Tripura and Manipur
Guwahati (Assam): a Saddhu at Kamakhya Temple.
Guwahati (Assam): ladies waiting with their offerings at Kamakhya Temple. Guwahati (Assam): a devotee at Kamakhya Temple. Guwahati (Assam): Indian tourists waiting to embark on the ferry to Peacock Island in the middle of the Brahmaputra for a puja at the Umananda temple dedicated to Shiva. Guwahati (Assam): crowd disembarking from the Umananda ferry. Now just imagine the both of us, the only foreigners, in this crowd and half of them wanting to have a selfie with us. That's exactly what happened… Guwahati (Assam): a Saddhu on the ferry to Umananda Temple. Guwahati (Assam): one of the crew of the Victoria Rice Hotel where we had our veg thali every evening. Nongriat (Meghalaya) : kids playing on the way to the Rainbow Fall. Cherrapunji (Meghalaya): woman selling fish at the market. Cherrapunji (Meghalaya): the waitress at the restaurant where we dined every evening. She had a beautiful smile but was a bit nervous being photographed. Shillong (Meghalaya): young Sikh boy at the city's Gurdwara. We have seen very few Sikhs while in the north east. Agartala (Tripura): it was a Sunday, a rest day for this man who is otherwise earning his living by unloading wares from lorries arriving from Assam and loading them on other lorries for further transportation. Agartala (Tripura): same Sunday as on the previous picture, four days after the festival of Holi and some young men were still having fun. Agartala (Tripura): luckily they were considerate enough to spare us when we told them we were not so keen on being splashed with powder! Matabari, near Udaipur (Tripura): girl at the Sundari temple. Neermahal Palace (Tripura): beautiful girl smiling at her boyfriend (or husband?). Agartala (Tripura): young couple with their toddler. They had come to the temple for the naming ceremony of their little girl. Agartala (Tripura): those friendly men were observing us as we were browsing some workshops where paper mache sculptures were being made and approached us for a picture. Unakoti (Tripura): children visiting the site on a school trip. Unakoti (Tripura): there were many Indian tourists around and we were once again part of the main attraction. OK for the selfies, but we want a photo of you in return ;-) Unakoti (Tripura): the two adults were chaperoning a group of children, they were waiting for a priest to bless them. Unakoti (Tripura): yet another school class on a trip and yet many selfies with a picture for us in return. Dharmanagar (Tripura): we had to spend an extra day in D. to catch a train. It was a Sunday and there was nothing much going on until we met a man who suggested we join him to a show in the town hall where youth from the state of Tripura were performing traditional dances. His daughter was part of the festival: that's her. Dharmanagar (Tripura): girls performing at the state dancing festival. Imphal (Manipur): woman selling grapes in the pedestrianised Thangal Road which leads to the Ima Keithel Market. Imphal (Manipur): some more street sellers in the pedestrianised Thangal Road which leads to the Ima Keithel Market. Imphal (Manipur): typical facial make-up of Manipur women. Imphal (Manipur): another typical feminine face from Manipur. Imphal (Manipur): seamstress in the Ima Keithel Market. Imphal (Manipur): Indira (55), seller in the Ima Keithel Market, older sister of Lakshmi (see our story about very special Lakshmi).

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People from Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Kolkata
Kohima (Nagaland): Chrissie, our wonderful host at the Maple Homestay. She was utterly friendly, generous, chatty, interesting and made our stay in Kohima very special.
Kohima (Nagaland): basket seller at the tribal "supermarket" She was weaving them while waiting for customers. Jorhat (Assam): we visited the Toklai Tea Research Institute while in Jorhat. Ankita (left) and Angelina (right) were our very friendly guides for the day. Jorhat (Assam): tea pickers coming back from work at the Cinnamara Tea Estate. Sibsagar (Assam): we met this lady on the way to Talatal Ghar. Majuli Island (Assam): we did all our explorations on Majuli by foot and at some point this girl shouted at us that we were going in the wrong direction. She was right. Majuli Island (Assam): the same girl as in the previous picture, this time with her father. North Lakhimpur (Assam): such beautiful eyes. Ziro Valley, village of Hari (Arunachal Pradesh): a grand mother from the the Shaman of Hari). Ziro Valley, Village of Hong (Arunachal Pradesh). This Apatani lady was on her way back from the Easter Sunday Service at her local baptist church. Ziro Sumo Stand (Arunachal Pradesh): this young man is sporting his hair in the fashionable way of the day in the north east. His was unruly and overgrown but we saw many self-conscious young guys with similar and fresh-cut hairstyle. Basically, the back and side of the head is cut very short while they have this mop top often tamed with gel with sometimes a fringe on the brink of falling into their eyes. It was fun observing them in trains or buses, how they were always brushing back their hair to make sure it looked OK. In the Sumo from Ziro to Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh): we were sharing the middle seats with this Apatani grand mother. Bomdila (Arunachal Pradesh): monk practising the art of debating at the town's Upper Gompa. Bomdila (Arunachal Pradesh): monks practising the art of debating at the town's Upper Gompa. Bomdila (Arunachal Pradesh): man from the attire of the Nyishis, which is very rare nowadays. If you look closely you will see he has a bamboo helmet with some coins around its base. On the helmet there should be a beak and some feathers from a hornbill. But since hornbills are now protected, our man had to make do with a wooden replica of a beak. On the centre front of the helmet, some yellow and black yarn is kept together with a porcupine quill. Note also the knife sheath hanging from his neck, the wristband and the pearl collar below the knees. Bomdila (Arunachal Pradesh): same man as on the previous picture. He is from the Nyishi Tribe, the largest tribe in Arunachal Pradesh and sports their traditional attire. See the legend of the previous picture for some details. Tezpur (Assam): this barber is concentrating on his work. Thomas paid 30 Rs for his haircut. Hajo (Assam): young mother with her newborn at a temple. Guwahati (Assam): this man is the owner of a small snack hotel and makes his living selling tea, coffee, cakes and simple dishes in the Manipuri district of town. Guwahati (Assam): a Titanic moment on the way to Peacock Island in the middle of the Brahmaputra. Guwahati (Assam): tourists from Mizoram on their way to Peacock Island. Guwahati (Assam): young man on the deck of the ferry to Peacock Island. Guwahati (Assam): lady whispering into the ear of a rat (or mouse if you prefer). It is the vehicle of Lord Ganesha to whom the shrine behind her is dedicated. Kolkata: if his chapatis taste so good as his belly betrays, I'll go get some from him everyday! Kolkata: a street tea seller near the flower market. Kolkata: the city is famous for its yellow ambassador taxis. This taxi driver was just awakening from a nap on his car. Kolkata: Indian tourists visiting the Victoria Memorial. Kolkata: ladies shopping for sunglasses at the entrance of the Victoria Memorial. Kolkata: colourful ladies queing for the Victoria Memorial Kolkata: how ingenious is this sharing of space? A marble workshop below and a sweet shop above.

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$updated from: Photos.htxt Mon 04 Mar 2024 16:04:39 trvl2 (By Vero and Thomas Lauer)$