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TRAVELOGUE

Tawshiltan - Part1
- Pranjal Mishra '2k9

October, 2015: It was the last leg of our Proba on training and red though we were, the fact that it was
the end of a year-and-a-half long honeymoon imbued us with some newfound energy. We'd planned on
visi ng the pris ne North-East this me. Ours was a group of five, when we set out. But it was not meant to
be: Soon cruel fate had its way and one among the pentad fell sick and had to re re mid-way. The Quartet
th
mulled over “Why does it have to be us?” for the n me. (Although, later it turned out that four was
actually the best fit for the trip.) We'd boarded different trains, but we landed in Guwaha ('GHY' from now
on) at around the same me.

Stop 1: Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh (AP)
Visi ng Tawang was never the natural consensual choice of the group. What was surprising was that there
were no advocators for it either. It just so happened that we decided that it was then or never that we'd be
going to Tawang in our lives.
Visi ng Tawang requires one to have two things: a special Inner line Government permit for visi ng AP and
a helicopter booking. ('Pawan Hans' run helicopters ferry tourists and officials from GHY to Tawang, but are
not very dependent: last minute cancella ons are common). In case the la er cannot be arranged, one
requires a gut of steel to brace a 350 kilometres, 15-hour long ride on a rugged terrain, in a car without a
suspension system of any sort. Upon enquiry, we found that the helicopter bookings could not be made in
convenience with our schedule: “We would have to while away 3 days around GHY before a copter can take
us. No way we're wai ng that long! The cab it is.”
The nearest airport is in Tezpur and the farthest a train can take you is to Rangapara. Although Tawang can
mesmerize with its beauty no ma er when one decides to visit, May-June and Oct.-Nov. are among the
be er mes to visit.
The permits are another issue. One can apply for them in GHY or in Tezpur, which lies on the border of
Assam and AP. Based on what we had learnt from the Internet, the permits could take up to a day or two to
get ready. But this me we got lucky. We chanced upon a state government office in GHY itself, got the
permits made and were on our way within three hours flat. If only this informa on were already available.
We le GHY in the a ernoon.
Tezpur is a comfortable 4-hour drive away from GHY, with regular cab services available during the day. We
stayed the night over in Tezpur, and hit the road early the following morning. (Not to men on the problems
we had with food and lodging in Tezpur, probably because of the me at which we arrived.)
Almost all the vehicles for Tawang are the SUV or Mountain vehicle type (TATA SUMOs, Mahindra
Scorpios and the like). It takes about 15 hours to get to Tawang from Tezpur. The route followed is
Tezpur-Bhalukpong-Bomdila-Dirang-Tawang And it is common to see people stopping over at Bomdila .
or Dirang for a day or two, and con nuing onward from there. The drivers make the trip on one day
and head back on the next. Consequently, as already men oned, the vehicles are devoid of any
suspension system. Most tourists share taxis and we got our vehicle with room le for just four more
people.

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