When my phone connection went dead for a week, my parents conveyed to all those who enquired - "They're off again " and Yes!!! We Were - off to 3 of the untouched corners of India - Digboi, Shillong and Chirapunjee.

Day 01 : The Travel

Before I switched off the lights, I looked around the room for one last time. Our American Tourister bags set for travel beside the door, travel clothes folded neatly on the chair, toiletries set on the table next to the baggage. We were set.

I could hardly close my eyes as I lay down on bed on 16th May 2012 at our Apartment in Silk Board, Bangalore. Unlike trips abroad - to destinations outside India, I always wanted to explore what lay within - and my dream was finally coming true. Sharing an equal passion to travel, lying asleep next to me was my husband - Vijo Jose Kanattu. It's 2:00 am and our flight was at 7:30 in the morning. I close my eyes - thinking of all possible ways to sleep - I counted sheep, I counted down from 100 and I remember starting to pray the Rosary.

I could hardly contain my excitement on the way to the airport. And as the flight to Dibrugarh via. Kolkata and Guwahati took off, I was in elated spirits. After a while, I turned around to see that people around me were having snacks and drinking juices which they had brought along! I realized that unlike International flights, we were allowed to carry food and water - late realizations - Welcome to India!

I smiled contently and closed my eyes to wake up when the plane shook to discover that we were amidst rain clouds. The flight was to reach Kolkata at 10:15 am. I looked into my watch. 10:15 am already. The flight is late and I hope I don't miss our next one. As I looked out of the window when the flight started to begin it's descend - what I saw below blew me out. Along green pastures, were rivers and rivulets that coiled around like great snakes -snaking its way along meandering pastures to join into the Brahmaputra river. The river, its tributaries, the wet lands and the chaporis along with the island of Majuli make it the largest mid river delta system in the world.

We landed in Guwahati, Assam at 12:30 pm and finally landed at Dibrugarh Airport - elated spirits ready to explore and conquer at 1:30 pm .

Unlike usual airports this place was small & buzzling with activity - porters, local people, rush, hustle- buzzle. It reminded me of the railway station in Chennai. Our driver - Muthu arrived, grabbed our bags and grinned at us. It was drizzling when we stepped out. He rushed us to the cab - lest we catch cold. (Another heart touching care and involvement typical to people of India.) We moved away from the town and turned towards the village. All along the road on both sides was tea plantations dipped in dew. I pulled the window down to get the whiff of fresh cold air, blowing the hair off my face. I inhaled the fresh cool air, taking in the breathtaking beauty of tea pickers with their traditional Jute bags and Jhoppi. The road stretched long ahead with the same scenery. Roads flanked by trees that created a natural fence beyond which tea plantations stretched endlessly to both sides. We stopped for Lunch at a local restaurant recommended by Muthu for its cleanliness.

The restaurant was made of Bamboo, had thatched roofs and were adorned with Jappi, Handlooms, Exquisite woodcrafts of Rhino and Pottery. The breath taking beauty, hot puri and chana with 'Bamboo Shoot' pickles were a sight for our eyes and a feast for our stomachs. We continued our journey. Destination Digboi.

In about 4 hours after we left Dibrugarh, we approached a town. Buzzling with activity were cattle, children, women and scores of vehicles that screeched their horns poking to get a way in the already saturated road. Along the road side, unprotected by any fence, lay a railway track. We drove ahead with much difficulty. In about 15 minutes, I could hear the whistling of the train. Turned around to find it glide smoothly right beside us. No one running around, mothers confident that their children would not run into its path. I was amazed at the tranquility with which the train fit in with the surrounding - the trees, the tea gardens and the village at one end. Beautiful!

Moving further, we took a right turn, over the track and entered Digboi - The ancient British hub, the first Refinery in India. As we moved further, giant towers of the Refinery loomed ahead, spitting fire every 2 seconds. It looked like the only disturbing 'element' in a neighborhood of nature's bounty. Muthu took an abrupt turn cutting me off from the harsh reality of the Refinery on one end to a completely picturesque neighborhood. The Oil Refinery Official's cottages.

Along roads bound by thick vegetation and plantations, lay royal English cottages. Sprawled luxuriously along it's length, these cottages were once occupied by the British when they had set colonies in Digboi. Wines of leaves and flowers hung down from every window in the cottage, Lawns were lush with grass and flowers, natural springs and the sound of waters echoed in the air. We moved further along such cottages when we finally arrived at 'HornBill Villa'.

Muthu drove into the driveway of Horn Bill Villa and carried our luggage to our room. We thanked him and he left his number promising to turn up in '5 mins' if we called.

We showered, took a walk inside the villa getting familiarized with the place and moved on to try our hands at Billiards. After hours of fun game, we headed to the kitchen to check out the menu for dinner and the cooks ensured that they served us Fish in the typical Assamese style. The hospitality and the simplicity of these men who served us left us spell bound. These were not men who were trained in Hotel Management or did their degrees to be chefs. They were simple, common localites who wanted to ensure that we enjoyed our stay. Both English and Traditional Assamese dinner was served.

We returned to our room content with the food, the environment and the men who served us. We lay down on bed and trust me, this time - I din't have to count sheep.

Day 02 - Project Explore Digboi

The sun's rays seeped in lighting the entire room and blinding me even when I had my eyes closed. I turned around to look at my watch that lay on the bedside table - 4:34 am!!!! And the sun was already up??!!! (Maybe my watch had gone dead?)

I turned around and woke Vijo up. We decided to go for a stroll and enjoy the morning breeze. We dressed and stepped out of the room when the helper boy came running, asking us if everything was alright and if we needed coffee. I looked around in the wall clock. 4:45 am!!?? I looked quizzingly from the helper boy to the clock. He explained that in 'this part of the world' everything awakes early and sunrises in May are at 4:30 am!!

Enthralled, Vijo and I started our stroll, down the driveway that led into Hornbill Villa into the main road. I was surprised that I did not notice the sprawling Golf Course on one side of the road. We decided to walk back the same path that we had travelled yesterday. The cold wind blew down on us bringing with it flowers and leaves of all kinds. Birds chirruped and flew around everywhere. The sounds of gushing water reverberated in our ears.

We walked along the road, Vijo being an inborn photographer; 'capturing' everything in his frame and me looking up at the tree tops and the blue sky above. A lady in saree sped by on a cycle turning back to smile at us. Soon afterwards, another man in formals flew past us in his cycle, turning to smile at us - their way of saying 'Good Morning'. We soon came across our cook and all those who helped us the previous night - cycling and waving 'H