{"id":5798,"date":"2018-06-02T08:56:54","date_gmt":"2018-06-02T06:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogg.mah.se\/mfs\/?p=5798"},"modified":"2018-06-02T08:56:54","modified_gmt":"2018-06-02T06:56:54","slug":"restlessness-royal-ruins-and-reunions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogg.mah.se\/mfs\/2018\/06\/02\/restlessness-royal-ruins-and-reunions\/","title":{"rendered":"Restlessness, royal ruins and reunions"},"content":{"rendered":"

I did not spend many days in Guwahati after coming back from my last trip before I was on the road again. In fact, I spent much of the second half of May taking sightseeing breaks from my writing and analysis work.<\/p>\n

First I headed out for the Green Hub<\/a> Festival at Tezpur University that screens documentaries about biodiversity in India and short movies made by Green Hub’s film students but also hosts a number of panel debates on environment as well as women’s rights. I attended a seminar on women’s security, watched some amazing movies on biodiversity and nature and spent the night in Okum Guesthouse<\/a> outside Tezpur. North East Network<\/a>, one of the organizations I’ve worked with here, runs the guesthouse, which is based in a tribal Mising village among bamboo houses, palm trees and paddy fields. Their veranda is probably the best thesis-writing spot I have yet encountered – writing and drinking tea with a view to woods and wild orchids made me incredibly mindful and productive at the same time.<\/p>\n

As for many tribal groups of North East India, the Mising women have a long tradition of\u00a0weaving.\u00a0NEN also runs a project in the village with 13 women making handloomed products for the organization and thereby earning a little extra money for their households. I talked to some of them about their work and what it has changed for them and\u00a0tested my own handlooming skills (or lack of the same) with supervision from the professionals.<\/p>\n

Just call this product placement but if you get the chance to visit the Okum Guesthouse (which you should if you’re in India anyway), do take home some beautiful hand-made cushion covers, wall hangings or bags and support a good cause!<\/p>\n

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The heat has arrived in Assam and I’m suffering. Luckily, my landlord’s driver was kind to take me on a one-day escape to the neighboring hill state of Meghalaya.\u00a0Meghalaya means something like\u00a0”the Land of Clouds” and the place perfectly suits this name with its fresh green hills, wet but really enjoyable climate and huge cotton-like clouds rolling down the hill sides and turning everything into a misty wonderland or ”Scotland of the East” as the\u00a0tourist agencies say. Even though the clouds blocked the view to Cheerapunjee’s waterfalls and the Bangladesh border, I still enjoyed a day in the highlands with stunning landscapes and really good company. Binoy, my landlord’s driver is one of the most cheerful people I have met and long-distance\u00a0road trips are just better when you’re travelling with a good friend.<\/p>\n

My lovely neighbor Avishka also took me to Sivasagar, the old capital of the Ahom kings who ruled Assam for hundreds of years untill the British arrived. Sivasagar is a small town but with some very pretty ruins of the old castles and temples. It was a nice little tour and even nicer to meet Avishka’s family.<\/p>\n

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Sivasagar is only one hour from Jorhat so on my way back to Guwahati, I simply had to pass by the town to meet the people from Purva Bharati Educational Trust<\/a>\u00a0and the boat clinic again. I did some follow-up interviews with my participants in my field study but also just enjoyed meeting these inspiring people and their friends and families again! I also took a detour to the Majuli island to visit my ”family” there again.\u00a0If you have read my last post<\/a>, you will understand why I enjoyed being back so much and why I was very sad to leave them all again knowing that I will probably not go back before\u00a0some time (what is for sure though is that I can never visit India again without<\/em> passing by the North East!).<\/p>\n

My field study in Assam is coming towards the end and I only have few follow-ups and visits to complete before heading out for some more travelling in India and then home to Denmark\/Sweden!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"