Through The Mountains To Heaven: The Arunachal Pradesh Odyssey

The Northeast part of India has some magic which attracts people from all over the world.

- MURARI GUPTA

The Majestic mountains, the perilous trails, the vast stretches of greens, the azure sky; the Northeast has a picturesque panoramic view all the year round. I fell in love with Arunachal from the very first posting in radio in the capital Itanagar.

In the last week of March, the author got a chance to visit Arunachal again with his family. Earlier in 2010, during my service in Akashvani in Arunachal's capital Itanagar, I got the opportunity to see only a part of Arunachal. But this time, to experience the beauty of this beautiful part of Arunachal, we planned to travel from Guwahati to Tawang by taxi.

On the first day of the journey, our stop was Bhalukpong. Bhalukpong is the gate to reach Tawang. It is a part of Arunachal's West Kameng district and is the main route to reach Bomdila and Tawang. Bhalukpong is a border town on Assam and Arunachal which is situated at the mouth of the Kameng river. There are many excellent guest houses of Guwahati government here. I got the opportunity to stay in one of them. Right behind the guest house, the cold stream of Kameng river was flowing, which was absolutely clean, clear and transparent. Although it was not the monsoon season, its peace was visible in its flow. The width of the river had shrunk a lot. But sitting on the round stones, can enjoy the morning here, which comes two hours before the rest of India. Obviously, we also enjoyed this cold morning to the fullest.

Talking a little about the history of Bhalukpong, this is a place associated with the name of Bhaluka Raja. The remains of some characters related to Mahabharata are associated with this town.