To commemorate almost a year - anniversary of www.syhlleti.org, the syhlleti team and its advisory family have thought out for a *yathra* which means a journey as well as a kind of a theatrical performance. There is a planned seminar at Assam University, Silchar on Syhleti language by March last-week and one researcher on Syhleti language Mr. Lloyd-Williams is coming from London after syhlleti.org invited him at Silchar. As one of the contributors, wordsmith was far away in Malabar Land, it was thought why not we sponsor a *Yathra* - as a kind of a fun as well as an adventure. So wordsmith is coming from KANYAKUMARI to SILCHAR on a four-wheeler along with his colleague, partner and co-driver Mr. Pradeep of Kerala, crossing a distance of around 4000 kilometer, crossing almost all major rivers of India except the Sind . In their route, they will be crossing nine Indian states altogether, some 12 language-zones, entire East Coast National Highway and of course, lots of troubles.

The yathra will be starting from KanyaKumari on 15th March at 1030 Hours IST and is scheduled to stop at Silchar at 23rd March 1930 Hours IST, after 216 hours, of which a major time will be kept for driving and documentation of the places passed by.

The journey through Kerala was pleasant and the roads very good, especially the L&T bye-pass from Coimbatore to Salem. At Palghat, there is a mountain dividing Kerala and Tamilnadu and landscape visbly changes. Palghat or Palakkad is a cultural borderline zone. It has been a mixture of Tamil and Malayalam culture. A considerable population is of Tamil ethnic origin inhabit there and they settled down at the place, starting mid-eighteenth century. The place Palakkad, ethinically and geographically resembles the final destination - Silchar and its Syhlleti/Bengali speaking population.

Then the next entry was to Chennai via Salem and Villipuram. The roads OK, traffic brisk, mostly foodgrains and vegetable bound for Kerala. Temperature was typically southern and the vehicle ran smooth and the roads are so polished (the rubberized tar) in NH 47, 68 and 48 that you see mirages at a distance. The drive was good and fast with repeated mobile calls from well-wishers. Mr. KPP had a field day with nice piece of driving. Average speed 70 km /hr and reached Chennai, through the famed Anna Salai or Mount Road. The epic-victory at Eden Garden was dutifully conveyed via mobile by the Ground Co-ordination team at Cochin. Celebrated by honking nore at the road..:)

Chenna to Vijaywada -National Highay No. 5 - a track of 416 km is a tough test. The road is good, not as good as previous days. Heavy traffic and the heat of Andhra Coastline. Entered Nellore - the highest rice growing district in India and then to Guntur and finally to Vijaywada. A historical route - the playground of Southern empires since 7th century AD. It was almost the same route taken by Malik Kafur, commander of Alauddin Khilji during his penetration into south. En route passed Sriharikota Rocket launching center and then after a huge, long and scorching summer (Summer of March was a long one ...), crossed the Krishna and entered Vijaywada - literally meaning - mark (or place of Victory)

Tomorrow will resume the jorney towards Vizag...

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bye
pritam

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EXPERIENCES CONTINUES.....

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I think that a graphic picture of our yathra (Pilgrim's Progress ) is emerging, thanks to Mr. Guru's efforts and concern. We are still on the NH5, the highway that connects the East with the South. The highway has a life of its own and for last three days we are finding something of a evolving picture of Transportation : bullock-cart carrying hay (its harvest time), Rickshaws, Auto-rickshaws, bi-cycle, trucks, container-carrier (with some 20 odd wheels ),cars with an engine giving a sound like water boiling to the silent menacing speed of a 2.4 Lt Ford, huge trucks for carrying cranes and so on...

At a place near Elooru (67 km from Vijaywada) i saw a parked Ford and a ox-driven cart at the back - The Ox and the Ford - Ox-Ford, and its a pity that i could not take a picture... These all modes of transportation are peacefully co-habiting the road.

We have crossed two major rivers - Krishna and Godavari - and Krishna is crossed before entering Vijaywada and Godavari is before Rajmandry (literally meaning King's Market). Both the rivers are shrunken and not in their youth. Krisna is slimmmer as yet her silver shine has wilted a bit. The voluptuous, matured Godavari (on whose bank was the ashram of Vasishta Muni of Ramayana, once upon a time and about which one Sanskrit poet Bhababhuti has sung panygeric) is slow, subdued and the merciless tropical sun of the South has taught her austerity.

We crossed by the side of Krishna-Godavari doab, a fertile land for which Vijaynagar and Bahmani empire clashed. The entire coast is marked by sandy soil and palm-trees. In the mid-afternoon, on the wheels with a mirage in front, you look sideways and feel like that you are in a desert until a truck honks loudly reminding the fact that Size and Sound do matter.

As Mr. Guru might have reported, we had a very nice dinner at one colleaugue Mr. Mohan's house by the Krishna and on of the dishes was a curry of crab - which was a miracle - transformation of an insect kind of thing to a delicacy. Introduction to Andhra spices and *achars*. If there is something equivalent of wine in our culture, this must be this , the pickle, the achar of Andhara. Like wine, it is also a bottled memory - of vegetables, fish, meat, leaves and even fruits. Caution : Non-initiated carry napkins to wipe noses and a pondful of water to drink.

The entry to Vizag was a triumph and a useful exercise for people with blood-pressure low - a near crash with an auto-rickshaw and let our driver Mr. Rafeesh be blessed. And a routine check by a police outpost for our papers which to our great relief they found OK and advised that such kind of undertaking was wholly unnecessary as there are plenty of trains/bus available from Vijaywada to anywhere. Yes, it is the largest busstop in India and everyday 150 trains of Indian Railways cross Vijaywada.

But in the journey, there are some lingusitic chutney's which are noted while they were delivered, in different languages. Translation is courtesy Mr. KPP :

A truck was not giving sides in spite of repeated honking. The honourable driver ejected - "I think this fellow thinks that this road his father got as a kind of a *stree-dhanam* after marrying his mother." Period. *Stree-Dhanam* in Sanskrit means dowry.

Near a narrow bridge by Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu - a taxi sped by like a lightning without any signal or braking. This time, in Tamil - "I think this fellow is going to bring *vayu-kulika* for his mother." This *vayu-kulika* is a port-manteu word in Malayalam and there is a very beautiful contextual meaning for vayu-kulika - Rushing to bring some kind of an emergency drug for his mother - presently pregnant.

And after all this, we enetered Vizag and the entry road has been a four-lane highway and is beautiful. Locked by mountains and sea, Vizag is only comparable to the cities by the Adriatic sea and the climate has been moderate.

Will continue more tid-bits of the yathris later...

Mr. Guru is thanked for bringing out the reports in such a nice manner and anybody wishes to pass a message to the yathris can send a mail to guru@vsnl.com who will in turn relay it at our mobile even we are en route. Also those who are fortunate of having money to be given to telephone companies, welcome to talk at 0-98470-43093

bye
pritam

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JOURNEY CONTINUES....

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Today, we have reached Siliguri, after crossing a mark of 3120 km, the northern-most tip of Bengal and Gateway to North East.

Those who are following the yathra-page maintained and so nicely graphed by Mr. Guru must be wondering what happened after Vizag. The answers are the following in order -

1. Vehicle Problem. 2. Inaccesibility of Mobile Network in entire coastal Orrisa. 3. Nightmare en route Calcutta. 4. Schedules on the upward route containing places called "disturbed area".

There has been a wonderful stay at Hotel Green Park at Vizag where we were looked as a curiosity and a wonderful service provided there. Mr. Srinivas, Mr. Suvarna, please accept our thanks and also convey to your colleauges.

The journey from Vizag to Bhuvaneswar started well. After we came at the border of Orissa (called Gonjam - a place associated with the memory of king Harsha, king Sashanka and Hien-Tsang. Contemporary was Bhaskar Barman of Kamrup, whose capital we will enter after 10 hours - in Guwahati, capital of Assam by side of Coch-Behar - the seat of Coch kings, notably -Chilarai), we heard an ominous sound and observed a leakage at our gear oil tank. In the midst of wilderness, we prayed and kept working. The work succeeded and the leakage stopped. But the comfort was not very long standing. The landscape changed now - more lush green and our ace drivers - Mr KPP and Mr. Rafish were complaining that the vehicle is not picking up. Calcutta is still around 400 km away and were in trouble again. Again inspection and threesome took the vehicle by a shade and a research started. It was discovered that the radiator-fan ( the fan that supplies cold air which is cooled by cold water to the running engine to decrease heat building up) is not working. Electrical works. No mechanic nearby nor any hope of a replacment within a range of 100 kilometer. In this, we checked everything possible - Engine timimg check, radiator water check, coolant. No avail. The fan refused to start even the electricl connection was OK. The problem is a major one - if we run the engine in this heat (around 37deg as our star-board thermo showed) the engine is going to "cease" and that means cessation of almost everything in our spirit. Finally, a genius was required and a genius came. Mr. Rafeesh discovered a simple fact - the connection to the fan wire was loose and as soon as the vehicle starts the vibration loosens it and fan does not work.

Anyway, we started with the fan ON and on 20th almost morning made an entry into Calcutta and decided to push on. Our regret that we could not meet Mr. Sunil and Mr. Roy at VSB, Calcutta. From Calcutta we pushed northwards taking the NH34 and reached a hour back at Siliguri where I am typing this.

Now, the route from Vizag to Calcutta was a memorable one. The highway is as staraight as ever with an exception at Orissa - humps, speed-breaker and humps..The vehicle was groaning as after every five minute you have to brake. Chilka Lake came at night and we could not see it much. Bhuvaneswar to Calcutta, the highway changed. Barren fields were covered with green paddy where the setting sun played with its vermillion and orange and pink where the sky also changed. The granular sand gave way to polished, fine soil-dust. The heat was low but humidity more. We entered Cuttack ( where Netaji Subhas was born - i just remembered this) after crossing Mahanadi - a great river, literally as well as really. Though the Orissa sun has made her little slimmer, the water is bluish-green with very low-depth.

The language Oriya can be comprehended by a person knowing Bangla. The food had a difference - sambar and daal both were there - a synthesis, natural for border-zones. Entry to Bhuvaneswar was through a majestic highway and the city has been able to rub-off almost all traces of the fury that Bay of Bengal unleased half-a year back in that cyclone. We stayed at an ITDC hotel (Hotel Kalinga Ashok) and we found it to be a very ungratifying and dull experience, making us believe that state-ownership and hospitality may not always go well together.

However, as we raced through Orissa coastline, we entered Orissa-Bengal Border passing through some stretch of roads, which seemed either an excavation of an ancient route or a make-shift road for an invading army on tanks and military vehicles. And rivers and small rivulets. More paddy fields and at night we saw firefiles as hundreds of halogens of behicle headlights were unable to dim the sparkling light of those illuminators. And after what seemed a long time, we entered Calcutta through the second Hoogly Bridge and crossed on to the City of Joy. But whether joy is not allowed to long distance travellers, the car was tortured, interrogated and molested by Calcutta roads filled with - historical material in the form of tram-tracks, bricks which might be as old as Writer's Building, holes so large and deep that it must be a kind of a rainful measuring device in a monsoon climate and the crowd. But there was the joie-de-vivre when we heard animated conversation among Calcuttans of the fate that Aussies are awaiting at Chennai after the epic-win at Eden. We have had a glimpse of that Garden of Eden or Garden of Cricket and passed on, little sadly towards Jessore Road leaving a sleepy Calcutta behind .

We tasted fish for the first time in a roadside Inn near Bhadrak - name of which is too beautiful to forget -Panthika and the fish was none other than - Rohu. The southern ambience was fast getting replaced by the Eastern one. Coffee was fading, its chaia... , no jasmine...neither coconut trees nor coconut in the cabbage...Oil was mustard...

In our journey, we passed through a zone which is lying as a cross-zone. And as we were speeding past a fast asleep Calcutta through Jessore Road, Mr. KPP summed up the days proceeding by speaking the following lines, which i remembered - "..Though we are physically little down, our spirits are always high."... I ventured to ask what kind of spirit that was but within seconds headlight struck a sentence put by Authorities - "Drive on horse-power, not on Rum power." While contemplating on this, a truck honked powerfully from behind and that power, I add is something that only a highway knows...

We were climbing up north of Bengal when John Denver was bursting the stereo with - Lead me Home, Country Roads, Lead Me Home....

Highway is all Good and Interesting, perpetually mobile and changing and what Captain Nemo says - Mobius en Mobile - awe-inspiring it may be , we go to the highway and for there is a home somewhere at the end of it. I heard Denver singing -

So many days I am on the highway, So may days I am on the run...

Are the yathris getting homesick ? Will let you know once we reach hoome.

- pritam

p.s: we are sorry that we did not provide any photo as of yet. Our Ground-Team Co-ordinator Guru will also agree that a combined phot-album be a better and nicer one than a newspaper like photos. We are making a photo-album.

FINAL REPORT....

***************** The yathra fom Calcutta to Silchar was the toughest part, partly due to depleting energy and partly due to the hill-track en route Guwahati to Silchar. The journey began from Calcutta and soon we crossed Palssey at Murshidabad (the battle of 1757 - a battle which is a historical Milestone) and there were lush green paddy fields along with golden harvest - the landscape seemed like those colour-drunk canvasses of Van Gogh. The yathra fom Calcutta to Silchar was the toughest part, partly due to river is a mighty construction.

On 21st evening, we reached Siliguri after crossing Mahananda and next day morning we started for Guwahati - the capital of Assam by the Brahmaputra - the first masculine sounding river in our entire route. The drivers were given the worst assignment - to maintain a steady pace in steadily worsening roads. After crossing the mountains of Duars andf Jaldapara Wildlife sanctuary, we ventured near Sreerampore - Bengal-Assam Border and within minutes after looking at some thousand trucks lined up,

We passed through Kokrjar, Barpeta and Nalbari at a pace totally incompatible with the condition of the road and reached Guwahati at almost 10 pm. In between a small drama - gear stopped responding and it was found that the axle was disconnected from the front wheels. Mr. KPP. with a huge push reinserted it and we got ourselves inside a hotel, whose General Manager Mr. Chakraborty was waiting and has been very helpful. Thanks to him for his concern.

Mr. Rafessh, after being with us for so many days and have been such a wonderful company left for Cochin on 22nd morning and taken almost the same route by which we came, this time by train. We started at around 1000 hrs from Guwahati and crossed Shillong within two hours. Chill mountain air, hide&seek sunshine, pine smell in the air and we started towards Silchar - the final push for 250 kilometer on a beautiful road of driving and viewing pleasure. We were occasionally hearing an ominous sound from the right side front and the discovery of its cause was little troublesome - the bumps, the bad roads and the high-speed have weakened the engine mounting and the AC belt was cutting trough the body. AC made non-operational but the damage was already done as we understood soon. Around 50 km away from Silchar, on a winding downhill and a lonely road, our engine went silent.

We tried, we prayed, we wondered. A star studded sky, a mountain road and anxiety. Soon there came some people and with little fingering brought the engine back to life. Relief. But it was shortlived. After some 5 km, it happened again. We became stuck. The emergency measure - keep the vehicle by the highway side, get a mechanic by getting onto a truck. The engine back gain to life and the problem was a simple one - due to mounting of the engine becoming erroneous, the link from the condenser-coil to the distribution was tighter and with littkle jerks was falling off. Thats the problem. After an hour, after crossing a distance of 4012 kilometer, we reached the destination on 23rd.

We are thankful to all of us who have helped us to reach the destination safely.

bye

pritam, at home along with KPP and enjoying late-winter or say it the first breath of spring

We have prepared an itineray which includes the following :

15th March / 1030 Hours - Flagged off at Kanyakumari
16th March - Crossing Tamilnadu-Kerala Border. Entry at Kerala.
17th March - Multilingual Documentation (Bengali and Malayalam)
18th March - Entering onto National Highway 5.
Crossing entire South-Eastern Coatal Highway.
Crossing Krishna and Godavari.
Documentation at Vijayanagaram.

19th March - Entering Osissa. Documentaion at Konark Sun Temple.
21st March - Entry into Calcutta.
Meeting Dr. Anuradha Chanda, a renowned
researcher on syhlleti font. Her husband
is from Silchar's Chanda family. Their son
Arnab is a contributor of ours in California, USA.

23rd March - Entering Guwahati.
Visiting Cherapunjeee
Entry at Silchar sometime in the evening.

We are greatly indebted to our MP at Silchar, Mr. Santosh Mohan Dev for his support in the form of a introdutory letter for wordsmith ; also to Mr. Binoy Bhattacharjee at Delhi, a great syhlleti enthusist and to our incomparable chottudi aka Ms. Chandana Purkayaatha nee' Bhattacharjee for her words, deeds and both; to Mr. Babua aka Biswadeep Mazumder for wonder and advice. We are also indebted to lots of others who have helped us in their respective capacities to have the yathra at take-off point.

We will be posting a day by day update at this page starting 15th March '2001.

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