Hajo - Land of pilgrimage

Hajo is an ancient pilgrimage centre for three religions: Hindus and Muslims. It lies on the banks of the Brahmaputra River, 24 km from the city of Guwahati in the Kamrup district of Assam, India. The area is dotted with a number of ancient temples as well as other sacred artifacts. The Hayagriva Madhava Mandir is the most famous temple of Hajo. "Puwa Mecca"(meaning Mecca of the East) is also located in Hajo on the top of a hill. Hajo is about an hours's drive from the main city centre, Paltan Bazar.

During the winter of 2006, I had been to my Guwahati, my hometown, for three weeks. Now 3 weeks is a long time, and with such an amount of time to kill, I decided to pass my time by making short trips to places nearby Guwahati. The first place which came to my mind was the small town of Hajo.

Now, I first heard about Hajo when I was in 2nd grade, in one of those school textbooks. The chapter was based on the plurality and religious camaderie prevalent in Hajo. Hajo is mainly famous for 3 landmarks: Madhav mandir, Kedarnath and Puwaa Mecca(translated in English as 'East Mecca', the holy shrine of the Muslims). The beauty of all this is Hindus used to serve on the board and participate in the activities of the Muslim shrine and vice-versa. I don't know if this still holds good in this polzarized world. Wish it does.

So, on a wintery morning, I set off for Hajo. First I took a mini-bus, which incidentally is the chief mode of public transportation in Guwahati, to ride upto Basistha Chariali and from there took a bus upto Jalukbari, via NH-37. I alighted from the bus in Jalukbari and waited for a bus or jeep(known as 'trekker') or anything that will take me to my destination. I was lucky in that I barely had to wait for 15 minutes or so. I felt lucky enough to get the last available seat in the trekker. After paying my fare, I made myself comfortable(or so I thought then) in the seat, preparing myself for a 90-minutes journey.

The trekker had a seating capacity for 11 -people excluding the driver. The trekker looked one straight out of a junkyard, with rusting windows providing crucial visible evidence. I had occupied my seat in the rear portion of the vehicle, which was occupied by 3 rather religious folks, singing hymns and rhyming verses. They had a first look at me, and seemed unanimous in their disapproval of my looks with my aviator sun-glasses and dangling ipod. Soon, the trekker started off from Jalukbari, but before it reached Saraighat bridge, it picked up 4 more persons on the way. 3 people standing on the footpedals and rods behind the jeep. The jeep soon picked up speed, and sped across the bridge , negotiating each twist and turn, both forced and unforced, with great dexterity(as the driver would like to put it) or sheer luck(as yours truly would like to put it). The vehicle already resounding with holy songs seemed on the way to hasten up our tryst with the almighty. Luckily, my experience came to an end about half-an-hour later
when the trekker stopped near Madhab Mandir. I alighted from the vehicle and made my way towards the temple.

Madhab mandir was built some centuries back in remembrance of Madhabdeb, one of the pioneers of Vasihnavite culture in Assam. The temple has a big pond, where huge turtles abound. Locals say that these turtles are very holy and all tourists/devotees who throng this temple, make it a point to feed these turtles, after or while washing their legs/hands. Nevertheless, I bought some Puja items from the local shop and offered Puja at Madhab temple seeking blessings for myself and near-dear ones. It took me 5 minutes which probably gives an indication of the size of my family :) . Had a chat with the local pujari, who went through the history and incidents of the temple. Like all tales of locals, this chat also had quite a fair-bot of interesting tit-bits. After bidding adieu to the Pujari, who quickly flaunted his visiting card along with his mobile number, I made my way towards Kedarnath temple.

Now Kedarnath was up a hillock kind of thing, and I had to make some ground before I reached that. On the way I stopped near 'Bhimor Kahi'(translated in English as "Bhim's plate"). It is rumoured to be the plate from where Bhim once had his lunch. It was almost noon before I reached Kedarnath. Being a weekday, the temple was devoid of any visitors, I being the lone one. After offering puja at the temple(there are 3 temples incidentally), I entered into a chat with the local pujari, to get another dose of histories and tales associated with this place. After coming down the steps at Kedarnath, I enquired with the puja-item seller regarding directions to Puwaa Mecca. He pointed me to a hilltop, it looked quite far away, and with no sign of any transport near Kedarnath or thereabouts, I decided to rely on bus no - 11 :)).

After coming out of Kedarnath premises, I saw a long winding path up the hills, which seemed to lead towards the hilltop, where Puwaa mecca is, and as usual it aroused my interest to climb up and see where the path leads to. It was a path made of red-soil which has both been cut from the hills and swept away a little by water gushing down from the top, during rainy season. I made up my way, and while I was halfway up I heard the sound of vehicles. Pleased at being on the right path, I took some rest and admired the Hajo landscape, dotted with a few hills and thick forests between them. In another 15 minutes, I was on the road. By this time, I was gasping for water. As luck would have it, some local wood-cutters were on their way down that road. Seeing me, they inquired about me, where I came from, maybe not used to a person coming solo to a town like Hajo, appearing out from the woods and yeah with a aviator sunglass and a banging ipod to boot...After being reasonably satisfied with my answers, they offered me water and soon they were on their way down the road.

Meanwhile I wondered aloud on whether to continue in the sweltering heat with my dwindling energy reserves or to beat retreat. I chose the latter and went back on the road. Crossed the wood-cutters in the middle and continued on my descent down the snaky path. It took me another 30 minutes to get down the hill, this time along the proper road. As soon as I came down the hill to the main road, a local ricksaw-wallah came along and was very keen on taking me wherever I wanted to. I mumbled "Guwahati" , and the ricksawallah sped fast away from me, quite possibly assuming me to be a mental case.

After a wait of about 15 minutes, the government bus came and I was back on the way to Guwahati. It was indeed a tiring day.

Places of Attraction:

1. Madhab Mandir
2. Kedar Nath
3. Puwa Mecca

For trek enthusiasts, don't take tar road. Climb hills and make your own way.

Other Advice:

Be wary of ricksaw-pullers doubling up as touts. They will charge a premium if they know somebody is not from Hajo.