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Norh East - zapomiany skrawek Indii > INDIE
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North East różni się od reszty Indii. Innej rasy i religii są tu ludzie. Obywatelom Indii nie wolno tu sie osiedlać. Wszędzie jest szalenie daleko. Do niedawna na niektórych obszarach toczyła się krwawa wojna domowa, o której nikt nie słyszał. W 2007 r liczba ofiar w Manipurze była większa, niż w Kaszmirze.
North-East is popularly called area between Burma, Bangladesh, China, Bhutan, Nepal and India. Connected with India by thin corridor since long time creates big problems for India and will create in the future.
Earlier the whole North-East was one state Assam. Capital of Assam is Guwahati. It is not interesting city in the valley alongside Brahmaputra. Building development climbs slowly on the slopes of the hills. As some buildings are not very high so they are covered by plumes of palms. Green, because of plenty of water, is very intensive, some houses painted green, so everything is green. Architecture, layout like in normal Indian city. Building near building without any plan, their technical condition – Indian style.
Differences - crowded (limitation of area in the city and gravity to the "city", but not
so noisy, no horning without sense, clener (dustbins and no cows on the streets), no beggars, more smooth traffic (no pushed 4 wheel trolleys which block streets in Delhi), no people in the night on the streets. City is also market, so it attract also special type of people. Not clean, shirts and trousers demanding pressing urgently, looking rather like Thai gangsters from action films than Chneese or Japaneese businessman (there is problem with men in North East - alcohol, narcotics, violence). Therefore the whole
impression is not especially positive.
From Guwahati we went to Shillong and Cherrapunji. Shillong is not interesting. Earlier it was capital of British Assam and some photographs in hotel showed it like wonderful, small willage. Today it is crowded city, with plenty of market boys. Nothing interesting in shops – cheap chineese goods, practically no local production. On Sunday afternoon only men on the streets. Interesting was organized transport. Taxis (small Maruthis) worked as busses. They tooked people on the way. It was necessary to stop the taxi and tell direction. Rates were cheap. No autorickshaws.
Meghalaya itself is called Scotland of the East. Its hilly landscape is characteristic, that hills are not single peaks, but rather ranges with plateaus. Slopes covered by jungle (palms and sometimes pines) , plateaus by mountain pastures with relatively high grass. Rocks are also visible in some places, sometimes they form walls of the hills.
As there were no busses it was necessary to hire taxi on share basis.
Valleys are occupied by cultivation and small villages. Regarding food production there are famous pickled vegetables and honey. Houses small but well maintained, mostly of brick covered by steel plates, sometimes of bamboo. Everything looks like big, picturesque garden or park in English style. Very beautifull area.
People in North East telll a lot about tourism, but they developed no infrastructure. Brahmaputra is fantastic river for cruises, but no ship available. Cherrapunji was fantastic for cycling. Distances for trecking were too long but reasonable for cycled. No very big differences in attitudes. But no cycle for hire. In Cherrapunji is boarding school. Nice environment and no temptations for students.
Temperaturres not too high. In the evening even jacket was necessary.
Ale końcem swiata jest Mizoram. Jest to prawdziwy koniec świata, chyba nigdzie nie jest dalej. Trójkąt skierowany na południe, wciśnięty pomiędzy Birmę, Bangladesz, podstawą oparty o ogarnięty wiecznym powstaniem Manipur i nieco spokojniejszy Assam. Brak tu kolei, a na drogach daje się wycisnąć może 20-30 km/h. Z Guahati do stolicy Mizoramu Aizawl by road (ca 500 km) is 16 hours by jeep, 26 hours by bus. Bus is used also partially as a truck. There were packs of something on the roof of our vehicle.
Można dolecieć samolotem, ale lotnisko często jest nieczynne z powodu mgły, smogu powstałego w wyniku wypalania lasów i licho wie czego tam jeszcze. Co gorzej, często trzeba lecieć dwoma liniami, które ani myślą brać odpowiedzialność za swoje wzajemne uchybienia. Samolot się spóźnia, lot odwołano, to problem klienta. Tak wygląda taniość indyjskich linii lotniczych. Jednocześnie bez zahamowania sprzedają one bilety, na loty, które prawdopodobnie nigdy się nie odbędą. Nie ma co pytać nawet o prognozy, ponieważ nikt nic nie wie. To zresztą nas spotkało. Kupiliśmy bilety na 21.03. Delhi - Kolkata - Aizawl. W międzyczasie dowiedzieliśmy się, ze na lot do Aizawl są małe szanse. Kingfisher był gotów nam przebukować bilety, albo zwrócić pieniądze, ale Indigo za przebukowanie biletów do Kalkuty zarządało 7.000 INR. Postanowiliśmy więc zaryzykować. Samolot z Delhi do Kalkuty zrobił 2 godziny opóźnienia, a tam dowiedzieliśmy się, że lot do Aizawl jest odwołany. Przynajmniej zwrócono nam pieniądze, ponoć na drodze wyjątku. Polecieliśmy więc do Guwahati, aby stamtąd dojechać autobusem.
Guwahati powitało nas Brahmaputrą, pióropuszami palm i zielonymi dachami, co dało wrażenie, że miasto tonie w zieleni. Niestety tak nie jest, miasto jest bardzo zatłoczone, brudne i hałaśliwe. Hotel, w którym mieliśmy spędzić noc był nawet przyzwoity. Ale na ulice nawet nie chciało się wychodzić, zresztą nie robi się tego po zmroku. Tydzień później wybuchła tam kolejna bomba podłożona przez ULFA (walczą o niepodległy Assam), gdzieś w pobliżu ministra spraw zagranicznych. Zabitych było tylko kilkoro, więc nie ma sprawy.
Terminal autobusowy zbudowano poza miastem, aby autobusy nie blokowały ruchu i ze stacji w mieście jeżdżą mniejsze autobusy. Następnego dnia idziemy na autobus. Mówią nam, żebyśmy przyszli za pół godziny, a kiedy przychodzimy, okazało się, że autobus już odjechał. Niemniej personel stacji jest pomocny, pomagają nam zdobyć riksze i gonimy autobus. Pewnie dogonilibyśmy i piechota, ponieważ na terminalu czekamy potem dobre 1,5 godziny.
Autobus wygląda nawet przyzwoicie. Podłoga jest zamieciona, bagaże można bezpiecznie ulokować w schowku. Byłoby świetnie, gdyby nie perspektywa, że jazda będzie trwać dobę. From Guahati to the capital of Mizoram Aizawl by road (ca 500 km) is 16 hours by jeep, 26 hours by bus. Bus is used also partially as a truck. There were packs of something on the roof ofour vehicle.
Stan ten ma powierzchnię ok. 20.000 km2 i 800.000 mieszkańców. It is India, but another India. State is in 90%Christian, mostly protestant. It is cleaner and more quiet. May be it is effect of smaller population, faster vegetation (tropic), but also people behave a bit different. Traffic is more smooth, no horning, there is no impression of crowd pressing from all sides. Nobody stares on white people. Drivers obey traffic rules and give place for another vehicles to maneuver.
What is interesting. Indians must have permit to enter the state, but otherwise Biharis would flood them. In one generation Mizos would be minority in their own land.
The mediumin the schools is English, literacy more than 90% (only in Kerala is higher).Can you imagine private school. Tution fee is 200,- Inr (4 USD) / month and salary of teacher 2000-3000 INR. I am afraid, that there is surplus of educated people. Buildings of local government and state assembly are "normal", no palaces, what is rather exception in India. Army is also not seen very much. Only some policemen direct traffic. "Immigration" office, where I had to register looks quite European. Clean, girls in jenans, computer, no crowd. They fill form and everything is done in some minutes.
The main diet is rice and pork, less beef or chicken. Milk is practically not used. The food is very poor and extremely monotonous. Meat is simply cut and boiled without any ingredients. It is tasteless.
Mizoram is hilly state. Hills are not very high, ca. 2000 m, but the slopes are very steep, covered by forest. Bottoms of valleys are very narrow, two slopes practically meet each other. Therefore people live on the top and settlement slowly goes downstairs. Forest is not very rich. Trees are not very high, but there are a lot of bamboos, can and bushes. Sight is not much limited, but to move is difficult. Problem is to find place for home. Sedimentary rock gives little support, so homes are rather of light construction, glued to the road, mainly on the saddle and supported on pillars, sometimes 4 stairs high. So garage is almost on the roof. From the street house is 1-2 stairs high, but from the side one can see some levels below.
Generally country seems empty, because people live in Aizawl (1/4 of the population of the state) and crowded villages. There are big areas of nothing.
Mizoram is very poor. Distances kill any commercial production, there are no minerals. Theoretically there are oil and gas, but the matter is on the stage of survey. Water and shape of terrain (narrow, unpopulated valleys) give some hope for hydel power, but everything is on the stage of feasibility study. There are very few streams with opportunities for small power plants. Today electricity is imported from neighboring states. There is no chance for mechanized agriculture. Mizoram is reach in medical plants and bamboo. May be bamboo will be good material for paper, which is in short supply in India. Another ropportunities could be BPO and especially call centers, because of English speaking populations and much better adjustability of Mizos than Indians, but there are necessary governmental incentives.
Theoretically North East is different nation (rather nations and tribes), but Indian influences are very strong, especially in Assam. Habits, language, position of woman, general view of the city. Much less “influenced in Mizoram. Aczkolwiek Polnocny-Wschód korzysta też z przynależnosci do Indii. Strong Indian BPO creates demand for talents and as confirm Indians, people in North East are more adjustable to Western culture and culture gap is not so big like for Indians. It is not easy to work in services with idea that one is centre of universum. North East girls use these opportunities. We see them in shops, sometimes in IT companies. Boys come back to their places. Wielu mieszkańców regionu służy w armii, administracji i policji. Prawdopodobnie wiecj, niż mogłyby ich wchłonac służby tych stanów, gdyby były niepodległymi państwami. Nikt z North-Eastu nie był jeszcze premierem, ale predzej czy pozniej przyjdzie in a to czas.
Earlier the whole North-East was one state Assam. Capital of Assam is Guwahati. It is not interesting city in the valley alongside Brahmaputra. Building development climbs slowly on the slopes of the hills. As some buildings are not very high so they are covered by plumes of palms. Green, because of plenty of water, is very intensive, some houses painted green, so everything is green. Architecture, layout like in normal Indian city. Building near building without any plan, their technical condition – Indian style.
Differences - crowded (limitation of area in the city and gravity to the "city", but not
so noisy, no horning without sense, clener (dustbins and no cows on the streets), no beggars, more smooth traffic (no pushed 4 wheel trolleys which block streets in Delhi), no people in the night on the streets. City is also market, so it attract also special type of people. Not clean, shirts and trousers demanding pressing urgently, looking rather like Thai gangsters from action films than Chneese or Japaneese businessman (there is problem with men in North East - alcohol, narcotics, violence). Therefore the whole
impression is not especially positive.
From Guwahati we went to Shillong and Cherrapunji. Shillong is not interesting. Earlier it was capital of British Assam and some photographs in hotel showed it like wonderful, small willage. Today it is crowded city, with plenty of market boys. Nothing interesting in shops – cheap chineese goods, practically no local production. On Sunday afternoon only men on the streets. Interesting was organized transport. Taxis (small Maruthis) worked as busses. They tooked people on the way. It was necessary to stop the taxi and tell direction. Rates were cheap. No autorickshaws.
Meghalaya itself is called Scotland of the East. Its hilly landscape is characteristic, that hills are not single peaks, but rather ranges with plateaus. Slopes covered by jungle (palms and sometimes pines) , plateaus by mountain pastures with relatively high grass. Rocks are also visible in some places, sometimes they form walls of the hills.
As there were no busses it was necessary to hire taxi on share basis.
Valleys are occupied by cultivation and small villages. Regarding food production there are famous pickled vegetables and honey. Houses small but well maintained, mostly of brick covered by steel plates, sometimes of bamboo. Everything looks like big, picturesque garden or park in English style. Very beautifull area.
People in North East telll a lot about tourism, but they developed no infrastructure. Brahmaputra is fantastic river for cruises, but no ship available. Cherrapunji was fantastic for cycling. Distances for trecking were too long but reasonable for cycled. No very big differences in attitudes. But no cycle for hire. In Cherrapunji is boarding school. Nice environment and no temptations for students.
Temperaturres not too high. In the evening even jacket was necessary.
Ale końcem swiata jest Mizoram. Jest to prawdziwy koniec świata, chyba nigdzie nie jest dalej. Trójkąt skierowany na południe, wciśnięty pomiędzy Birmę, Bangladesz, podstawą oparty o ogarnięty wiecznym powstaniem Manipur i nieco spokojniejszy Assam. Brak tu kolei, a na drogach daje się wycisnąć może 20-30 km/h. Z Guahati do stolicy Mizoramu Aizawl by road (ca 500 km) is 16 hours by jeep, 26 hours by bus. Bus is used also partially as a truck. There were packs of something on the roof of our vehicle.
Można dolecieć samolotem, ale lotnisko często jest nieczynne z powodu mgły, smogu powstałego w wyniku wypalania lasów i licho wie czego tam jeszcze. Co gorzej, często trzeba lecieć dwoma liniami, które ani myślą brać odpowiedzialność za swoje wzajemne uchybienia. Samolot się spóźnia, lot odwołano, to problem klienta. Tak wygląda taniość indyjskich linii lotniczych. Jednocześnie bez zahamowania sprzedają one bilety, na loty, które prawdopodobnie nigdy się nie odbędą. Nie ma co pytać nawet o prognozy, ponieważ nikt nic nie wie. To zresztą nas spotkało. Kupiliśmy bilety na 21.03. Delhi - Kolkata - Aizawl. W międzyczasie dowiedzieliśmy się, ze na lot do Aizawl są małe szanse. Kingfisher był gotów nam przebukować bilety, albo zwrócić pieniądze, ale Indigo za przebukowanie biletów do Kalkuty zarządało 7.000 INR. Postanowiliśmy więc zaryzykować. Samolot z Delhi do Kalkuty zrobił 2 godziny opóźnienia, a tam dowiedzieliśmy się, że lot do Aizawl jest odwołany. Przynajmniej zwrócono nam pieniądze, ponoć na drodze wyjątku. Polecieliśmy więc do Guwahati, aby stamtąd dojechać autobusem.
Guwahati powitało nas Brahmaputrą, pióropuszami palm i zielonymi dachami, co dało wrażenie, że miasto tonie w zieleni. Niestety tak nie jest, miasto jest bardzo zatłoczone, brudne i hałaśliwe. Hotel, w którym mieliśmy spędzić noc był nawet przyzwoity. Ale na ulice nawet nie chciało się wychodzić, zresztą nie robi się tego po zmroku. Tydzień później wybuchła tam kolejna bomba podłożona przez ULFA (walczą o niepodległy Assam), gdzieś w pobliżu ministra spraw zagranicznych. Zabitych było tylko kilkoro, więc nie ma sprawy.
Terminal autobusowy zbudowano poza miastem, aby autobusy nie blokowały ruchu i ze stacji w mieście jeżdżą mniejsze autobusy. Następnego dnia idziemy na autobus. Mówią nam, żebyśmy przyszli za pół godziny, a kiedy przychodzimy, okazało się, że autobus już odjechał. Niemniej personel stacji jest pomocny, pomagają nam zdobyć riksze i gonimy autobus. Pewnie dogonilibyśmy i piechota, ponieważ na terminalu czekamy potem dobre 1,5 godziny.
Autobus wygląda nawet przyzwoicie. Podłoga jest zamieciona, bagaże można bezpiecznie ulokować w schowku. Byłoby świetnie, gdyby nie perspektywa, że jazda będzie trwać dobę. From Guahati to the capital of Mizoram Aizawl by road (ca 500 km) is 16 hours by jeep, 26 hours by bus. Bus is used also partially as a truck. There were packs of something on the roof ofour vehicle.
Stan ten ma powierzchnię ok. 20.000 km2 i 800.000 mieszkańców. It is India, but another India. State is in 90%Christian, mostly protestant. It is cleaner and more quiet. May be it is effect of smaller population, faster vegetation (tropic), but also people behave a bit different. Traffic is more smooth, no horning, there is no impression of crowd pressing from all sides. Nobody stares on white people. Drivers obey traffic rules and give place for another vehicles to maneuver.
What is interesting. Indians must have permit to enter the state, but otherwise Biharis would flood them. In one generation Mizos would be minority in their own land.
The mediumin the schools is English, literacy more than 90% (only in Kerala is higher).Can you imagine private school. Tution fee is 200,- Inr (4 USD) / month and salary of teacher 2000-3000 INR. I am afraid, that there is surplus of educated people. Buildings of local government and state assembly are "normal", no palaces, what is rather exception in India. Army is also not seen very much. Only some policemen direct traffic. "Immigration" office, where I had to register looks quite European. Clean, girls in jenans, computer, no crowd. They fill form and everything is done in some minutes.
The main diet is rice and pork, less beef or chicken. Milk is practically not used. The food is very poor and extremely monotonous. Meat is simply cut and boiled without any ingredients. It is tasteless.
Mizoram is hilly state. Hills are not very high, ca. 2000 m, but the slopes are very steep, covered by forest. Bottoms of valleys are very narrow, two slopes practically meet each other. Therefore people live on the top and settlement slowly goes downstairs. Forest is not very rich. Trees are not very high, but there are a lot of bamboos, can and bushes. Sight is not much limited, but to move is difficult. Problem is to find place for home. Sedimentary rock gives little support, so homes are rather of light construction, glued to the road, mainly on the saddle and supported on pillars, sometimes 4 stairs high. So garage is almost on the roof. From the street house is 1-2 stairs high, but from the side one can see some levels below.
Generally country seems empty, because people live in Aizawl (1/4 of the population of the state) and crowded villages. There are big areas of nothing.
Mizoram is very poor. Distances kill any commercial production, there are no minerals. Theoretically there are oil and gas, but the matter is on the stage of survey. Water and shape of terrain (narrow, unpopulated valleys) give some hope for hydel power, but everything is on the stage of feasibility study. There are very few streams with opportunities for small power plants. Today electricity is imported from neighboring states. There is no chance for mechanized agriculture. Mizoram is reach in medical plants and bamboo. May be bamboo will be good material for paper, which is in short supply in India. Another ropportunities could be BPO and especially call centers, because of English speaking populations and much better adjustability of Mizos than Indians, but there are necessary governmental incentives.
Theoretically North East is different nation (rather nations and tribes), but Indian influences are very strong, especially in Assam. Habits, language, position of woman, general view of the city. Much less “influenced in Mizoram. Aczkolwiek Polnocny-Wschód korzysta też z przynależnosci do Indii. Strong Indian BPO creates demand for talents and as confirm Indians, people in North East are more adjustable to Western culture and culture gap is not so big like for Indians. It is not easy to work in services with idea that one is centre of universum. North East girls use these opportunities. We see them in shops, sometimes in IT companies. Boys come back to their places. Wielu mieszkańców regionu służy w armii, administracji i policji. Prawdopodobnie wiecj, niż mogłyby ich wchłonac służby tych stanów, gdyby były niepodległymi państwami. Nikt z North-Eastu nie był jeszcze premierem, ale predzej czy pozniej przyjdzie in a to czas.
Prawdopodobnie więcej, niż mogłyby ich wchłonąć służby tych stanów, gdyby były niepodległymi państwami. Nikt z North-Eastu nie był jeszcze premierem, ale prędzej czy później przyjdzie in a to czas.
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