Chinki!

I used to think of visit Vaishno Devi Temple, but couldn’t manage my schedule anyhow. It is said that only when Matarani (Goddess Vaishno Mata) calls her devotee, then we can be able to visit this famous temple, situated in Katra, Jammu. I was staying in a working women hostel at Sarojoni Nagar in South Delhi. Here I met Shahida, a fair and slim Assamese girl, who belonged to my birthplace Jorhat, Assam. One of Shahida’s roommate introduced me with her when she came to our hostel. Shahida was junior then me. But very soon we became good friends. Whenever we got time in off days, we planned to cook something typical Assamese Dish together.  That was April 2003, I noted that we had a holiday on 18th for Good Friday and Saturday- Sunday were to be off days for me. Shahida told –‘Let’s plan to enjoy our long holidays!’ But how? We even didn’t think that in next few minutes we would plan for a memorable trip in our lives. I responded –‘Yaah, we must not waste our long holidays ...

Teok , a small town in Jorhat District of Assam. Around 30 years back, it was in process to be a township. It is my parents' home place, where I was born. As my parental villages were in Teok, we usually visited this place on every vacation. Growing up in a concrete city, I found this place peaceful and naturally rich. We travelled by bus to visit my birthplace. The Teok State Transport bus stand was very small that time. State Transport buses stopped here for few minutes only. Here I saw Mekurikai for the first time. I can still visualise his picture in my mind! Mekurikai , the unsung artist! He used to wore a half pant and a shirt, hanging wooden box around his neck. He sang TOKARIGEET  (type of sufi song in Assamese Folk) and collected money from his listeners. Every morning he used to come to Teok State Transport Bus Stand. Whole day he got into the buses while they stopped, sang his TOKARIGEET  in his mild and beautiful voice with feelings, collected ...