The journey from Agartala to Aizawl in Mizoram was not a direct one. We had to visit one of the main attractions of Tripura on the way – Unakoti. Part of the journey is described in this post but here is the detailed info –
We started from Agartala early in the morning and took the first train to the Station Kumarghat. We were relieved at the idea of boarding a train as we were totally got sick of buses (sitting in the last seats might be the culprit)
After the initial curious looks and questions from the local travelers, we somehow got ourselves acquainted with them. One most common response that we got from locals throughout our Tripura trip when we told that we were tourists is that there is nothing to see in Tripura and inturn they come to Hyderabad. Perceptions, may be.
One thing that we learnt during our travels is that no matter how extensive is your research on your destination, a local always knows the best. It was again proved when we reached Kailasher from Kumarghat. A local showed a small eatout tucked away in a corner where the food was really delicious. After the breakfast cum lunch cum dinner (we had only one meal that day) we started to find some means of transport to Unakoti. Asked a couple of Auto-wallas who seeing our backpacks demanded exorbitant prices from us. Unable to bargain, we moved along to another place. We saw a shop owner who could speak hindi and asked him the cheapest way to reach Uakoti. A Cab driver came along from the tax stand and asked a price much lesser than the autos. After confirming that the price was modest and realizing that we had no other option, we agreed to go along with him.
Unakoti was an experience in itself. The sculptures of Lord Shiva can’t be described in words. It’s a not-to-miss place in Tripura. But it’s not a place for people with Knee pains or any other kind of Arthritis. The steps are very steep and so many that we are literally wet after reaching the top. I had remove my T-shirt and travel rest of my journey just like that to get back to normal self. After Unakoti, we got the Dharmanagar Railway station to catch a train to Silchar. As usual in these parts of the country, the train was delayed by three hours. We had nothing else to do but put on the geeky avatars on and open the Net book and start blogging. The result – Lots more Curious looks, puzzled faces and questions from some who were dare enough to do so.
The train journey from Dharmanagar to Silchar, as we found out later, was one with an adventure as well. To start with, there were no lights in the train. For every 10 minutes, the security would come with flash lights and checking if anything was suspicious. Every station the train stops, the cops shout to keep the doors closed from inside. Midst all the action, there were things happening in the same compartment as ours, which happen in dark places – prostitution. Then things happened which are a natural extension. Cops came raiding, tried to bully every one in the compartment. Luckily there was a CRPF guy sitting before us and he could somehow tell the cop that we are not part of the racket. Meanwhile Ajay was sound asleep and was no clue of whats going on.
We got down in Silchar around midnight and first thing we did was to run to the Waiting Room to find place to sleep. The scenes from In Pursuit of happiness were flashing in my mind as we were scrambling for place to sleep for the night. Being inexperienced in these matters, we ended up with no place and had to sleep in the chairs. But that was fine with us.
Next morning we started immediately by 5:00 in the morning and went to the Taxi Stand where we can catch a taxi to Aizawl. As usual ,we got the last seats even in the Tata Sumo and after spending a taxing 7 hours in the Sumo, we reached Aizawl.