Cattle of Kaziranga

Sat., December 20, 2014

Unicorns are supposed to be majestic. It is downright funny when you see one rolling in mud. There are over 2000 of the Rhinoceros unicornis (Greater one-horned Rhinoceros, or the Indian Rhinoceros) in the Kaziranga National Park of Assam. Once the mud-bath is done they are spanking shining again (well, they do let the mud cake and then rub it off - all this is done to keep them insect free, as well as reduce sun-burns). That number 2000 accounts for ~70% from the entire world. This fifth-largest land-animal has made a great comeback. Lets hope it stays that way.

Rhinos are also territorial. They mark points along the perimeter with their dung, and they repeatedly visit that spot for the ritual. The volume and area is naturally large and the land fertile. Jungle folks often plant pumpkin seeds there for a bumper crop. Lovely flower fields too crop up. One of the elephants I rode on was kind enough to pick some of those flowers and pass thos one to the riders.

No man's land?

21 Dec 2014: Today's flight - by happenstance on the shortest day of the year - was interesting. It went from Point G(uwahati) in India to Point K(olkata) also in India, but mostly over another country. It was rather foggy, so no good photographs, but got to see the expanse of the Brahmaputra delta and the majestic Himalayas.

bhut jolokia aka Ghost Pepper

15 Dec 2014: A bagful of bhut jolokia i.e. ghostly-hot capsicum peppers at the roadside market outside Tezpur University, Assam. It is over a million Scoville Heat Units (SHUs). In fact, in 2007 it was the hottest substance on the Scoville Scale, 900 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. It has since been superseded, and the current record is held by the Carolina Reaper, a cultivar i.e. cultivated variety (twice as hot).

Brahmaputra in/and Guwahati

13 Dec 2014: Brahmaputra, and Guwahati, from River Breeze, Uzanbazar. Spent a day in Guwahati before arriving for the IDMC meeting in Tezpur. The few hours I had in Guwahati became fewer by my flight from Delhi leaving a few hours late due to fog. So clearly that problem has not bene solved.

Brahmaputra, the fifth largest river (in terms of length) that flows through India is supposedly the only one which bears a male name - the son of Brahma.

Surprisingly (to me at least) Guwahati reminded me of Kerala - green, bananas, coconuts ...