Guwahati- The melting pot of Spirituality- Music and Food.

Guwahati: My home town. Its the most awesomest place in India according to me. Beautiful women, great food (I know being born a vegetarian is a curse) and friendly helpful people with a combination of dirty roads and bad rains makes it an ideal place to visit during the dry months. The monsoons though breathtaking, makes life a living hell literally due to all the water logging and the problems that come with it.

How to get there - Guwahati is well connected by flights and trains to all major cities in India, and at very good frequencies (at least a flight per day).

Things to do- Guwahati is a city that offers unlimited prospects for the enthusiastic traveller. For the young and the old, for the spiritual and the partying kind, for everyone this beautiful city has something special stored. For the first timers , its the breathtaking beauty of this city that will first hit you. Surrounded by green rolling hills and the mighty Brahmaputra cutting in right in between presents picture perfect postcard stuff.
There are a number of temples in and around Guwahati. But the temples that I suggest one should not miss out are Kamakhya Temple, Haigrib Madhav Temple which is about 40 km from Guwahati. Dol Govindio and Aswaklanta on the Northern Banks of Bramhaputra. The goddess Kamakhya is an avatar of the fierce Hindu goddess Kali. This temple is the centre of the Tantric Style of worship and devotees pour in thousands from every nook and corner of the country. Animal sacrifice is still prevalent and lot of people believe it to be gross and inhumane.

The other activity which one should dig into while on a trip to North East is eating. A dream come true for non vegetarians, Guwahati is a connoisseur's delight who have a penchant for chicken , meat, pork and fish. Following is the list of the most popular eating joints in Guwahati:

At the number one position is this small roadside eating joint called "Reboti" situated in a locality called Panbazar. A favourite among the school going, college going and the office going crowd, be sure not to miss the "Chow Meins", the rolls and the parathas here.

Momo Ghar near Dighali Pukhuri is the best place in the world to have Momos. The prices are affordable and the taste is world class.

Robin Cabin in Fancy Bazar makes great Mughlai food, Paraths and chops. The "kabiraji" chop here is a speciality.

Most of the Chinese joints here make food which taste better to me than the one's prepared at Mainland China or similar plush places. China Town on Rajgarh Road, Chung Fa on the Zoo Narengi Road are must visit places.
For the local cuisine there are a plethora of hotels which make excellent food.
The list would be endless but the other places one should definitely not miss out are Chinese Hut, Sheikh Brother, Cake Corner.
Though the pub culture is pretty recent in Guwahati there are quiet a few Pubs where one can relax with Great Music and some really good drinks.

North East is the rock ,country and blues music capital of India. Every kid growing up here
wants to pluck riffs like Hendrix or roll the drums like Bonham. You might be pleasantly surprised to find the amount of knowledge people out here have, about Western Music. They can talk and appreciate very comfortably the music of Joplin, The Doors and find equally at ease in talking about Hemant, Kishore et al . It is music which instills hope and desire for a peaceful atmosphere in this extremist ridden part of the country.


A stroll through Fancy Bazar - the market square of this city is also advised. The mouth watering Paani Puris more popularly know as Puchkas in this part of the country are to be surely had out here. A number of evening boat rides on the Brahmaputra come into life after dusk. Though i have never been on any one of them, I have heard that they are good and advise one to try out.

I always believe the best way of knowing about any place one visits is to become a part of the place. Soak into its culture. Interact with the natives and know from them. Gives you a lot of insights that travel books or a common place blog like this one cannot offer.

Places to stay and modes of Travel: There are a range of Hotels both economy and expensive ones to cater to every kind of budget. City buss ply on all routes. Besides them one can travel on Auto Rickshaws (a tad too costly), cycle rickshaws, Sumos and ask for lifts too.

Guwahati could be christened the Base Camp for all who want to travel further into the North East, because most places in the North East are connected by roads from here. Be it Meghalaya, Arunachal, Nagaland or any other place, a visit to Guwahati is imperative.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain