Volume 35, Issue 6, March 2008 - Posoowa

have to enter the grounds of the Satra
bare-footed. That creates a practical
problem of the pain of walking on
small pebbles. As we walked we saw
a man gathering firewood. We
‘Bhokot’ preparing the rice for cooking
stopped to say hello. What followed
was display of unbelievable modesty
and gentleness that humbled us. He
offered to drop everything and show
us around. We went to his living
quarter that was built of bamboo and
reeds and did not have a concrete
floor. But it was immaculately clean
Shree Shree Hem Chandra Deva
Goswami, Satradhikar, Auniati Satra
with an open fire. He had been at the
Satra for more than 40 years since
he was 9 years of age. His family was
displaced by the floods and they did
not have the resources to look after
him.
Thus he was taken in and there he
remains till his “call comes”, as he
put it. He insisted that we must have
some tea that we declined and then
he insisted that we should have Paan
and betel nut. We then came across a
boy of about 8 who was sweeping
the grounds. Once again, he was the
epitome of modesty and politeness.
He had been there for about 18
months and he appeared to be content
with what the Satra had to offer.
He was learning to dance (Satriya
Dance). He was dedicated to the
Satra by his parents at the age of 7
and is visited by his family about
once a year.
We were guided to the main centre
where the Satradhikar (the Head) received
us with immense politeness
and dignity. We learnt later that he is
a highly qualified man who had a
PhD. We then went around the large
auditorium that holds cultural and
religious functions like evening
prayer, Raas Lila, Satriya dances and
so on.
Lesson 2: it costs nothing to treat others
with dignity, politeness and respect
and for peace of mind one does
not need material comforts.
The New Year eve party took the
form of a singing contest dedicated
to finding the “ Voice of Majuli”. It
was entertaining. We were towards
the backend of the auditorium. A
group of local youngsters came towards
us and asked, “Where do you
come from” to which I said “ Bopai,
Aami Dibrugarhar”. Profusely apologetic,
they insisted on us sitting down
in the front row. The heavy presence
of security was quite daunting especially
when the power supply got cut
off.
The New Years Eve dinner was a take
away from the aforementioned “not
very appetising place” but we were
hungry and relished the fried fish.
Sleeping under a mosquito net was a
novelty experienced after many
years. The lady of the house cooked
the Luchi Bhajee breakfast the following
morning. We planned to visit
another Satra but the condition of the
road deteriorated after a few
kilometres from where we were stay-
Page 5 * POSOOWA, March 2008
ing and we abandoned the trip and
headed for the boat to continue our
quest for heritage – Bordowa that is
the subject of part 2.
What a remarkable and humbling experience
– we said
to one another on
the boat.
By Ranjit K Baruah
Nottingham
England
Ranjit Baruah was born and brought
up in Jorhat, Assam. He is one of 5
children who started Balya Bhavan
which was avant-garde in primary
school education and was the first ever
school in Assam that adopted the
Montessory method. He went onto to
graduate from Assam Medical College,
Dibrugarh and then joined the
Indian Armed Forces Medical Services
for 4 years. After a short period of
employment in the tea industry he
came to the United Kingdom and went
onto train in Psychiatry at Dumfries,
Scotland and then at Canterbury and
London in England. He was appointed
a Consultant Psychiatrist in
Nottingham in 1981 where he still lives
with his wife. After holding several offices
for the Royal College of Psychiatrists
both locally and centrally in
London he retired from active clinical
practice as a Clinical Director,
Rampton Hospital which is one of 3
high security psychiatric hospitals in
England being responsible for day today
running of some 250 beds. Since
retirement he and his wife have spent
most of their time in travelling all over
the world including regular trips to
India.