The sky was finally clear after the long spell of fog throughout the December day. The sun was on its way down under another beautiful winter sky. As we started crossing the Naranarayan Setu- the third bridge over the Brahmaputra, the sun looked like a huge soft red ball that would hang suspended for a while just above the horizon. By the time we reached the other end of the bridge, I could still see part of the red ball, finally slipping out of the sky. I was remembering how, till a few years back, crossing the river by ferry plying between Jogighopa and Pancharatna used to be such an arduous task.

When this third bridge over the Brahmaputra was opened for traffic some years back, I wondered if it would bring a sort of rampant commercial prosperity to its nearest town Goalpara. On hind sight, luckily it did not, as the railway line and the highway bypassed the old town of Goalpara by many kilometres. Despite Naranarayan Setu bringing it a little closer to the mainland, Goalpara remained as before - one of Assam’s most isolated yet productive regions with very little commercialisation over the last six decades after independence.

Thus, even today, Goalpara is a world apart. A pristine town remaining unchanged since the British era, characterised with remarkable variety of undisturbed scenic beauty and a placid, unconstrained life style. While almost all other district head quarters of Assam were rapidly changing their faces, Goalpara remained one of Assam’s obscure towns, with exciting natural topography, rich cultural heritage but poor economy. It is perhaps one of the few towns of the entire Northeast region of India that still live in the spell of a bygone era. The town may even appear cold, desolate, lonely and lifeless to a new comer, but it's inherent pulse and the innate warmth start affecting you once you stay-on for a while. Few visitors to the town would return untouched by the unique ambience of this forgotten corner of the region.

Goalpara, so far, seems to have succeeded in remaining away from the grip of an all encompassing consumerism. It can still boast of only a limited number of vehicles (hence better roads, few accidents and no traffic jams), unpolluted air, unburdened civic facilities, substantial green cover and adequate supply of essentials. Even now, as the rains pelt its sandy river banks and soak the trees, the whole of Goalpara becomes rejuvenated with a sylvan spirit. Both plants and human beings of the town have new life pumped into them with the arrival of the spring. As autumn sets in the white dust from the river makes way for the moist and sweet air.

Goalpara has immense tourism potential. With a majestic view of the vast floodplains dotted with green villages, very few places have their government offices located in such a picturesque setting. The eastern face of the Hulukanda hill, which lies in the back of the town, is a prime site for viewing spectacular river landscapes with unending scope of cherishing kaleidoscopic river life. Herds of wild ducks, cranes, egrets, herons, ibises and other wading birds make it an excellent bird-watching spot too. Swirling waters and waves of the Brahmaputra splash against the rocks below the old circuit house, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautifully located government bungalows of the state. The awesome majesty and brilliance of the psychedelic sun sets from Hulukanda are simply enthralling.

The Hulukanda is still home to several hundred monkeys and a large number of birds. Tragically, most of the trees of Hulukanda are too gone today; and with that the herds of hares, squirrels, birds and a host of other wildlife. It is difficult to imagine that once the jungles of Hulukanda were teeming with more wild animals than what is found today in many reserve forests and sanctuaries.

For how long Goalpara, one of Assam’s oldest towns can face the onslaught of time and maintains the precarious balance between progress and tradition is yet to be seen. It is hard to conceive another place where a combination of old and new has created such a quiet, contented and unhurried life style. When you add to all these, the clear sky, the serene Brahmaputra , secluded hills and white sheets of sand islands that even many sea beaches would envy, you begin to understand why this remote, sparsely populated piece of land at the south-west corner of the Assam may become an increasingly sought-after experience in the years to come.

I would perhaps rather try to convince people, particularly those who live in busy cities, that inestimable places like Goalpara, still in their old milieu, are privileges and not embarrassments that need to be refashioned after their prosperous counterparts elsewhere. Those who are sensible would look at Goalpara as one of the cherished towns with its unique appeal left untarnished. It will be unfortunate if one day Goalpara itself decides to shun its old image of an idyllic and evergreen town, in the futile attempt of keeping pace with changing time.

Photographs by the author