A Different Kind Of Wild

Largely unmapped and undoubtedly breathtaking, Arunachal Pradesh, in the northeastern corner of India, is where a wild but cultured life is lived—amidst untouched nature, raging rivers, and soaring hills.

- Sushmita Srivastav

BLAME IT ON exhaustion from the day-long travel, but it doesn’t look real at first. Rubbing my eyes, I sit up straight as our jeep screeches to a halt right in front of the Golden Pagoda at Tengapani in Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh. Shimmering under the inky blue sky, the aureate monument looks like a dream. John, the man behind the wheel and my very first friend here, chuckles at the look on my face but doesn’t seem surprised. “That happens to everybody,” he tells me. I am assured that I will be wearing the stunning look many a time over the next three days of my Arunachal expedition—from Namsai to Roing to the Abor Country River Camp at Pasighat.

The sobriquet of ‘the land of dawn-lit mountains’ suits Arunachal Pradesh—the sun rises early in this part of the world, as does everyone who calls it home. I, too, decide to swap the comfort of my room at the Golden Pagoda Eco Resort, for a morning stroll. The young bhikkus or Buddhist monks are prepping for the upcoming Sangken Festival at the Golden Pagoda. Popularly known as Kongmu Kham in Khamti language, it sits atop a plateau overlooking the Patkai Hills and is the centre of Theravada Buddhism (one of the two major offshoots of Buddhism). Across the road, there’s Noi Cheynam Meditation Centre with the highest bamboo statue of Buddha in the world. There’s absolute calm in the air, and I settle down to meditate almost on instinct.