When I first decided to visit Tripura, I got a mixed reaction from the friends and colleagues. After all, who would like to visit Tripura solely, if there is no purpose to enter in Bangladesh through Akhaura Border in Agartala? But when you live in Guwahati and relocated there with a specific purpose to visit North East India, tiny Tripura also becomes a part of your travel goals. And, that is why I decided to visit the small and less touristy portion of my country.
One fine day I was boarded an express train from Kamakhya Junction in Assam to Agartala in Tripura and the journey started. It was not so smooth though, but Tripura didn’t puzzle me like other states in North East India.
This post is a snapshots of the 5 days road and rail journeys through the state of Tripura, part of the seven sisters in North East India, yet having a distinct character of its own.
Day 0 and Day 1, Reaching Agartala: The journey started from Guwahati Airport in the night to catch an early morning train from Guwahati junction, approx 25 kms away from the airport. Actually, my ticket was from Kamakhya junction, but Guwahati Station is having better accommodation facilities in the vicinity. So, the plan was to spend a night in any hotel near Paltan Bazar Area to catch that 4.00 AM train. But, while travelling from the airport area to Adabari, I forgot my mobile phone in the auto-rickshaw. When I boarded another auto from Adabari to Guwahati junction, I realised the same and quickly returned to the first place by an auto. But, the first auto had been disappeared from the scene already. I asked someone else’s mobile and dialed my number. After one full ring, the phone was switched off by the person, who found that.
I understood quickly that I was not going to find the mobile. So, I initiated the process of SIM Blocking and Password Changes for the banks, e-mails, social medias and other critical apps. Luckily, I had another tablet with one working SIM in my bag. It was a major setback in the beginning of my journey, and forced me to reconsider my options for continuing the trip. But, since the precious leaves were already planned, I didn’t find any benefit to cancel them.
Without any hesitation, I decided to go forward on the trip. However, there was a change in the initial plan. Instead of reaching Guwahati, I went to the nearby Kamakhya junction. I was supposed to spend many hours in the process of password changes/re-settings etc, therefore, a good sleep in a hotel room was out of question. I sat in a corner at the railway station and completed all the required tasks.
The train was only 30 minutes late. I boarded the train and soon went to sleep. When I woke up again, it was around 12 noon. The train was passing somewhere near Haflong. During the rains, the hills of Haflong-Jatinga area present a spectacular vista. In curiosity, I just stepped down from the upper birth and stood near the gate. The outside view was indeed beautiful, but not like the raining season. I was there at the door for 3-4 hours, while occasionally chatting with fellow travellers and gaining some navigation tips for my trip. Nothing significant happened till we reach Agartala in the late evening, 40 minutes prior to our scheduled arrival time.
Day 2, Neer Mahal (Melaghar) and Udaipur: The trip to Tripura actually started. There was a big dilemma, whether to use the public transport or a scooty offered by a local friend. A scooty is good for city commutes, but taking that on a long ride might had some issues. However, it could offer a freedom of movement. Tripura isn’t so big that I had to travel for long distances. At the end, I opted for scooty ride. I never handled a scooty before except few occasional trips in Thailand, so it was a lot of skidding and goose-bumping initially, but slowly I became comfortable with the ride.
Before moving outside the city of Agartala, I wanted to fix the issues with my lost SIM card. I went to Vodafone store in the city. It was a postpaid connection. After mandatory verification of the right owner, they issued me a new SIM card. It was a simple and straight forward process of 15-20 minutes. After 2 hours, it started working well and brought me a big relief.
My first destination was Melaghar, home to a beautiful exotic palace ‘Neer Mahal’. The road upto Bishalgarh was very smooth and after that, it was a bit of bumpy ride upto Melaghar. But, overall the road condition is very well on that stretch. Petrol pumps are available at regular intervals, but in the city limit of Agartala or other big town like Bishalgarh, I observed long queues on the petrol pumps. In small towns, it is okay to refuel the tank quickly. The smaller fuel tank of scooty was not a comfortable sign in the remote areas of Tripura. However, I refueled regularly and kept it moving.
When I saw the first glimpse of Neer Mahal, I was just awestruck. In the middle of a huge lake, Rudra Sagar, it is a big and beautiful architecture attracting the visitors instantly. Concrete stairs are erected on the lake shore, where the tourists can sit and enjoy the breathtaking beauty of Neer Mahal. Hired as well as public boats are available to visit the palace.
After visiting Neer Mahal, my next destination was Matabari. It is the home of a highly revered temple, Tripura Sundari Temple, one of the 51 shaktipeethas near Udaipur town. It is believed to be one of the holiest Hindu shrine in North East India, just like the Kamakhya Dhaam in Guwahati. Every year on the occasion of Diwali, a famous Mela takes place near the temple which is visited by thousands of pilgrims from all around.
I also visited few ancient temples in Udaipur town, notably Bhubaneshwari Temple, Chaturdash Devta Temple and Gunabati Group of Temples.
Day 3, Dumboor Lake and Chabimura: Next day, I went towards Amarpur with no particular plan in my mind. I read that there was Dumboor Lake, approx 50 kms away and one ancient site Chabimura, approx 10 kms away from Amarpur. Still, I wasn’t sure about the destination, because I was very skeptical about road conditions in the interior of Tripura. The road was smooth with occasional bad patches upto Amarpur and it appeared good towards Jatanbari that lies on the way to Dumboor. So, I decided to visit Dumboor Lake first. Dumboor Lake is a huge water body in the eastern part of Tripura and one of the most attractive destination among the locals. Due to its remote location, it is not so popular among the outside visitors. So, I was the only tourist, local or outsider, on that particular day at Dumboor.
It is possible to visit the inner sections of Dumboor Lake by hiring a boat. During the peak picnic season and on the weekends, when there is rush of visitors, the shared boat ride for 2 hours is available at the cost of Rs. 200 per person. The minimum number of visitors required is 10. But, when you reach there alone like me, you have to hire an entire boat after paying Rs. 2000 . It can be negotiated upto Rs. 1500 . I didn’t have that 2 hours at my side, so I didn’t opt for the boat ride.
After Dumboor Lake, I returned towards Amarpur. There was dilemma in my mind, whether to proceed towards Sambroo in the Southern Part of Tripura or Chabimura near Amarpur. But, the roads in the interior of Tripura was deserted with almost negligible traffic, so I decided not to venture out far and went to Chabimura and I am glad that I did that. It is a very beautiful ancient site, famous for many religious carvings on the hillside along the riverbank. But, the highlight of Chabimura is one hour shared boat ride in Gomati River. It carried away the disappointment of not doing a boat ride at Dumboor Lake.
It was 4.30 PM by the time I moved out from Chabimura. Since the sun sets early in this part of country, I had to rush to Udaipur to stay in the same property near Matabari like the night before.
Day 4, Pilak and Agartala: I wanted to be there in Agartala to visit the local attractions. But there was a strong desire to ride towards the Southern Part of Tripura upto Sabroom, 70 kms away from Udaipur. The highway NH-8 was in good shape near Udaipur, but there was no guarantee, whether it would be good upto Sabroom. I thought that I would quickly ride on the smooth stretch of the highway and if encounter any bad stretch, I would better return towards Agartala from that point only. It turned out to be the best decision to ride on NH-8 from Udaipur to Sabroom. It is a perfectly smooth highway, passing through the small villages, towns and long stretches of deciduous forests and offering mesmerizing landscapes. A signboard indicated that I was crossing the Tropic of Cancer while moving on that highway.
I stopped at Pilak village and visited some ancient ruins. Surprisingly, there is an ancient ruins of Buddhist Monastery also, otherwise Hinduism is the major religion of Tripura with significant presence of Muslim population.
After Pilak, I did not go to Sabroom and moved back to Agartala. While passing through Gokulnagar, I found a board indicating the way to Kalibari Temple. Kalibari Temple is located on the bank of a pond known as Kamla Sagar, forming the international boundary of India and Bangladesh. On the other side of the border is the town of Kasba in Bangladesh. Sometimes, this area is also referred as Kasba Kalibari. It is a beautiful temple, and highly revered among the Bengali Hindus.
After the partition of India and East Pakistan, there was an interesting story related to Kasba Kalibari. Since, there was no railway line in the Indian side before the commencing of Agartala section just few years ago, I large number of Indian residents used to come there to see the train that operated in Bangladesh. I was also able to spot a train on the other side of the border.
From Kalibari Temple, I returned to Agartala. There I visited Ujjayanta Palace Museum. The palace is out of bound for the visitors, but a section of palace is converted in a museum , and is accessible to the general public. It is a very good museum showcasing the artifacts of not only Tripura, but from other seven sister states as well as from the South East Asia.
Form Ujjayanta Palace, I visited few small temples like Laxmi Narayan Temple, a Jain Temple , A Kali Mata Temple before proceeding to the International Border between Indian and Bangladesh at Akhaurah. The flag hosting ceremony at Akhaurah Border takes place at 4.30 PM in the evening . It wasn’t a much fanfare like Wagah Border between India and Pakistan.
Day 5, Unakoti Temple, Karimganj and Silchar: It was the last day of Tripura Trip. I left Agartala by an early morning train and went to Unakoti, the most prominent tourist attraction of Tripura . Giant stone carvings in the middle of the forest of Unakoti attract many visitors everyday.
After visiting Unakoti, I went to Karimganj, one of the most interesting town on India-Bangladesh Border. It is just 60 kms away from Sylhet in Bangladesh. At other places, border area is isolated from the rest of the population by creating buffer zones by the Border Security Forces. There, at Karimganj, the border fences are just at the end of the town. The other side of the border is right in front of the town across the Barak River, that forms an International Boundary of India and Bangladesh. No doubt, it is considered as one of the most porous border for Bangladeshi Immigrants, other one at Dhubri sector.
At the end of the last day , I arrived in Silchar, the biggest city in Barak Valley. My train was after 2 hours , so I roamed around the Silchar railway station. But it wasn’t very interesting experience. Finally, I boarded an overnight train to Guwahati and the trip to tiny Tripura ended with many beautiful memories.
In my opinion, Tripura dosn’t offer natural breathtaking vista like other states in North East India, yet the old princely state has its own ancient charm with the blend of history and religion. Its proximity to Bangladesh makes it an interesting place to observe the cross border exchanges in India.
