Bicycle rides on Brahmaputra’s banks in Dibrugarh

Some memories never fade away — of places, of people and neighbourhoods, and remain as fresh and vivid as if they happened yesterday. My visits to Dibrugarh, Assam, on the banks of Brahmaputra, famous for its vast tea plantations, are part of such memories.

My parents took me and my sibling to this quaint town during our summer holidays to our grandparents’ home. They lived in a place called Tinkunia, very close to the embankment of the Brahmaputra river.

During the visits, we would routinely go for strolls along the embankment. The views of the Brahmaputra river flowing majestically and the stunning landscape dotted with trees and a row of colonial buildings-turned-offices and courts used to be breath-taking.

There was a rickety wooden pier extending to the river and we used to tread carefully, lest our chappals got stuck in the gaps in between the wooden planks.

I also learnt how to ride a bicycle, falling and tripping, ripping my knees so many times.

I would frequent Graham Bazaar on bicycle with my uncle, where we would relish dosas, rounding it off with the special meetha paan from the famous Sukhlal paan dukan.

I also loved to visit the lush tea gardens dotting the town and also the sprawling campus of Assam Medical College & Hospital.

I drive other vehicles now but the memories of my childhood days and maiden cycle rides in Dibrugarh often flash in my mind.

Sabir Nishat, Guwahati