When rhododendrons bloom in hills

They say every town has a story to tell. Some towns, however, can leave you wanting to tell stories about them for the rest of your lives. The small hill town of Rupa in Arunachal Pradesh is one such place where many stories abound. I began my school education in Rupa, which was a five-hour journey from Bomdila in West Kameng district.

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After the 1971 war, we moved to the small hamlet that nestled on the banks of the Tenga river when my father Captain Rajinder Singh got posted there. My most vivid memories are of travelling to school along the beautiful waterfront in army trucks. Right across from our school were the tranquil settlements of the local tribes with imposing Himalayas in the backdrop.

Come spring, the entire river valley would turn bright red, when thousands of shrubs of beautiful rhododendron would bloom. Decades have gone but even now the rhododendrons still fascinate me and I go looking for these flowers when they bloom in the hills in spring. Their sight takes me back to the valleys where I spent my earliest years.

Neelam Chandel, Chandigarh