May
8 2007
True
Account of a Visit to Assam, India
10.12.52 – 8.1.1953
by Donald
M.J. Provan
Photos by
Alec Provan
Introduction
Sander and I travelled from Elgin
to Digboi in Assam to spend our Christmas holidays with
Mum and Dad, travelling by KLM as I remember. We stopped over in
Amsterdam and Basrah?, then Calcutta where I very well
remember the poor living in the streets. Thereafter we flew
in a DC3 up country to a small airport (?Gauhati). The following is
a log I kept of the holiday – I have copied it more or less
verbatim, bear in mind I was only 15! The diary is still with
me, but the following (typed up some 50 years later in 2004/05) is
probably easier to decipher than my handwriting. Sander took
a load of pictures and I have copied the best ones from
his album to illustrate the trip.
10th Dec,
Saturday. Arrived at Mohambare. Came
up to Digboi in car, had picnic en route. After tea went down to the
Golf Club.
Sunday
Went out fishing in the Namphuk? River
with Jocky Gordon who caught a 2 ½ pounder
(mahseer). Sander had a small one. Saw
2 elephants and shot the rapids in canoe with the cook.
Monday
Was shown round the refinery, very
interesting. (I recall dipping my hand in a bath of molten
wax like an idiot and seeing the shocked faces
of Dads’ engineers who were taking us round). Went
down to golf in the afternoon with Mum and Dad.
Tuesday
Went to golf and had a swim. In the
evening had an evening of Scottish Country Dancing. Sander
taught some square dancing. Received with much enthusiasm. Went over
to dinner with Jimmy Watson.
Wednesday
Played golf and then had Mr. and Mrs.
Horne over for dinner.
Thursday
Went down the coalmines at Margherita
with Antony Petigrew Johnston. Very interesting but terribly
hot. Visited the veneer mills in the afternoon. After coming home
Sander sang in the choir while Dad
and I played billiards. He beat me.
Friday
Was over at a woman’s meeting with
Mum at Mrs. Williams. Very boring. Also had a few shots
of .22 airgun in the afternoon. Went through the refinery again with
Sander.
Saturday
Went along to the Forestry Office with
Sander, Mum. Michael and Rory. Had a snooze in the afternoon
and then played a couple of games of tennis. Went out to a party at
Ted and Rita Smith’s, they have a
teagarden
Sunday
Went up to the Sunpura Bungalow. Had a nice trip in the ferry across
the Lohit river, though it was a
bit slow. Went up the Boligan river in the dugout and had an hour’s
fishing. Heard the jackals in the
evening.
Monday
Went up the river again after a little
fishing at the bungalow. No luck. When we arrived at the right
place caught a nice pounder. Had a dusty trip back, Saw some monkeys
and a jackal.
Tuesday Had
Antony P. Johnston down for the day. Played 5 holes of golf in the
morning, played tennis for a while
and then went down for a swim. After that we had tea in the club and
then took a photo of Santa Claus
arriving on an elephant for the children’s party. Went down to the
club for the Scottish country dancing, Sander
taught some square dancing.
Wednesday (Christmas Evening)
Spent the morning pottering around
with the airgun and then decorated the house. Ann andRobbie McGregor
came to visit Mum. Had a lie back in the afternoon and then played
tennis with Sander. We had Jimmy
Watson and Mr. and Mrs. McGregor over for dinner and then
went off to a dance. As we were very tired
Jimmy and I didn’t go, but went to bed ! Theothers arrived at 3.30
on Christmas Day.
Thursday
Received presents. Had a visit from
Jimmy and Mr. and Mrs. McGregor. Spent a very busy day
packing for our trip up river.
Friday
Started off at 9.45 am. Found the road down to
the river was only an elephant track. Drove on to the
Forestry Office. He did not know much about the place but gave us 6
Naga coolies !
The path to the river was infested
with leeches- Sander and Mum went off first with 2 boats, then
we went up river when they came back- Nice camp site on an island
in the river. Fished a little round the camp in the evening.
(Note that Sander has drawn a map of the rivers in my diary;
along with a note on how he calculated the weight (16.3 lb) of a
junga peethia (mahseer) caught on a
No. 7 spoon in the Maganton River).
Saturday
Went up the Namphuk for 1 ½ hours
with 2 boatmen while Mum tidied up the camp. Came to good
fishing water but too shallow and water awfully clear. Went down
river to where boatmen said they
caught the fish they gave us on Thursday. Good place, but water too
muddy.
Sunday
Had Ted Reid, Mrs. Lewis, Michael and
Rory and the driver up, Dad and I went down river to meet
them. I picked up a few leeches. When they arrived at 10 am we took
them to the boats. Had lunch at
camp and then Sander, Michael, Rory and I went up the river in a
dugout. We poled. Went up the mouth
of the Carzan river. Saw a herd of wild buffalo. We passed them
slowly as we were afraid they would come in
after us. We then raced down the river for the cameras,
but met Ted and Dad who had come up river to look for us at Mrs.
Lewis’s request. They went off down river with Mum and Sander at 3
pm.
Monday
Woke up at 3.30 am and heard a
pattering on the roof, then a flash of lightning. Realised we
were in the middle of a thunderstorm! The wind
was blowing the flaps of the tent about. There were
great claps of thunder. Sander went out and saved the mosquito nets
which Mum had put up as an awning.
Dad intended to go out but as he had dressed quickly he wasn’t
wanting to get soaked as he had no
change of clothing. Sander came in soaking, he was in his pyjamas.
Went up the Magamton River in the morning,
taking a few biscuits and an orange for lunch. I caught
a 1 lb junga peethia after 2 minutes. Dad caught a nice 5 lb j.
peethia and a horrid looking Guria.
Had lunch when we came home at 4. Sander and I went out with the
boatmen and the Jal (net). They
hoped to catch wee fish for curry, but only caught two. However,
they caught 3 nice pounders. Were
frightened we would have another storm, but did’nt have one.
Tuesday
Wrote log in bed. Went up river at
9.50 am. I got a big bite which bent my hook but the fish
got away. Went up river again to look for the
Kaeki Ca river but did’nt find anything. Had lunch
and then had a few casts. Came down again and then fished some more.
Sander hooked a big one and it went
right down the rapids for about ½ mile. He had a very hard fight,
up to his knees in mud and then
running over the shingle. He at last landed it. It was about 16 lb.
Had a few more casts and then came down river
again. Measured Sander’s fish. It was 36 in. long
and 18 in. in circumference. He made a mask of it in the sand and
asked the cook to kep the gill
bones. Had dinner and then went up river a bit in the dugout with
Mum and Sander to see if we could
see any game. Didn’t go very far. Thought we were going to have
another storm but nothing came of
it.
Wednesday – New Year’s Eve
Our last day of fishing. Writing log
in bed. Sun just rising. Went off up river again, fished morning
without success. In the afternoon Dad caught a 6 pounder and I
caught a ¼ pounder. The spoon was
nearly as big as the fish. Sander tried to get a photo of a couple
of tame elephants but they went
back into the jungle. He also tried for a sambar deer but it walked
back into the jungle. He also tried for a
photo of a couple of wild buffalo but got chased for his
life.
Thursday – New Year’s Day
Sander and I went down river to meet
Doc. Briers and Jimmy Donaldson. This is a miracle because
they both went to bed at 3 am and J. Donaldson comes from Glasgow.
We had a few casts with the fishing
net while waiting but didn’t catch anything. We came up river
after meeting them and had
lunch- Sander tried to catch the ground-feeding fish with dough but
didn’t get anything. Had a few swims. After
lunch we all went up river in canoe for about an hour.
Sander got a photo of a herd of wild buffalo. Had a swim coming
down. Had tea and then Sander and
Mum went down river with Jimmy and Doc. Briers. Got the camp tidied
up while they were away.
Friday
Went down Maganton River to Namphi
Mukh river and then up the Namphi river. Took two hours.
When we reached Namchik river went up it to mouth of Carzan river.
Had lunch there (map on back page).
Fished for a while and then went down Namchik to our camp site.
Tidied up camp a bit. Saw sambar
deer and some buffalo on the way.
Saturday
Struck camp Went down river in two
boats. Left Namchik alley at 11 am. Got to Digboi at 12 o’clock.
Got things off lorry. Had lunch, watered the lawn. Had bath and then
tea. Went down for some messages
and then had dinner.
Sunday
Took fishing reel to bits and got all
the kit dried out. Had a few shots of airgun, hit a pigeon.
Had snooze in the afternoon and then had a
drive round the oilfield with the shotgun and .22 rife.
Left the car and had a walk down a jungle path but did not see
anything. Had bath and got dressed
for dinner at Sinclair’s when we got home.
Monday
We were supposed to be going to
Kazarunga Reserve Forest at 6 am, but the Inspection Bungalow
was booked up. I played golf in the morning with Sander. Had lunch
and then had word from Chunilall’s
(who were fixing up the arrangements for Kazarunga for us) that the
I.Bungalow was booked up by a Government party
on Tuesday, but they could fix up an I. Bungalow
at Bagari for us tonight if we left at 2 pm. They phoned us at 1 pm.
Phoned Jeremy Westwood’s mother
to tell Jeremy that we were going tha t day. Had an awful rush for
food and so on and got away at 2.10
pm. Arrived at 11.30 pm after a tiring 189 miles. Had a few
biscuits and went to bed.
Tuesday
Were called at 4 am. Had a meal then
drove down to Kazarunga. Went down a rough track and
found the elephants we should ride on. Left at 5 am and went all
over the place for about 4 miles.
Very bumpy, through swamps and tiger grass. Back at 10 am. Saw 4
rhinos, 9 wild buffalo, 1 swamp
deer, 11 wild pig, many barking- and other deer. Returned to
Inspection Bungalow and had meal
before driving back to Digboi . Stopped at Tinsukia to see Paddy
Finlayson and J. Bandeem. Had a drink. Saw a
leopard 26 miles past Dibrugarh. Saw a few jackals,
got back at 10.45 pm.
Wednesday
Up at 10.30 am and had breakfast in
bed. Pottered around in the morning. Had a rest in the afternoon
and then had Jimmy Donaldson with his gramophone and records for the
party. Had dinner at the McGregors.
Thursday
Spent most of the day pottering
around, putting up fairy lights etc. for the party. After lunch
had a shooting match with Dad, Sander and Mum,
with the gramophone records as targets. Dad
won. After tea bathed and changed for the party. It started at 7.30
and lasted until 12.30. Very good
with plenty to eat.
Friday
Went over to Smith’s tea garden in
the morning with Sander. He drove. Ted Smith took us all round
the factory and gardens for an hour. We had a date with Doc. Clark
who was coming up to our house for
coffee so had to leave. Very interesting tour. When e got back Doc.
Clark had just left. In the
afternoon played tennis with Jeremy Westwood. Good game. Got my hair
cut in the club afterwards. Came
back and after tea got ready to go to Lewis’ for dinner. Eddie
Corps and Doc. Briers were there. Went to bed
at 11 pm.
Saturday, 10th January
Last day, got packed up.
---------------------------------------------
Note
Sander’s Jungapeethi (mahseer), caught in Maganton River,
30.12.52, on no. 7 spoon, 1600hrs.
Weight = 1 1/3 length x girth2 /1000
length = 36”, girth =18.5”
Weight = (36 x 2/3 X 18.5 x 18.5)/1000= 16.3 lbs.
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5. Ann, Robbie McGregor, garden
gnome and me |
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6. Christmas party at the Club
– Santa’s arrival |
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7. Christmas party – Ann,
Robbie, Sander and me |
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8. Jimmie Watson and Ann McGregor |
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9. Ferry crossing on our camping
trip, with Standard Vanguard |
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10. Vanguard bogged down. Mum
supervising |
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11. At path down to the river,
Dad’s driver, me, Mum and Dad |
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12. Our boatmen with dugout
canoes, Sander and me |
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13. Michael & Rory ?, Sander
and me – homemade raft |
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14. Family group, with the cook
in background
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