Where are you from?

“Where are you from?”

“From Agartala, Tripura.”

“Where is it?”, asked with a wondering gesture.

“Near Assam”, I replied in saddened tone.

When I was in Tamil Nadu, I was shocked that many people there knew existence of other north-eastern states except Tripura which was my place. I was deeply shocked. I used to wonder whether they studied geography in their school days or not. May be they studied but forgotten existence of this place due to lack of popularity. They knew Assam because of it’s world-famous tea.

In Kaun Banega Crorepati, some contestants from Assam won respectable amount. Slowly I started to believe most of the Indians knew Assam. These days I watch a lot of travel series on Television. Travelling to Sikkim, showcasing their traditional butter-tea, archery games; travelling to Nagaland, showcasing their traditional cuisines and beer, natural beauty of this place; travelling to Manipur, showcasing famous Loktak Lake, their traditional foods etc. are commonly broadcast. Roadtrip programs showing Shillong and various passes of Arunachal Pradesh are mindblowing.

But what about Tripura? Recently, some sports fans and followers know Deepa Karmakar which pacifies my wounded heart for some time. I have visited many places and in general I can say majority of Indian population do not know “Tripura”. If someone comes to know my name, and the language I speak, they think Tripura is in West Bengal!

In winter, sometimes it rains. But in 2018 December there were constant rains for around 4-5 days like rainy days. I wondered what if instead of water-drops these were snow-flakes! We would have skied for some days, posted selfies on social media with white background, though it would have been a signal of “global warming” and “climate change” to the scientists! There would have been flocks of scientists flying from around the globe studying the “whys, hows, where, when, what” etc. of this phenomenon but at least people would have come to know of a place named “Tripura which is not in West Bengal”!

Two years back, I was in a trip to Mayapur, West Bengal. My cab-driver asked, “where are you from?” I said, “from Tripura” and told to myself, “now this man would wonder where Tripura is”.

As I am born and brought up in Agartala – capital of Tripura, I have seen many changes of this place in terms of infrastructures, attitudes towards adapting city-life style of people, street-food culture etc. People delve into western fashion, photography and tour now-a-days more than before and I just love this change!

When it comes to places to visit in Tripura….I find it very difficult to finalise my list as I am totally into travel and beauty whether it’s the creation of mankind or by mother nature. Each and every route outside the capital leads to an amazing trail and I cannot stop myself from admiring the stunning beauty of Tripura. Mysteriously attractive places like Chhabimura, Neer Mahal, Bhubaneswari Temple, Buddhist relics in Boxnagar,  Unakoti etc. will leave you speechless. There are awe-inspiring trekking routes in Amarpur, eastern South Tripura district (Srikantabari, Kowaifung to be named), North Tripura (for example, Jampui and other places of Kanchanpur), Dhalai with breathtaking beauty. There are so many incredible places in Tripura that even many people of this state do not know. These places are very less explored and less known to the outside world.

Tripura is full of natural and man-made wonders, culturally unique, rarely highlighted in the media. If you visit Tripura with an open heart, you would definitely return with innumerable splendid memories….memories to be cherished forever and ever….