Stream or Consciousness?

These are pictures of the debating trip we had in Gwahati. We went to Cotton's College for the prestigious Manik Chandra Barua Memorial Debate which we eventually won. The day before the debate me and my partner, Amrit went to this small island in the middle of the Brahmaputra (then in flood) called Umananda. It has an ancient temple, to reach which, you need to climb a flight of almost 250 stairs. However the main attraction of the island is definitely the Golden langurs which inhabit only a limited area in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

After the darshan, it's time for you to climb down the rocky slopes of the island, right to the water's edge, and it is here that the river overwhelms you, makes you feel helpless. All of a sudden you come face to face with force way beyond your comprehension. You feel like sitting down on a rock and admire the beautiful shapes made by the river's churning currents, shapes that appear only for a fraction of a second before disappearing or transforming into another. Almost like thought. The river, to you, becomes a stre

am of consciousness.

At this point of time, the river takes you over. You are hypnotized by its beauty and its monstrosity, and the tide rises. (For all of you who did not know, rivers experience tidal cycles too). First, there's a hint of a chill at the very end of your toes which are pointing downwards, resting on a sloping rock face. Soon, the chill changes into the feeling of the cold water. As the moments go by, the cold water climbs up to your ankles, then to your shin and by the time it finally reaches the knee, you know that the river has had enough of

you, sitting by its side, feeling like James Joyce. And you get up and head for the waiting log boat, to ferry you to where the rest of the humanity is.