A river Named Sari

Ibn Batuta had called her The Blue river, she is a small mountain stream, flowing out from the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya, India into Bangladesh, creating a natural  border between these two nations. Azure at Places, sometimes Emerald and occasionally  ochre , she was a canvas on which the creator had tried out some of HIS loveliest colours.....Crystal clear , she was like the mind of a Yogi, clear, serene , pure ....On  a trip to Sylhet, we had a chance to go boating on the Saree ....Boating right upto the Zero Point- The India Bangladesh Border..I had always tried imagining how does your country look like when you see it from the other side ..what goes through your mind, What are the range of emotions that possibly overpower your heart. I decided to find it out for myself. We were a 14 member strong team, comprising of my office colleagues and their family...An hour long boatride would take us up the river right upto the Zero point. The boat spluttered to life, its engine shattering to pieces    the dense peace that hung upon the surroundings...Gifting a gust of dark  smoke to the environ, the boat started its journey.  Summer had set in and the river had shrunk in size.  The river bank was covered with lush green vegetation, birds had created small hole dwellings all along it.The river was being quarried, boats laden with sand from the river bed could be seen all along the river. Labourers standing in waist deep water  were sifting sand and dumping it on small canoes.The water was so clear that we actually carried some of it along in a mineral water bottle, not a drop of dirt could be spotted. The river was dotted with little islands, the banks hosted some of the greenest tea gardens of Sylhet.I wondered how it would look like during the monsoons.The white clouds would probably be looming low trying to take a boat ride along this beautiful river....Would The river still remain  this Pacific,  or would  it  turn into a tempestuous torrent? The vegetation all along its banks would  probably become dense green...I was passing into a reverie, when suddenly out of nowhere Green mountains loomed out from the horizon. The boatsmen pointed out that these were the Jaintia mountain ranges, and that there in the distance was India...We were at point zero, Ah how beautiful my country looked from here, how near was she yet how far away...I didnt have my passport also with me, I ran a chance of being shot if i went  near the border. The Boatsmen showed us a warning board which read like  "This is a dangerous area", and that no-one should cross this point...Inspite of that warning, little kids were swimming beyond the zero point and into what was "No Mans Water"....How I felt like swimming across the border into Meghalaya---The Land of clouds, the crest jewel of India..In all these years, I had never been to our North-east, it was just another chapter in the Geography Books..But today I felt a strange love and longing for this Land..At the moment it was my only connection   with my country....I captured this unique moment in my memory and also in the digital memory of my colleague's camera.... I would probably relive this moment over and over again, and whenever the urge to crib and complaint about my nation would arise, these memories would probably desist me from doing so. 

The Emerald River!!!

There in the horizon looms India..So near, yet so far!!

A boat ride to remember