The road journey leading from Dibrugarh airport to the Golden Pagoda in Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh was one of the most exhilarating experiences in my life. I was on my first solo trip with a bunch of strangers. And I didn’t realise until I said it myself when the asked me for an introduction that I was living my dream of being Naina Talwar!
Conversations kept growing. Everyone went out of their way to make sure I wasn’t feeling nervous. Most of them had done trips with one another before. But not for once did I feel like an outsider or unincluded. Before we knew, we were in our first stop for our trip at Golden Pagoda in Namsai.
The Golden Pagoda of Namsai is a Burmese-style Buddhist temple opened in 2010. It was my first visit to a Buddhist shrine. And yes, I was enamoured by how peace could feel so loud 🙂
It was a cloudy afternoon and perhaps that had a lot to add to the beauty of the temple courtyard making it all the more serene.
I was a little sceptical about asking someone to click a picture of me. Perhaps our trip leader Niyati could sense that. To make me feel at ease, she herself approached, asking me if I wanted a picture. Just little things that goes a long way 🙂
Despite being a History student, I had no idea that the curls on Lord Buddha’s head were snails. Niyati shared quite a few stories about the journey of Lord Buddha’s attainment of enlightenment.
The cherry on the cake of my visit to this pagoda was buying souvenirs from a handicraft store in the premises of the temple itself! From keychains, clothing, bags, the store indeed had a myriad collection of items. I bought a few keychains for my friends and family and a handicraft bag.
Postcards and Chronicles 
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