India: Episode Two The Travel Show


India: Episode Two

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and leaving at least 17 dead.

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Now on BBC News, The Travel Show.

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India, 70 years after independence.

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This emerging world power of more

than a billion people

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is still changing.

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I'm on a journey to two extremes

of this vast subcontinent.

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Crystal, hard crystals.

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White salt.

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Can probably taste it.

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I began in Gujarat, in the far West.

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This is genuinely

incredible, I'm in heaven.

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Pretty crowded.

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This week, I've travelled 2000 miles

over to the north-east.

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I'm on the banks of the mighty river

Brahmaputra, and about to go

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to a very spiritual place.

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It's one of India's

lesser-known regions.

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We're really high up,

and just to my right,

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the border with Bangladesh.

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A part of the country which prides

itself on its traditions.

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He makes it look so easy.

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It's incredibly difficult.

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But it's also looking forward

and embracing progress.

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So now, I'm on my way to go and see

Assam's very own eco-warrior.

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It is going to be an

incredible adventure.

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India's north-east,

a collection of eight states,

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almost cut off from the rest

of this vast country,

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but for a tiny strip of land.

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At partition, a large swathe of this

region was sectioned off,

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to become East Pakistan,

which later became Bangladesh,

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leaving the Indian area landlocked.

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It's geographically

and culturally out on a limb.

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This is frontier country,

little-known to tourists and other

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Indians alike.

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They call it the land of cloud,

that's because of the severe monsoon

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season.

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Hilly, remote, the area

so crisp and fresh,

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and the view, simply spectacular.

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It's this cool climate that made

the state of Meghalaya

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and its capital, Shillong,

that made it a popular retreat

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for the British during

the colonial era.

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They dubbed it the

Scotland of the East.

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It's pretty crowded!

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What about the city today?

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There's only one way to find out.

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I take a bus into the city centre.

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So it's a modern industrial town

these days, Shillong.

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Whoa, feel it!

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I think those breaks

may need a bit of work.

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So tell me, what do

you think about Shillong.

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This is your home city.

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What do you think about this place?

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The culture here is so different.

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You see the people here.

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More than half of the population

of Meghalaya belong to the Khasi

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tribe, and here at the British-built

polo ground, a traditional British

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sport is thriving,

but it sure ain't Polo.

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Every afternoon, hundreds of people

gather from all around to take part

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in a really interesting

daily ritual.

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This is called teer,

derived from the Hindi

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word for arrow.

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They target is mounted and 50

archers have just two minutes to hit

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it as many times as possible.

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The significance of the sport dates

back to the early 1800,

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when khasi warriors defended

their homeland not with guns

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and swords but with bows and arrows.

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I'm aiming for the

target, obviously.

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The small one.

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Why is it going to

the ground like that?

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Spectators get involved by taking

bets on the number of arrows that

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hit the target.

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Crucially, it's only the last two

numbers of the total

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score that matter.

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They are all added up,

and the last two digit

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will be the result.

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690, five arrows.

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Meghalaya became one of the few

states to legalise gambling in 1982.

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People here are very superstitious.

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They'll dream about

their dead family.

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A dog, a cat.

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And they'll try to

make it into numbers.

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So I have 200 rupees

of my hard earned money here.

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I want to go and gamble,

can you show me how to do it?

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Let's go to one of these counters.

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I want to gamble on a lucky number.

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Two digit, lucky number.

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I'm going to go for...

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39.

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And I'm going to put

100 rupees on 39.

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And on my other bet

I'm going to bet on...

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77, can you fix it so I win(!)

LAUGHTER That depends

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upon your fortune.

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I had a dream last

night, I had a dream...

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That a strange dog walked past me,

and that dog had the number 39

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on it, is that the kind

of dreams we have.

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Wish me luck.

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It's a tense moment

as the numbers are counted...

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310, 320...

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And my dream turns out to be...

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A shaggy dog story.

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77 was my number, 97 is the result.

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Still, two of my lucky

numbers, nine and seven.

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Next, I head out the city

to the region's famed Khasi

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hills and villages.

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Incredible to think that

despite landscapes like this,

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the north-east is one of the least

visited areas of India.

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But things are slowly changing.

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We've been travelling out

of Shillong into the countryside

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towards the Bangladesh border

for about two hours,

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it has been pretty bumpy and rough

roads until suddenly,

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we have reached this bit

and it is beautifully smooth road,

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would not look out of

place in a major town.

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We are heading towards a village

which has a really interesting

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reputation.

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The Khasi Hills are the only place

in the world that you will find

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a bridge grown from the roots

of the Indian rubber tree.

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Or Ficus elastica.

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1840.

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This bridge was meant

for the villagers to cross over

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the River when they go back

to their daily life.

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During that time there was no

partition, no Bangladesh,

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no Pakistan, so we had that link.

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During monsoon, the Khasi hills

are hit by record-breaking

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downpours, more than 20

feet of rain in a month.

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These are some of the wettest

places on the planet.

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But people here have found

an ingenious way to harness nature

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in order to prevent the village

being cut off by floods.

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Just tell me what they

are doing right now.

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Now they are tying them,

to cross on both sides of the river,

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so that the roots of this tree

will be woven along here.

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Bamboo acts as a scaffolding,

which helps connect routes

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from trees growing

on opposite river banks.

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This is skilled and

occasionally dangerous work.

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Thanks to continuous repairs,

bridges like this have stood

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firm for generations.

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And will probably remain

for many more to come.

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So we leave Meghalaya

and head to Assam.

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Passing through some of the 25,000

tea plantations that have made

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this region world-famous.

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We're on our way to Jorhat,

a few hundreds kilometres

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from India's border with China,

and the jumping off point

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for the next adventure.

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I'm on the banks of the mighty river

Brahmaputra, and about to go

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to a very spiritual place,

the island of Majuli,

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one of the biggest river

islands in the world.

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Now there's 150,000 people on that

island, and only six ferries a day,

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each one is really crammed.

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Just looking at the list of prices

for all the different categories:

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passengers, 15 rupees,

that's OK, that's reasonable.

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Then you go down, pass the vehicles,

animals have today, Buffalo has

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to pay 45.

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Bull, cow, 30.

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And then the poor elephant has

to fork out 907 rupees!

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Perhaps fortunately,

none of these creatures

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were travelling with us today.

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And incredibly, after a few

last-minute panics,

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we are set to go.

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I climb onto the corrugated

aluminium roof to join men who do

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this trip day in, day out.

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Starting in Tibet, the Brahmaputra

river is nearly 2000 miles long,

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second only to the Amazon,

in the volume of water that

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rushes through it.

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Interesting game of cards

going on here, I think

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they are playing whist.

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I'd like to join in.

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But it may be a private game.

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High stakes.

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We arrived at Majuli

and it is turmoil again trying

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to get off the boat.

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To avoid the queue,

there is a sneaky way out,

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which involves climbing onto another

boat and going down that way.

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You know what, I think I'm

going to take that one.

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Well, he we are, on land,

doesn't look quite as spiritual

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as I imagined, but if you look

away into the distance,

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it's just one big

flat land of desert.

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Let's see.

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The island is home to 22

monasteries, or Satras,

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initially established in the 16th

century by the Assamese guru,

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Sankardeva.

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Boys are instructive from a very

young age in the religion

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that he preached, Vaishnavism,

an offshoot of Hinduism.

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The monks are celibate and according

to their beliefs they worship only

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one God, follow a vegetarian diet,

and reject the caste system.

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And here, the doctrine includes

this special art form.

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This form of classical dance is now

recognised by the authorities

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as a genre in its own right.

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Many of these monks have

performed around the world.

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That was amazing.

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Thank you very much indeed.

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I know you spend a lifetime

learning the skills of this,

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but can I have a go, can I try?

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Arms through here...?

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Very good.

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Thank you so much.

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One, two, three, four.

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There are 64 positions in this

classical dance and I'm having

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trouble with the first two.

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It's very difficult.

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One, two, three...

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Without the grace, as well.

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No grace whatsoever.

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He makes it look so easy.

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And it's incredibly difficult.

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I'm going to leave

it to the experts.

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Sometimes you have to give up

and let them carry on.

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An exquisite performance.

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But there's one problem,

one very big problem,

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and that is, that this island may

simply not exist in just

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a few decades time.

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Hard to believe at the moment

but there is a genuine worry that

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Majuli will be submerged

and destroyed within 20 years.

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In the last 70 years it has shrunk

in size by two thirds.

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And a majority of the original 65

monasteries have gone.

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Every monsoon, the Brahmaputra

river swells, eroding

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the terrain around it.

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Bit by bit, land is disappearing.

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But there is hope.

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So now, I'm on my way, in a tractor,

to go and see a man whose life 's

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mission has been to tackle

the flooding that has

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afflicted this island.

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He is Jadav Payeng, basically

Assam's very own eco-warrior.

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Sadly, these areas that

get completely deluged,

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when the monsoon hits,

there is some water there,

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we have to cross...

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For the last 36 years,

he has taken on an extraordinary

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challenge, to save this

land from vanishing.

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And so, his lifelong calling began.

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And so, his lifelong calling began.

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Jadav is known today

as the Forest man of India.

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He began planting trees so the roots

would bind the soil,

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soak up excess water,

and prevent the land

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from being eroded by flooding.

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From a barren landscape,

he has created a forest the size

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So we are now going to do the ritual

that every guest that comes

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here is asked to do,

which is to plant a tree.

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What kind of tree is this?

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I'm going to put this in here...

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It's good.

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He has spoken at environmental

summits all around the world,

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and his roll call of guests

is equally international.

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I do know that everyone who plants

a tree, when it grows,

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they put a plaque down

with their name on it,

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and I'm going to have that

privilege, fantastic, thank you.

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And so to my final day in Assam,

and a different kind of ritualistic

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celebration of nature.

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If there's one repairing

theme throughout my trip

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in the north-east, it's

the sense of community,

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everywhere, really, and there's

nothing better to illustrate

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that than this...

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A local village going down

to the river, to celebrate harvest.

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This community was started in 1939

by a young woman who came

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from the mountains

in search of food.

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I believe she found that this

place was better for her

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because it is coated in water,

and civilisation needs water,

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she brought friends and family here,

followed by a brother.

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The entire family of her own clan...

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All from that one woman?

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Really, fascinating, wow.

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This is a much-loved annual

celebration and people of all ages

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gathered to mark in,

using fishing methods that have been

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passed down the generations.

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'Then you pull it towards you...

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Pull the stick...

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This is today's catch...

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Wow!

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That is pretty good.

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And this, you will cook, now?

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Excellent.

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So my trek across India from border

to border is almost over,

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and it's been a real journey

of discovery for me off

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the beaten track.

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This isn't India "on tap",

instant gratification,

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which some people are accustomed to,

but the rewards, if you make

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the effort, are immense.

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Can they bite?

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Yeah, it does.

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It bites.

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Is it poisonous?

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No, not much.

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Not much?!

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LAUGHTER Can I get out now?

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