VISIT DIBRUGARH

My bedroom is on the first floor and I have to a climb a semi-covered staircase with a charming umbrella- and hat-stand at one corner. Once upstairs, I cross what seems like acres and acres of floor-space to get to my room. The planters obviously did not believe in doing anything in half measure. My bedroom seems large enough to sleep an army, with huge box-windows overlooking the lawn. There is a writing-table at the wall opposite the bed, an easy-chair, a shoe-rack, a mirror and a dresser. The bedroom leads to a small dressing room, which in turn communicates with the bathroom. As if these were not enough, there is a huge sitting room outside which my bedroom shares with the one next to it.

I spend most of my time lazing on the right-angled verandah that runs all along the front and side of the bungalow. Most of it is covered by the ubiquitous mosquito wire so beloved of the Raj. There are maps on the walls and fading group photographs of the garden staff. In the somnolent afternoon haze, I feel I have been time-warped back to over a century ago. I half-expect to see screaming children explode out of the rooms, pursued by an admonitory ayah or an elder sibling, or a red-faced, loud-voiced army colonel demand his afternoon cuppa.

Daily life in the bungalow is ceremonial, like a slow pavane danced to an invisible orchestra. Breakfast is laid out on the sunny verandah in all its English splendour—there is honey and marmalade and scrambled eggs and chops and fried tomatoes to go with the toast and tea. Dinner had been equally solemn and elaborate, beginning with an excellent tomato soup and ending with trifle. I am overwhelmed by the attentions of the kitchen staff who flit to and fro noiselessly between courses. And, of course, there is that most English institution of them all—bed-tea—delivered with Jeevesian precision and discretion at the desired hour.

If you think that all this soft living is bad for the moral fibre, there are more energetic things to do in and around Dibrugarh. Purvi Discovery (which is the name of the tourism company run by the Jalans) conducts trips to nearby Kaziranga and Dibru-Saikhowa national parks, Majuli (the biggest river island in the world) and Rukmini island, where you can go kayaking, parasailing or water skiing. Those of a more historical bent can see the Ahom monuments at Sibsagar or the World War II cemetery at Digboi. Other activities on offer are heritage tea tours, golfing holidays and tribal tours. All these are managed by Purvi Discovery, with the Jalans—Vineeta and Manoj—actively involved in its day-to-day running.

Lulled into an almost lotus-like trance by the charms of Mancotta, it is sometimes easy to forget that one is in the middle of a working tea-estate. Mancotta is not your average heritage property marooned in its own splendid isolation, forever cut off from its past. Life goes on as usual amidst the orderly and rectilinear neatness of the tea hedges. Children go to crèches or schools while their mothers pick tea leaves and the factories hum with the business of rolling, firing and sorting. The tea is then packed and labelled and sent to the auction houses in Guwahati from where they find their way to all corners of the world. Over all these activities, the Mancotta Chang has stood sentinel for over a century and a half, a fixed point in a world of change.

THE INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
By air: Air Deccan flies to Dibrugarh from Kolkata (via Guwahati). Fares from Rs 500 (see www.airdeccan.net). Indian flies from Delhi to Dibrugarh (via Kolkata) for Rs 16,205 (see www.indian-airlines.nic.in).
By rail: The Dibrugarh Rajdhani links the city to Delhi (Rs 3,240 on 2A). It is also connected with other Indian cities by express trains.
By road: NH37 links Dibrugarh and other important towns of Assam, from where AC and non-AC deluxe coaches are available daily. The town is 443km from Guwahati.
The Mancotta Chang Bungalow is set in the Mancotta Tea Estate, just outside Dibrugarh, 14km/25min from the airport, 10km/20min from the train station.

THE BUNGALOW
There are six rooms on offer at Mancotta Chang. Tariffs range from Rs 1,000 for the single non-AC to Rs 3,600 for the AC double (service tax and meals extra). Transfers and a tea tour are provided at an extra charge. A smaller bungalow, called the Chang Bungalow, in Jalan Nagar South, is also open to visitors.

ACTIVITIES
Purvi Discovery, which runs Mancotta Chang, offers a range of themed holidays in the environs of the bungalow. These include trekking, tribal tours, riding holidays, golfing and birdwatching.

CONTACT
Purvi Discovery, Jalannagar, Dibru-garh; 0373-2301120, purvi@sancharnet.in,www.purviweb.com.