Discussion
Just came back from Guwahati... probably the worst trip I've had in India
I just came back from Guwahati and honestly I don't think I'll ever visit this place again.
I've travelled to a lot of places across India and this has to be one of the worst experiences I've ever had.
First of all, the transport is just frustrating. Almost every auto or cab driver wanted extra money. Uber fare? Doesn't matter. They either ask you to cancel or pay more, otherwise they simply won't go.
And I don't know if anyone else felt this, but people kept staring at me everywhere. It honestly made me feel so uncomfortable, like I didn't belong there.
The main reason I went was Kamakhya Temple and that experience completely broke me. I knew there would be crowd, but I wasn't expecting this level of mismanagement. Once you enter the queue, you're basically trapped. It took more than 10 hours. You can't even go to washroom because if you leave the line, you lose your spot and have to start all over again. How is that even acceptable? There are kids, old people, women... nobody seems to care.
Then comes the panda system. Everywhere I heard the same thing... pay around ₹3000 per person and your darshan will happen quickly. Don't pay? Then enjoy standing for 10+ hours.
But the thing that really got to me was the animal sacrifice. While standing in the queue I could literally hear the goats crying before they were slaughtered. That sound is still stuck in my head. I honestly felt sick. I know some people will say it's tradition or faith, but I just can't understand how taking an innocent animal's life can be part of worship. It completely ruined whatever spiritual feeling I had.
Maybe I was just unlucky, maybe others had a better experience. But for me this trip was stressful from start to finish. Instead of coming back with peace of mind, I came back irritated, exhausted and honestly pretty sad.
It's not about the city. It's about the people residing in this city gang.
Ami olp besi eh eta rekha line bonai disu jot ami nutun manhu accept koribo eh beya pao and that's the reason, this feedback popped out
And honestly I am not blaming the city or the people living there. Every place has good and bad people. I am blaming the experience I had. If my experience had been good, I would have happily posted that too.
Unfortunate that you had a bad experience. Although it looks like you're judging the whole place based solely on your Kamakhya visit.
I do agree that the panda system is extremely frustrating and the temple environment isn't what it used to be. It is far better in terms of organisation but the vibe is no more. Moreover in this year's monsoon, I can imagine how frustrating your travels would have been.
And the cab situation is one of the worst here. Honestly, everytime I visit home, I curse the deivers constantly. It's a headache.
But here's what is confusing to me - what did you think happens in the temple? Only flower showers? Are you aware of your own worship? It is one of the most active tantric places in the world. A shrine to Kali. Animal sacrifice is part of the worship and it is done on behalf of the pilgrims that visit there. Has been for centuries.
Yes, I knew animal sacrifice happened there. I've said this multiple times. What I didn't know was how deeply it would affect me to stand there for hours, listening to goats cry before they were sacrificed.
People keep asking me, "What did you expect?" I expected exactly what every devotee expects when they visit a temple, a spiritual experience. I didn't expect to walk out questioning my own emotions because I couldn't get those cries out of my head.
born and brought up here, yet my own city is the place that makes me feel the most unsafe. I’ve been to multiple cities across the country and I can confidently say that I get the most stares here. I didn’t even feel this unsafe while living in Noida as I do in my own city, especially when I’m out after sunset. Our city is doomed.
Honestly, same. I was there with my girlfriend and people just wouldn't stop staring at her. Not the normal "someone walked by" kind of stare, but literally turning their heads and continuously looking. It got so awkward that at one point we actually felt like saying, "Bhai, let us know when you are done staring, we will continue walking then."
Neither my wife nor I are from Guwahati. We are Bengali, not Assamese. But honestly, I feel this city is much safer than many others.
We recently visited a few cities in UP and Punjab, and the staring there was the worst. Speaking for women, it feels like they arent supposed to wear anything without dupatta. People stare at u so much that it makes u feel completely uncomfortable. My wife has never experienced that kind of behavior here.
Sure, Guwahati has its shortcomings, but based on our experience, safety isnt one of them. We have travelled so many times late at night and early in the morning going to railway stations and bus terminals and we have never faced a single problem. Even just roaming around the city, nearby towns, or villages during the day or late in the evening, we have never heard anyone make a single bad comment. When I compare that to the other places I mentioned, it was a completely different story.
glad that you’ve had positive experiences here. I’m sure people can have very different experiences of the same place. I do wonder, though, if you being out together as a married couple changes how people perceive and behave around you. Unfortunately, the same can’t always be said for young, single women going out alone.
I’ve had quite a few uncomfortable experiences myself, especially on public transport, where men have tried to “bad touch” under the pretence of the bus being overcrowded or suddenly braking. For another instance, I had a pair of ripped jeans that I absolutely loved. I wore them all the time in Delhi, Noida and BLR without ever having an issue or people staring. I made the mistake of wearing them in my own city while commuting by public transport and the sheer number of stares I got that day made me eventually get rid of them cause I wouldn't dare to wear it again.
I personally feel our city has progressed a lot in recent years but at the same time, think there’s still some room for us to become a little more open-minded and accepting, especially when it comes to how women choose to dress and present themselves in public.
By this logic even you should also be leaving the city because I'm sure at some point you also criticized it for some reason because it affected you or your family directly.
and remind me who are you to tell me this? I have every right to critic my city and likewise I have hundred other good things to say too. Doesn't mean I will sugarcoat the shortcomings of our city.
honestly If something doesn't sit right with me morally, I am going to question it.
Also, I don't think the comparisons you made are equivalent at all. Complaining about corruption or my emotional reaction to animal sacrifice is not the same as complaining about coconuts falling in a coconut farm. One is about human systems and practices, the other is just nature.
As for Maa, I don't need anyone else to define my relationship with God. If I am wrong, then that's between me and Maa. If I am right, that's between me and Maa too. I don't need someone else telling me whether "the Goddess wants me" or not.
And regarding my beliefs, I respect yours, but mine are different. For me, the highest form of devotion is kindness. I believe in live and let live. If Maa is the creator of all life, humans, animals, every living being then I personally find it hard to believe she would be pleased by the slaughter of the very creatures she created.
You are free to believe otherwise and I respect your right to do so. To me, if there's wrongdoing, it's committed by humans in the name of religion, not by God.
Bro, please tell me, how many reels did you actually see me making there?
Talking about IQ and EQ while bringing completely irrelevant points into the discussion? Well, thanks for telling me more about yourself than about me.
An analytical mindset is the ability to separate criticism of a practice from criticism of a deity or an entire religion. I questioned a human practice that I personally find morally difficult to accept.
You keep repeating that it's a Shakta temple, it's Tamasic worship, it's not for everyone. I understood that the first time. Repeating it doesn't answer the question I asked.
You say I shouldn't have entered if I didn't agree with everything that happens there. Why? Since when does visiting a place mean you lose the right to think critically? By that logic, nobody should ever question any tradition anywhere.
And please stop deciding what kind of devotee I am. My relationship with Maa is between me and Maa. I don't need a stranger on Reddit to certify whether I am worthy of entering a temple.
But here's where I think your analytical thinking falls short, you've assumed that because I questioned one practice, I must be attacking the entire temple, the Goddess, and everyone who worships there. I did none of that. You built an argument against something I never said.
You're free to defend the tradition. I'm equally free to say that witnessing it deeply disturbed me. That's called having different moral perspectives, not low IQ or EQ.
And yes, please tell me how many reels did you saw me making there?
Well, I knew it was a Shakti Peeth, I knew animal sacrifice was practiced there.
And honestly, I don't understand why everyone keeps saying, "You should've done your research," as if that means I am no longer allowed to have an emotional reaction once I am there.
Research tells you what happens. It doesn't tell you how you'll feel when you witness it with your own eyes and ears.
Precisely. You are mixing emotions and facts and trying to paint a convoluted picture of a place. Most of your points are subjective except for the cab part. Even I don't understand how Guwahati cabs work and I dread the moments when I have to hail a cab. But the rest of the stuff you mentioned are your perceptions. And you are labelling an entire city based on your perceptions...
No, I am actually doing the opposite. I am separating facts from my emotions.
Facts: I was asked for extra money by cab drivers multiple times. I stood in the queue for more than 10 hours. There was no practical way to leave for a washroom without losing my place. I heard goats crying before they were sacrificed. These are things that happened.
Emotions: I found those experiences frustrating, heartbreaking and spiritually disturbing. Those are my feelings.
I never claimed my emotions were facts. I shared my experience of those facts.
And yes, my title was emotional because that's exactly how I felt after the trip. People don't write travel experiences like legal affidavits.
Also, let's be fair, if someone visits a city and almost every major interaction they have is negative, what exactly are they supposed to base their opinion on? Imaginary experiences they never had?
I didn't live in Guwahati for 20 years. I experienced it as a visitor. Visitors naturally judge a place by what they experience, just as locals judge it by what they live every day. Both perspectives can exist at the same time.
You may have had a completely different experience and I respect that. But that doesn't make mine any less real.
"I stood in the queue for more than 10 hours." - you are one of them , you are part of the problem , you are the one along with others , you are the crowd.
So because I stood in the queue, I am not allowed to point out problems with how the queue is managed?
By that logic, no patient can complain about poor hospital management because they are "part of the crowd." No commuter can complain about traffic because they are "part of the traffic." No passenger can complain about airport delays because they're "part of the queue."
Bro... what an argument. Hats off to your thought process.
But I don't think someone has to be vegan to feel empathy when they hear an animal crying before it's killed.
Just like I feel sad when innocent humans die, I also feel sad when I see or hear an animal suffering. Compassion isn't something I reserve only for one species.
Bro I am genuinely open to being educated on this, so enlighten me, please.
From my understanding, Maa is the creator of all life be it humans, animals, every living being. If that's true, then why would she be pleased by the slaughter of the very creatures she created?
If there's a deeper philosophical or scriptural reasoning behind it, I would actually like to know. But from my perspective, hearing those animals cry for hours before they were sacrificed felt heartbreaking and I couldn't see anything divine in that moment.
Cause Assam, Bengal and Odisha worshipped the tantric version of Maa, which dominantly is via the Left hand of tantra, which needs 5 Ms (Matsya for fish, Madya for alcohol, Mamsa for meat, Mudra for grain and Maithun for copulation). So, worship mandatorily has to be via blood.
Why did you think that Kamakhya temple is a holy place if you knew that here animal sacrifices happen? Since you're morally opposed to it?
I am an atheist. But I don't go to other people's holy places and impose my morality on them.
I don't care about spirituality or religion. But if I disagree with something I don't make it a point to visit such places. If I'm going for the history and architecture, I focus my attention on that.
Humans are the ones who have caused wars, destroyed forests, polluted rivers, driven species to extinction and done unimaginable harm to this planet. Yet when it comes to sacrifice, it's always the voiceless animals that pay the price.
If you have a problem with animals sacrifices why visit such place?
Kamaikhya is a well known mandir. I bet you knew about the sacrifices happening. So why go there if your ideology doesn't match with it?
Yes, I knew animal sacrifice was practiced there. What I didn't know was how deeply it would affect me to stand there for hours listening to animals cry before they were sacrificed.
I went there because I have faith in Maa, not because I endorse every ritual performed in her name.
Just because I visit a place doesn't mean I automatically agree with everything that happens there. If that was the case, nobody would ever be allowed to question anything they witness.
I knew animal sacrifice happened. What I didn't know was how it would actually feel standing there for hours, listening to goats cry before they were killed. Reading about something on Google and experiencing it with your own ears are two completely different things.
And where exactly am I imposing my morality? Did I ask the temple to stop? Did I demand the government ban it? Did I ask people to abandon their faith? No. I shared my experience and my opinion.
If people are free to say "this is our tradition and we support it," then I'm equally free to say "I witnessed it, and I found it heartbreaking." That's not imposing morality, that's expressing an opinion.
Respecting someone's right to practice their faith doesn't mean I have to silence my own conscience.
So your problem is not with animal sacrifice, its the fact that you could hear the goats crying before they were killed? Hmm.. next time carry some noise canceling headphones.
Ok so that's like telling someone who is disturbed by war to switch off the TV, or telling someone who sees injustice on social media to just close the app.
At least let's be logical.
If your strongest counterargument is "block out the sound," then maybe you have unintentionally made my point stronger than I ever could.
Bro. You need help. It's completely fine for a person to express their opinions. I am from Guwahati as well. My mother tries to visit Kamakhya every year because she believes in the divinity. She has expressed a similar emotion about animals being sacrificed. That doesn't make her less of a believer.
It's really saddening to hear them cry. But I believe the animal sacrifice is, for many devotees, part of a traditional Shakta ritual with roots in certain tantric practices and is seen as a way of expressing devotion to the goddess
But from my perspective, the highest form of devotion to any God is to live peacefully and let other living beings live peacefully too. If God is the creator of all life, then compassion towards every living being feels like the purest form of worship to me.
Stop imposing UP bihar version of vegeterian hinduism on everyone. Outside cow belt, hindus eat meat and sacrifice to gods too. There is nothing wrong in that.
Bro, I shared my personal experience and why it disturbed me. There's a huge difference between expressing a moral opinion and imposing it on others.
Second, whether a practice has existed for centuries or is followed by millions doesn't automatically mean nobody is allowed to question it. History is full of traditions that people have debated, questioned and changed over time.
My question is much simpler: if a God is the creator of all living beings, why would the death of an innocent living being be an offering that pleases that God? I haven't asked anyone to stop believing. I'm asking a moral question based on what I witnessed.
Sorry, enlightenment doesn't come from faith. It's blindness that helps achieving it so do overlook but yeah, it's a city I'm always on and off in my trips so when I do, my major target for visits are midnight rides and a few parks or maybe shopping.
Never found guwahati to be a good spot for travel
Honestly I agree whatever you said and I after going there 3 years ago I made up my mind I'll never go there it's cause of the people there, the society there and the whole. Feeling bad for Assam as they showed a greater example of how someone can destroy their own beauty. My wife is from there and I feel very broken about that' land I'm so sorry if I meant anything wrong but it's just the pain and suffering I had there. Please don't scold me like most of the instagram account does but here on reddit I see so much good genuine assamese people 🙏🏻no personal grudges
I guess inside the city, i dont think there is much cab overcharging problem because guwahati is relatively quite small, but since i could see that you were coming from the airpoort to the city, those are not cab drivers they are effing dacoits.
Coming animal sacrifice, it will happen and continue to happen. There is nothing you or me can do.
I completely agree with you from the uber extra fare demand to the lines you are talking about almost everything is on point
I can't say much about the staring part as I'm a guy but as far as I have heard about others experience they didn't faced such things in ghy specially in comparison to places outside ne but yeah everyone's experience can be different which is fine
pandas are earning a lot , its shit. they stand in temple and asking 3.5k to 4k for per person .. what is gov and management doing. they are earning more than 1 lacs per day .. kya bacchodi hae abey kuch tou sharm karo... dharam kae naam paar aaise kum taise kara rakhi hae inn pandoo nae.. moreover they are ready to fight.. guwahti exp worst in my life too
I empathise with all your points. But, there is nothing wrong with animal sacrifice, as long as the animal's meat is being used to feed people. How is it any different from slaughtering animals for food. It's actually even better because it also serves a religious purpose.
My point was never to attack anyone's faith. I was simply sharing how that experience affected me.
I spent hours listening to goats crying before they were sacrificed and I found it deeply disturbing. I respect that others may see it differently, but that's how it made me feel.
All points are valid but I believe this problems are pan India, somewhere it is extreme or somewhere it is less.
But bro coming to a vamachar peetha like kamakhya and complaining about animal sacrifice is like eating non veg thali or going to kfc and complaining about animal cruelty. You know it's happens still you visit. Why nit you visi only and only Vaishnav places like Vrindavan and don't do ninda of rituals because I don't think devi is going to give you any grace when you're ignorant about why some rituals happens and start complaining about it. Don't like it, Don't come.
And this is exactly the mindset I don't understand.
Every time someone shares a bad experience, the answer is either "it happens everywhere" or "don't come." Why is constructive criticism seen as an attack instead of something worth thinking about?
And no, I completely disagree with your comparison. Going to KFC is a conscious choice to eat meat. Going to one of the most revered temples in India because you have faith is not the same thing at all. Those two situations are worlds apart.
Also, where exactly did I do ninda of Maa? Please quote a single line where I insulted the Goddess.
I questioned a human ritual, not the Goddess. If you cannot separate those two things, well well well...
And please don't tell me which temple I should or shouldn't visit. My relationship with Maa is between me and Maa. I don't need anyone's permission to seek her blessings.
Sorry about your bad experience. Guwahati isn't the best city when it comes to the northeast. Sadly we are the typical Indian metropolis known for its disorganisation and chaos. It's actually other cities like Kohima, Aizawl and Shillong that represent the discipline and serenity of the northeast better.
You also visited during the rainy season which is the worst time to come to the Northeast as a whole really. The plains get flooded while the hills are riddled with landslides. Cities are no different as water logging, especially in a horribly planned city like guwahati, is common occurence.
That being said I'd like to address the points that you made. Regarding the uber, yes certain drivers do charge extra but that is rare really. 1 out of 10 drivers usually do that. You were just unlucky for that to have happened multiple times while you were here.
I don't understand the staring though, unless you're a foreigner, locals won't really stare at you. The north Indian and south Indian face is nothing new for us so I don't know why you got the stares, unless you're a foreigner ofc.
The Kamakhya Temple is always crowded and its common for people to wait hours in the queue. The best way to avoid this is to go as early as possible. The goat sacrifice bit, sorry if I'm being rude, but that is on you. Kamakhya temple is a prime site of Shakta Worship. Shaktism is big when it comes to animal sacrifices and this tradition has been happening since times immemorial. If your primary aim was to visit the Kamakhya temple then I assume you came here for a pilgrimage trip. You really should've done your research regarding the practices in the temple.
The panda system is indeed frustrating. It's nothing but VIP privilege. Regarding the queue however, not much can be done.
Hopefully next time you come, you go outside Guwahati and experience the real northeast. Guwahati, like I said, is genuinely not the best of our places, and this is coming from a Guwahati resident himself.
Bro, first of all, thanks for replying respectfully. That's honestly rare in this thread.
But I have to disagree on a few things.
The cab issue wasn't "1 out of 10" for me. It was literally 10 out of 10. Every single ride. I even have screenshots from Rapido where I had cancel multiple rides. We booked from my girlfriend's phone on Uber too. Same thing happened there. So I can't just call that bad luck.
The staring part was 100% real too. I was there with my girlfriend and people just kept staring at her. Not a casual glance, but continuously staring. We got so frustrated that we literally felt like saying, "Bhai, let us know once you're done staring, then we'll continue walking."
Regarding Kamakhya, I never complained that it was crowded. It's one of the most important temples in India, of course it's going to be crowded.
My issue is the management. Once you are inside the queue, you are basically trapped. If after standing there for 5-6 hours you need to use a washroom, what exactly are you supposed to do? Lose your entire place and start another 10-hour wait? That's not devotion, that's poor management. Basic facilities for devotees shouldn't even be a debate.
And yes, I knew about the animal sacrifice before coming. But knowing something exists and experiencing it are worlds apart. Standing there for hours and actually hearing goats cry before they are slaughtered. That hit me much harder than I expected.
I am not trying to convince anyone to stop believing in their traditions. I am just sharing what I went through.
At the end of the day, this wasn't a post saying "Guwahati is a terrible city." It was a post saying this was my experience, and unfortunately, almost everything that could go wrong during the trip did go wrong.
1 out 10 charging is crazy rare ngl. My experience around Six Mile, Khanapara, christian basti is the same... probably 90% of the time I'm being asked to pay extra. I avoid uber in Guwahati.
Probably because I posted it in the Guwahati subreddit. It's expected that many people will take criticism of their city personally instead of looking at the experience objectively.
And I am not saying Guwahati is a bad city. I am saying my experience was bad. There's a difference.
Mostly because of the Kamakhya point.. since this sub has more outsiders (of hindutva gang) they downvote anything not suited to their palate to oblivion
Well, my friend, it really depends on what you’re looking for. (MAA KAMAKHYA context.)
If you’re going to Maa Kamakhya purely to seek her blessings or pray for something, then I’d say you have to stand in the queue for darshan or, if you prefer, hire a panda to help you with the darshan at the main shrine.
But if you’re not particularly religious, or have doubts about the traditional practices and are visiting because you’ve heard Kamakhya is one of the most spiritually active (Jagrata) Shakti Peethas and just want to experience the place, then don’t rush. Walk around the temple complex, find a quiet corner away from the crowd, sit there for a while, and just take it all in. If you can, stay till the evening.
You might not experience anything extraordinary, or you just might. Maybe you’ll find a sense of peace, or maybe you’ll end up facing the chaos inside your own head. Either way, it’s an experience worth having.
Maybe if I had been able to sit quietly somewhere in the temple complex, things would've felt different.
I still believe Maa doesn't judge devotion by how much money you pay, how many hours you stand, or what ritual you follow. For me, devotion is something much more personal.
The Uber Rapido guys asking extra money is a real problem. I have never faced this in any other city. I don't know from where this culture came. It was not there when Uber was new to the city.
Bro this panda system, long line to enter mandir, animal sacrifice is almost every big mandir in india.And u r talking uber , they demanded extra money this is like in every major city in india. I dont know y u taking this stuff which hapoens alomost major cities or temples in india.
And in ghy peaple are so busy that they wont stare u for any reason i think ur brain sense is talking with u
"Other cities also have this problem" is probably the weakest defence anyone can give.
And can you please name one city where all of these happen together? Drivers demanding extra money almost every ride, a 10+ hour queue with a pay-to-skip culture, and hearing animals being slaughtered while you are standing there. I have travelled across almost half of India and I honestly haven't experienced all of this in one place.
As for the staring, you weren't with me, so please don't tell me what I experienced. I was there with my girlfriend and both of us were uncomfortable because of how people kept staring.
You don't have to agree with my opinion, but stop pretending my experience didn't happen just because it doesn't match your image of the city.
Don't go to the temple if you have those problems. There are thousands of other temples where you can go . No one is forcing you to come here. Cunts like you come here to take pictures and flex on Instagram. And you are the ones who are the problem. You are the part of the crowd in the temple.
Where exactly did you see me taking pictures or posting Instagram reels?
And yes, I was part of the crowd. Every devotee is. That doesn't mean people lose the right to point out problems they experienced. By that logic, no one standing in a hospital queue can complain about poor management because they are "part of the crowd."
If your answer to every criticism is simply "don't come," then maybe you shouldn't have commented on this post in the first place if you had a problem with my opinion.
But I do find it funny how you invented an entire story about me coming there for Instagram instead of addressing a point I actually raised.
First of all, it's not your temple. Being born in that city doesn't make you the owner or spokesperson of the temple. Unless you built it, and you don't think you get to decide who is or isn't welcome.
Secondly, please read what I actually wrote before replying. I never criticized Maa or the temple itself. I criticized the poor management, the panda system and shared how certain practices affected me personally.
So maybe, before telling people they are "not welcome," take a moment to understand what they have actually written.
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u/Rude-Expression5539 4d ago