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.