GUWAHATI, Oct 26 � Chirping flocks of migratory birds and blooming sewali, kharikajai, hasnahana, madhabilata, radhachura etc., local flowers used to dominate the Guwahati autumn landscape during the 1940s and 1950s with a blanket of fog covering its riverside during the night and morning hours, said noted writer Kumudeswar Hazarika.
Hazarika, while talking to this correspondent, maintain that there has been a little bit of change taking place in the autumn ambience of Guwahati when compared with its autumn atmosphere of 50 to 60 years back. Experts are to determine the exact cause of this change, he said.
Sewali plants with their blooming and sweet fragrance emitting flowers were then discernible in the residential areas of Uzanbazar, Panbazar Harisabha, Panbazar Barpetiapara, Lakhtakia, Sukreswar, Machkhowa, Kumarpara, Tokobari, Chatribari, among others.
The fragrance of Madhabilata and Kharikajai also added to the enchanting autumn atmosphere in many places of the town.
However, the withering Krishnachura and Sonaru plants in the Church Field (now Nehru Park) and on the Strand Road (now Mahatma Gandhi Road), projected the opposite picture of decay.
Various species of migratory birds start setting up their colonies atop the big trees on the riverside of the town during this season for their sojourn in the town during the winter period.
During autumn and winter, most of the Guwahatians then used to plant seasonal flowers like marigold, rajanigandha etc., winter vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, peas, gourd etc. The crops of the vegetables planted at this season were meant to be consumed during the Magh Bihu feast, even though the crops of such farming activities were continued to be consumed till the first part of the spring.
Almost each of the households had at least one cow which used to provide milk and cow dung. Guwahatians did not use any chemical fertiliser then.
During this season, men and women from Bhutan used to come down to Guwahati in hordes with consignments of woollen clothes. They used to stay in Guwahati till February-March and this practice still continues.
There were two shops � Lila Brothers at Panbazar area and Mohini�s at Kamarpatty area of the town � during that time. These shops used to sell woollen garments and their tailors also used to stitch new woollen garments.
Earlier, there were Atim & Sons, Assam Valley Stores and Pandit Brothers at Panbazar and Bargola at Fancybazar area of the town, which used to sell woollen clothes for making winter garments. Those shops continued their business till the 1950s.
Besides, there were two Assamese cloth merchants � Barua Brothers and H M Burman at Panbazar area of the town, who also used to sell woollen clothes.
There were two tailoring firms in Guwahati, which were famous for stitching woollen clothes. They were � Needle�s Fight and Phani Babu�s Tailoring Shop. While the first firm was located to the western side of the Cotton College New Arts Building, the other one was located near the present headquarters of the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank Ltd, said Hazarika.