Still crazy after all these years

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Just a few days back some of my friends and I were at the Manas Sanctuary in the Assam-Bhutan border. We were staying at a forest bungalow on the banks of the Beki river that flows from Bhutan. There are 64 tigers in Manas. They proved elusive but a large number of water buffaloes, bisons, elephants, sambars, barking deer and peacocks could be spotted. The bungalow staff were happy to receive us. Yet within them there was some nervousness. One morning when the smell of fresh paint managed to navigate my Otrivin-fed nostrils, that anxiety struck home. "Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is to arrive in Mathanguri," said the ranger. The poor ranger had shrunk in anxiety, possibly at the thought of the bungalow overhaul that needed to be done before the arrival of the lord and master, the Chief Minister. Mr Gogoi, the Chief Minister of Assam for more than....