GUWAHATI: Khyanjeet Gogoi is also known as the Orchid Man of Assam has turned his residence into an international orchid hub.
Hailing from Daisajan Tea Garden of Doom Dooma in Tinisukia has made his home into an orchid hub with more than 750 species of orchids from all over the world.
According to reports, his orchid hub is home to around 750 species of orchids from all over the world in three greenhouses.
Khyanjeet Gogoi is the first author in Assam to publish a book on Orchids wherein many students have come to the International Orchid Hub of Khyanjeet Gogoi where they studied and received their doctorate degrees.
Khyanjeet Gogoi has been hunting for orchids since 1994, and this chase has landed him in several tense situations, which he didn't think he would survive.
One such situation was an encounter with the dreaded United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).
When he was 23 years old and was in search of orchids found only in Assam along the forests bordering the Dibru Saikhowa National Park, he was picked up by the militants, who were initially dubious and later amused by his fixation with orchids. Perhaps that's why he was let go after five days.
A biology teacher at a local school in the town of Rupai in Assam's Tinsukia district, Khyanjeet is one among the many orchid lovers in the state, whose devotion to the gorgeous flowering plants has now become a quest for conservation.
He is also a part of a group named Orchid Society of Assam that has 54 members. These folks come from varied backgrounds—there are teachers, business people, students, and tea planters—but are bound by the love for native and rare orchids.
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