Travel Diary #5: Konark, Puri & Bhubaneshwar

All you need is a wanderlust, sheer grit and determination, you will have a blast. This trip to Orissa was a roller-coaster ride in numerous ways. There were ups and downs, there were exhilarating feelings and there were moments of boredom, there were satiating victories and then there were farcical losses, but the end result was invigorating. It all started with a crazy idea one day. Sitting alone in my room, mulling over my well-off run of the mill life and glaring incessantly at my laptop screen reading scoopwhoop articles, an idea twinkled in my otherwise dull brain – let’s make this weekend worthwhile, let’s do something which I have not been comfortable with, let’s get out of my comfort zone, let’s do a SOLO TRIP. J This trip was a brainchild of that sparkling moment and I embarked on a trip of my life, a trip that triggered the evolution of my soul.

Orissa was chosen for 2 reasons:

Anyway, I booked train tickets, read a few things about Orissa, stuffed all the necessary things in my backpack among which hand sanitizer was on top of my list given the outcry of swine flu in various parts of India and embarked upon the journey.

Konark – 6^th March 2015

After reaching Bhubaneshwar at around 4.30 AM on 6^th morning, I planned to head for Konark. I used railway waiting room to get myself freshened up and left for Baramunda bus stand where you can easily get frequent buses to Konark or Puri. But until you hit a roadblock, there is no fun, right? Yeah, and that’s what happened. Because of 6^th March being Holi, there were no buses around and auto-rickshaws were asking exorbitant prices to take me to Konark (>Rs.1000). I boarded a bus which would take me to Nimapada from where I decided to take another one to Konark. However, after around 15 minutes of my travel, driver shifted me to another bus which was going directly to Konark. Thank God !! Benefit of striking a conversation with fellow local travelers. J

It took me around 2 hours to reach Konark where Konark Sun Temple is the sole center of attraction. Konark Sun temple, also called Black Pagoda, was built by King Narasimhadeva of Ganga dynasty. It is not one of the UNESCO World Heritage site for no reasons, its architectural finesse is top notch. The original temple had a sanctum sanctorum of almost 229 feet which fell in 1837. However, the audience hall which is 129 feet still stands and is among the principal ruins of this heritage site.

The wheels of the temple are sun dials which can be used to calculate time accurately to a minute. Sun temple is so carefully oriented that first rays of sun falls directly in sanctum sanctorum. There is one noticeable thing about Sun temple, tourists can find plenty of erotic sculptures in the temples. According to my guide, it was done to promote population growth which had taken a hit after Battle of Kalinga. My theory says that, because this temple is an epitome of carvings or sculptures which depicts daily events of human life and sex is one of the cogs in the wheel of life, so such sculptures were also depicted with full panache in this temple.

Behind the temple, one can find the ruins of 2 other temples each dedicated to the wives of Surya, Chhaya devi and Maya devi. According to Hindu mythology, Chhaya is mother of Shani and Maya is mother of Yam and Yamuna.

One can easily notice the entrance and some statues made of granite. This proves that people of that era had sound trading relationships with Africa where these granite stones were brought from. The main khondalite stones of this temple are held together by iron clips and all of them were balanced by a giant magnet which was put on top of the sanctum sanctorum. But this giant magnet used to fiddle with the compasses of sailors. So, British people removed the magnet leading to the eventual collapse of this architectural marvel.

It took me around 3 hours to visit Konark temple and when I was done by around 12 o’ clock, I left for Puri.

Puri – 6^th, 7^th March 2015

Puri is just 30 km from Konark and one can easily get buses or auto-rickshaws from Sun temple which takes you to Puri. But 6^th being Holi, getting some transport was not a cakewalk for me. I somehow managed and reached Puri at around 2 PM. I went to Reba Beach Resort (which is the authorized youth hostel of Puri) and got a bed in their dormitory at just Rs.220 per day, however with a condition that I had to check out the next day. I got freshened up, watched India-West Indies world cup match for a while and then rested for an hour or so.

My hotel was just 1.5 KM from Puri Jagannath temple and I preferred to walk. One can get lockers for keeping mobile phones outside the temple, but to be frank I was bit scared while depositing my mobile there. Puri jagannath temple is majestic and thronged by thousands of pilgrims everyday. However, I somehow didn’t feel that devotion. And the prime reasons for it were the shrewd, greedy pandas fleecing pilgrims coming over there. Every panda was looking for an opportunity to ask for money from a devotee. Sanctitude was usurped by commercialism where devotion was fathomed by the echoes from your pocket. It’s not that I am a non-believer, it’s just that “my God” isn’t that poor that he will measure me on the basis of donations I am giving. I would rather prefer feeding a poor person sitting on a pavement, helping a disabled or a build the future of a destitute child. There is a section inside the temple called “Anand bazaar” where you can get maha prasad for some amount. I had some and then left for my hotel.

I had dinner at a place called Bhojohori Manna. It was a bengali restaurant that served me one of the best ice creams I have ever had, an ice cream prepared with jaggery - Nolen gurer ince cream. Replete with the sumptuous meal, I went for a stroll around the beach which was very near to my hotel. Holi had brought along with itself a different shade of green salty water. Families, friends, all were seen with faces smeared with gulaal - red, green, pink, purple, yellow. Beneath the dark black sky pockmarked with numerous white dots, sitting on brilliant tan sand, I was seeing myriad colors – colors of happiness, freedom, satisfaction and liveliness. I kept of watching those colors moving all around me, both realistically and figuratively.

Chilka lake tour is organized by Orissa Tourism Development Cooperation (OTDC) at a very nominal cost, Rs.300 per person. I had gotten the booking done on 6^th itself by visiting the OTDC center which was near my hotel itself. On 7^th, I checked out of the hotel at 6 AM in the morning and left for Panthaniwas, where I was supposed to get the bus. The bus was surprisingly amazing, given the state of affair of government-run things in our country. A full day tour with a guide telling us stories and historical facts on our way at just Rs.300, not at all bad !! After some short hiatus for breakfast and a few temples in between, my bus reached Satpada, a small town in Puri district located south of Chilka lake.

Chilka lake is largest coastal water lagoon in India and is home to a legion of migratory birds and rich fishery resources sustaining the livelihood of fishermen dwelling in that area. There is so much of difference between reading in a geography book and actually seeing a lagoon. It’s so enthralling.

I clambered on the ferry, which was organized by OTDC with an additional charge of Rs.180, which took us in Chilka lake to give us a glimpse of Irrwaddy dolphins. Besides, a few occasional glimpses, I hardly saw the dolphins. But anyways, the ferry ride was amazing and it was fun talking to folks around. 

The ferry took us to Rajhans island. This island is the barrier that separates Chilka lake from Bay of Bengal. If you stand on Rajhans island, on one side is Chilka lake and on the other side is Bay of Bengal. Reading geography would have been much more fun, had I visited such places before. The ferry also took us near the sea-mouth that was created artificially in year 2000 by Chilka Development Authority (CDA) as a part of ameliorative action to restrict the siltation and deteriorating salinity of Chilka.

Our group returned back by around 2 PM and then after a 30-minute documentary show on history of Chilka and CDA, we all headed for lunch in a nearby restaurants. The return journey started after that, and we reached back to Puri by around 5.30PM.

After some initial hiccups, some continuous rejections from hotels, I finally had the rub of the green when the hotel manager of the youth hostel, Reba Beach Resort (where I had stayed the day before) agreed to give me a bed in the dormitory and that too at same price. I dumped my luggage (the only backpack I was carrying J) and rushed to the beach. Because it was the place where I got what I was looking for – peace. There is hardly any time in this world to reflect on the actions you took, the decisions you made and the followed repercussions. People (including me) are so much entangled in the cobwebs of day to day events of this hurly burly life that the idea of mental peace and relaxation gets buried somewhere in morass. Sea waves were bringing with themselves the specters of past arousing every single fiber of my being. I was bathing in the sea of my otherwise intangible emotions. This was the time when I laughed at those fond memories of Bangalore and Goa, cherished the quality time I had with her, noodled over the mistakes I made in my life and resolved to give myself a much happier future. Many a times, you come across certain events, but it’s very rare that you are actually “aware” of them. This was the time, when every abstruse mystery of my inner self was conspicuous to me. This was the time when I penned  परवाज़ – 2.

Bhubaneshwar – 8^th March 2015

I took an early morning train from Puri to reach Bhubaneshwar at 7.30 AM. My next train for Hyderabad was at 3 PM and I had plenty of time to visit some of the places in Bhubaneshwar. I struck a deal with an auto rickshaw who agreed to give me a tour of 4-5 places in the city at Rs.400. Another nice deal J.

After a well spent 4 hours, I returned to Bhubaneshwar railway station to catch the train at 3.30 PM. And hence culminated an absolutely different but amazing trip.

Now that I am back to my comfortable lifestyle where everything is planned, goes by the book, and writing this blog, I can say one thing for sure – have one solo trip in your lifetime for sure. It will transform you. Plenty has been told, plenty has been written about solo trips and their advantages and mine will be no different. But still, I would love to call out 3 main benefits of doing a solo trip: