The Savvy Bagpacker #1 : Namaskar Odisha !

Namaskar Odisha ! 

The best education I have ever received was through travel.

The wealth of such knowledge cannot be found in books, surely not enough !
Namaskar, Kemiti accho? ( Hello, How are you?; in Odia).

We hadn't been to any new place since 2 years. We were given 3 options, Kerala, Goa and Odisha.  We dropped to plans of visiting Kerala only because of its current climate condition; RAINS ! And so was with Goa, as we had already been there in childhood, and moreover, we also didn't want to get BEACH-SICKNESS (by the way, thats just a paradoxical name). So yes, it was Odisha we decided to visit. We had planned just for 2 days, the exact number of holidays that Dhanu got from her college, and we didn't want her to take leave from her college and miss her “NEET” classes.
So yes, we left Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad with an early flight to Bijoy Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar. We could feel the hot winds blowing the moment we disembarked the flight. The temperatures are clearly 4-5 degrees higher than that of Hyderabad’s which is again 2-4 degrees higher than that of Bengaluru’s. A humid and sultry place with heat waves all over the sun powered by the scorching sun. But talking about the city, its one of the cleanest cities in India and also a place of cultural and economic importance.
 

This city actually replaced Cuttack as the capital 2 years after India’s Independence. However, they both are referred as the Twin Cities of Odisha. We got into the car, sent by Dad’s known friend and headed towards Konark.

Konark is a city, rather a town in the district of Puri. And yes, it lies by the Bay of Bengal. The 65 kilometres drive from Bhubaneswar was completed in an hour and a few minutes more. Konark is once again a very humid place because of its bay-location. Without your hand kerchief you cannot move around this place for long. We all would have read of the famous Konark Sun Temple in our history textbooks, but there’s also an Archeological Museum, Konark Museum, Chandrabhaga beach and the Balukhand-Konark Wildlife Sanctuary. “ Konark sun temple is a 13th century Sun temple at Konark, Odisha, built by King Narasimhadeva I of Ganga Dynasty. It is in the shape of a chariot, built to worship the Sun God.” Thats probably the maximum information given in any history textbook. But the Guide there told us many stories and details of the sculptures that kept us in awe. Basically, Konark is made up of two Sanskrit words, KON meaning angle or corner and ARK means the sun. The temple was originally built at the mouth of the river Chandrabhaga and remained submerged under the waters of sea several years until the sea line receded years back. Since then, the Government has taken measures to save the structure. Further details about it will be described a separate blog that I'll be writing after this! Do check out The Savvy Bagpacker #2 : The Historical Beauty of Konark  to read more on this topic. Then we headed to Chandrabhaga Beach which was followed with lunch. 

The next place we began our journey to was Puri City. The top sight is definitely the Puri Beach and the Puri Jagannath Temple. Some others include the Ramachandi Temple, Gundicha Temple, Sree Chaitanya Gaudia Math among many others. The Gundicha Temple is considered to be the birth place of Lord Jagannath according to folklores. This temple is henceforth a part of the Jagannath Rath Yatra where the Lord is offered “bhog”. The Jagannath Temple is one of the most important pilgrimage centres, considered to be one of the 4 sacred places in India, where your sins can be cleansed (the other 3 being Badrinath in North, Dwarka in the West and Rameswaram in South). This temple also purely follows the Kalingan style of Architecture. You can see both displeasing and pleasing sights here, things that get you inner peace, things that can scare you, all that will be featured in the next blog. But a great Pizza meal with Coke and Stuffed Garlic Breadsticks from Domino’s marked the end of that day perfectly.

The next day, early morning, we walked to the Puri Beach from our hotel. Perfect time, perfect waves, perfect weather and perfect company to enjoy with ! We spent about 2 hours in the beach; playing with a bottle, watching it being washed to the shore no matter how far Dhanu and I were competing to throw it. Then we headed to the World Famous Chilika Lake after a quick and sumptuous breakfast on the way.

Surely everyone knows that its a brackish water lagoon, due to its mixture with the Bay of Bengal at Arakakhuda and Satapada(more recent) . Satapada offers boating sites where we are taken into the lake for 1 hour 30 minutes (one way duration). And then, there, in the middle of nowhere, we spotted endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins. The entire lake can be taken as a best and almost a complete proper example for Lake Ecosystem. It is the largest lagoon (coastal) in India and the second largest in the world, providing the best environment for migratory birds (Im sure all of us know about this). After an approximate of 4 hours of “touring" in the lake we headed to Bhubaneswar.  The details of those 4 hours might be shared in another little excerpt. 

Irrawaddy Dolphins at Chilika Lake

Bhubaneswar takes its name from 2 words: “Bhuv” meaning earth and “Ishwar” meaning Lord (Lord of Earth) but otherwise is another name of Lord Shiva. It also has many historical temples such as those of Lingaraj (devoted to Lord Shiva; after whom the city is named), Parashurameshwara and Rajarani; Udyagiri and Khandagiri Caves which of course we couldn't visit unfortunately because of our short trip. Simlipal National Park is a tiger reserve in the Northern part of the state. If I have a chance to visit Odisha again, these beautiful places will definitely be the first in our to-visit list. And rightly regarded by the Government of Tourism, Odisha is definitely a Land Of Myriad Marvels. Its just a step away from being one of the most preferred destinations for tourism in India. People of this state are in a way too friendly and also conscious of keeping their city, and ultimately their state, clean and beautiful, trying their every bit to conserve, upgrade and promote their historical and cultural heritage. Jokes apart, April 1 is celebrated as Odisha Day. And this beautiful place is featured in our National Anthem, “Jana Gana Mana” as “Utkala”.
I can still, perfectly imagine my feet covered in sand and the strike of waves against my legs at the beach. All I can do is reminisce every single beautiful moment of our pleasant stay in Odisha.

Dhanyabado Odisha ! 

The Savvy Bagpacker is a collection of travel blogs shared by personal experiences. Traveling is not something you would be good at, it is something you do, like breathing. Be Wanderlust in a strong desire and urge to travel and explore the world. Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire. So there it is, take a leave, buy a ticket, get a tan, fall in love, never return from the memories of your vacay. If you wish to comment/ contact/ collaborate/ help us reach to more voices, do take a little effort to simply put a message via our comment box or through the contact form in the left side menu (3 bar option click on the top left of the Home page). We respect your ideas and thoughts. 

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