Chilka lake
Our hotel at Puri
Frolicking in the sea
Thursday 9 April 2009
Sun, sand, dolphins, temples …
The trip to Orissa came about suddenly as all good things do. A chance discussion with friends while out on a walk, and we had decided to join up on this trip. Left on March 26 and returned four days later. Our train reservations weren’t confirmed until the time we boarded, but that’s a given and we are used to traveling on RAC. Our hotel, Samudra is on the beach but away from the Chowpaty area of Puri. It’s quite an exclusive area and we were enjoying the waves at 5.30 am.
We visited Puri, Bhuvaneshwar, Konark and Chilka. Anyone who has been there knows that temples dominate skyline here. For me, the architecture held a special attraction, being unique in design. The Jagannath temple is the centre of Puri. Everything seems to revolve around it. It is said that pilgrims come to this temple mainly to eat, and if you haven’t made a meal of the prasad here, you should do so at once. Not only because it is a good thing to do so, but also because the meal is too delicious to miss. This included three preparations of Basmati rice (plain rice with ghee and salt, pulao, sweet rice), dal, mixed vegetables, vegetable in mustard, rabri and malpua.) Too good to miss, huh? I also had my fill of Orissa sweet specialties - Chhana Pora (baked cottage cheese) and Khaaja (deep fried sweetened longish fritters). The evening ceremony of flag changing is fascinating. Two men climb up to the temple top on to the 12 foot spire and replace the red flag everyday.
All would have been fine had the priests (pandas) left us alone. At the Gundecha temple and the Jagannath temple, we were almost forced to pay up for each and every deity there! We then decided to go through the temples at a run.
In Bhuvaneshwar, the Lingaraj temple complex is quite rightly known as the Varanasi of the east because of the amazing number of Shiva temples within the walls. The suns had baked the stones so we had quite a game of hopscotch while trying to negotiate our way from one shaded area to the next. The Udaygiri and Khandgiri caves were a marvel and these caves for Jain students always amaze me. The utter starkness of it! A raised area cut out on the floor served as pillows! Small vents provided air and I suppose they studied by daylight.
Konark was heart wrenching for me. To think that I was seeing almost nothing of the original was too much to swallow. The main temple was no longer standing. The magnet placed at the apex was removed by the British when it was found that ships passing through the area crashed because of its interference. Once the magnet was removed, the huge iron pillars that held the temple straight together lost balance and the inevitable happened. The only structure remaining in stuffed with sand and stone and closed to public. Even the positions of the four sun (Surya) sculpures are no longer appropriate. The Wheels are indeed fascinating in the way they kept time based on prahar. The less said about the sculptures and engravings the better since I will be unable to do justice to them.
I was glad to notice that my daughters were also saddened by the loss of such craftsmanship. Since Malavika plans to study architecture, she needs to feel for these artifacts.
Chilka was reserved for the last day and the Irrawady dolphins did not disappoint us nor did the red crabs. What disappointed was the number of pearls that were produced by the fisher folk there. They simply asked for the pearl colour of our choice, then smashed open a clam shell and presto, a pearl. They were selling it for as cheap as Rs 10!!! I really do not know what to make of it.
Our return tickets were on the wait list and we left it all to Lord Jagannath. And sure enough we were given three berths!! So a satisfying end to this quick trip.
We visited Puri, Bhuvaneshwar, Konark and Chilka. Anyone who has been there knows that temples dominate skyline here. For me, the architecture held a special attraction, being unique in design. The Jagannath temple is the centre of Puri. Everything seems to revolve around it. It is said that pilgrims come to this temple mainly to eat, and if you haven’t made a meal of the prasad here, you should do so at once. Not only because it is a good thing to do so, but also because the meal is too delicious to miss. This included three preparations of Basmati rice (plain rice with ghee and salt, pulao, sweet rice), dal, mixed vegetables, vegetable in mustard, rabri and malpua.) Too good to miss, huh? I also had my fill of Orissa sweet specialties - Chhana Pora (baked cottage cheese) and Khaaja (deep fried sweetened longish fritters). The evening ceremony of flag changing is fascinating. Two men climb up to the temple top on to the 12 foot spire and replace the red flag everyday.
All would have been fine had the priests (pandas) left us alone. At the Gundecha temple and the Jagannath temple, we were almost forced to pay up for each and every deity there! We then decided to go through the temples at a run.
In Bhuvaneshwar, the Lingaraj temple complex is quite rightly known as the Varanasi of the east because of the amazing number of Shiva temples within the walls. The suns had baked the stones so we had quite a game of hopscotch while trying to negotiate our way from one shaded area to the next. The Udaygiri and Khandgiri caves were a marvel and these caves for Jain students always amaze me. The utter starkness of it! A raised area cut out on the floor served as pillows! Small vents provided air and I suppose they studied by daylight.
Konark was heart wrenching for me. To think that I was seeing almost nothing of the original was too much to swallow. The main temple was no longer standing. The magnet placed at the apex was removed by the British when it was found that ships passing through the area crashed because of its interference. Once the magnet was removed, the huge iron pillars that held the temple straight together lost balance and the inevitable happened. The only structure remaining in stuffed with sand and stone and closed to public. Even the positions of the four sun (Surya) sculpures are no longer appropriate. The Wheels are indeed fascinating in the way they kept time based on prahar. The less said about the sculptures and engravings the better since I will be unable to do justice to them.
I was glad to notice that my daughters were also saddened by the loss of such craftsmanship. Since Malavika plans to study architecture, she needs to feel for these artifacts.
Chilka was reserved for the last day and the Irrawady dolphins did not disappoint us nor did the red crabs. What disappointed was the number of pearls that were produced by the fisher folk there. They simply asked for the pearl colour of our choice, then smashed open a clam shell and presto, a pearl. They were selling it for as cheap as Rs 10!!! I really do not know what to make of it.
Our return tickets were on the wait list and we left it all to Lord Jagannath. And sure enough we were given three berths!! So a satisfying end to this quick trip.
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