Orissa Trip (9-12 February, 2023)
(Lord Jagan Nath Temple, Puri; Sun Temple, Konark; Chilka Lake)
About 17 persons (all of whom were related to each other), including me, got the opportunity to visit Orissa and seek blessings of Lord Jagannath at Puri. The program was for 3 nights from 9-11 Feb 2023 and we were to return back to Delhi on evening of 12.2.2023 (Sunday).
8.2.2023
I had a case to attend in Punjab & Haryana High Court in Chandigarh on 9.2.2023. So, on 8.2.2023, I went to Chandigarh and stayed at Hotel JW Mariott. (My wife Meenu and others took flight in morn of 9.2.2023 from Delhi and reached Bhubaneswar in afternoon and visited temples and did other sighseeing).
9.2.2023
After attending my case on 9.2.2023 at Punjab & Haryana High Court, I went straight from the High Court to the Chandigarh International Airport and boarded 3.25 pm Vistara flight UK707 to Delhi which reached Delhi at about 4.15 pm. There, I boarded 5.50 pm connecting Vistara airline flight UK781 from Delhi to Bhubaneswar which got late and took off at about 6.45 pm.
I got down at Bhubaneswar airport and came out at about 9 pm. I boarded the pre-booked cab (booked through Mr. Sambit Kumar Panda of Colors Cab 94371 95602). The driver Parmananda (7978834941, 9937865258) took me and started from Bhubaneswar airport at about 9.05 pm in a Maruti Dzire car. After travelling about 60 km covered in about 1 hr 15 min (total fare incl toll : Rs.1700/-), he dropped me at Hotel Seven Hills, Puri at about 10.15 pm. (There was fog on the way !).
I went to my room #301 at 3rd floor. Meenu was there. All team members had gone to their respective rooms as it was late night (we were 7 couples, 1 old couple and Kanupriya whose husband was away to US). I took some snacks and strolled in the room while discussing with Meenu the today’s sightseeings by them and later went to sleep at about 12 midnight.
10.2.2023 Friday
I got up early at about 4.30 am. After freshen up, I alongwith Ajay Beriwal started walk from the hotel at about 5 am. It was all dark and pleasant breeze was flowing. We walked to the beach nearby which took us about 25 min to reach. We walked on the beach for about 10 min. We then took an autorickshaw and returned to hotel at 5.40 pm. I took bath and got ready, as also other team members and all then assembled in the lobby at 6 am and then left in different auto rickshaws for Jagan Nath Temple. It took us about 15 min to reach Lord Jagan Nath Temple, Puri. We all assembled at the shoe counter of temple and deposited our shoes / slippers and mobiles there (for free) as mobiles are not allowed inside.
Sanjay Mittal (team leader) had arranged a Panda (Mr. Saumya, a thin young man, probably in his thirties, in traditional attire) who came and received us there. He was a very pleasing personality. He was assisted by a person who was also very helpful. With them, we went inside where they took us to several small temples within the temple complex and explained the facts about each temple. Then they took us inside the main temple where people had lined up for darshan. There, we had darshan of the dieties : Lord Jagannath on the left, sister Subhadra in the middle and brother Balram on the right side. We had good darshan.
We then all assembled and reached shoe counter and took our belongings and boarded autorickshaws. We returned to hotel around 9 am.
In the hotel, we headed to the restaurant and took breakfast. (two Temple pandas came from Jagannath mandir, carrying old records of people visiting temple in the past and showed records of ancestors of Ajay Beriwal and also of Sanjay mittal).
We had arranged for 4 Innova cars for 4 days to took us around wherever anyone of us wanted to go for sightseeing.
At about 11 am, me, Meenu, Naresh, Meenakshi, Ajay, Monica in two Innovas went to Gurdwara Shri Aarti Sahib, Puri which was hardly 10 min away, and had darshan. The Gurudwara was housed in a building (must be on a plot size of about 400-500 sq yard), with hall on the 2nd floor.
Then we went to the Beach nearby which was hardly 3-4 min distance. We enjoyed at the beach. It was sunny day but the breeze lowered the intensity of the heat. We also did camel ride on the beach, and took pics.
We returned to our hotel at 12.35 pm.
All relaxed in their rooms and waited for the panda Mr. Saumya to come with the Prasad (lunch). He was supposed to come at 2 pm and after taking Prasad in lunch, we had planned to leave for Konark temple at 2.30 pm. But the Panda got late (as the Prasad in the Lord Jagannath temple was made and released late). The Panda with his assistant arrived in the hotel at about 3.30 pm. We all assembled in the room of Sanjay Mittal (which was a bigger room, I guess) and sat on the floor in pangat style and the Panda and his assistant served us food (Prasadam) which was freshly cooked at the world famous kitchen of Lord Jahannath Temple. The food was served on banana leaves. The food was so delicious ! There were several dishes and different rice and then there was rabdi ras malai. We thoroughly enjoyed the food.
We hurried up and started from the hotel in 4 Innovas about 4.05 pm (Konark temple would close at about 5 pm and remaining day would get wasted).
We reached Sun Temple, Konark at 5.10 pm.
We straight headed to the ticket window inside the complex and purchased entry tickets (metro train type tokens) to the Sun Temple (Rs.40/- each). The counter for tickets for Light and Sound show started a little later (every day, only about 150 tickets for Light and Sound show are released on first come first served basis, and they don’t sell more than 6 tickets per person). Three members of our team stood in line and bought tickets for Light and Sound show (Rs.50/- each) while we others entered the Sun Temple main complex.
This Temple is under the control of Archeological Survey of India (ASI). We hired a guide of ASI. The guide took us through various monuments and structures in the complex and explained the history of each. It was getting dark and the later part of his presentation he showed and explained in dark under the lights put up at several places.
At about 6.15 pm, the Light and Sound show started : all visitors sat on chairs put up in the lawns while the huge elevated projectors at our back threw light and displayed video on the main / big structures of the Sun Temple Konark. The audio headsets were provided to each visitor through which we heard the running commentary of the show. The show was for about 45 min. It was a very good experience. We came out of the temple inner complex at 7.15 pm. We all took tea at Kamat’s restaurant in the temple outer complex. We then entered the adjoining museum (called “Arka Khetra”) maintained by Indian Oil Corporation which is within the complex. Here, the replicas of Lord Jagan Nath Temple Puri and Sun Temple Konark are kept and other artefacts are displayed, explaining the history and the architectures of the temples in Orissa. We also viewed a small documentary movie (about 25 min) on Konark Temple in the auditorium of the museum.
At about 8.45 pm, we all started from the Konark Temple (it was all dark and deserted by this time, with only our cars left in parking !).
At about 9.50 pm, on the way to hotel, we all reached Vithal Kamat restaurant, opp sea beach. Some of us took dinner here, while some returned to hotel and some strolled on the beach across the road. I took dinner and then joined Meenu etc. on the beach, enjoyed ice cream by the side of the beach.
We returned to the Hotel at about 11 pm.
All were tired, and so went to sleep.
11.2.2023 Saturday
We all got ready by about 7 am. Some members went nearby to beach, some to nearby temples.
We 7 persons in two Innovas, at about 7.30 pm, went to Loknath Temple (which was about 10 min from out hotel, by car). We had darshan in the temple. We returned to hotel at about 8.15 pm. We all took breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. Sangeeta cut her 46th birthday cake there.
We all checked out and started from the hotel at 9.05 am.
We reached Chilka Lake at 10.05 am. (It is about 50 km / 1 hr distance from Puri. Though it is called as lake, but actually it is a lagoon as it is surrounded by land on three sides and by sea on one side. It is India’s largest and Asia’s 2nd largest lake. Chilka is the end point, there is nothing to go further. For going to Bhubaneswar, one has to return to Puri outskirt).
We booked boat ride. (This is called Eco-Tourism Centre, Mirjapur, Satapada). We booked 3 boats (Rs.4750/- each boat). One boat has capacity of 6 adults and 2 children. Any additional member is Rs.200/- per head. We did not want to sit in crowded boats with locals and wanted to have our individual boats, so booked accordingly. There are three routes / packages : Route 1 (Dolphin and Sea mouth) 2 ½ hours Rs.4250/-, Route 2 (Dolphin, Red crab and Sea mouth) 3 ½ hours Rs.4750/-, Route 3 (Sea mouth and Red crab) 1 ½ hours Rs.2550/-. We opted for the highest i.e. route 2.
Me, Meenu, Naresh, Meenakshi, Ajay, Monica sat in one boat. These are wooden old style boats, on which generator is fixed at an end and the boatman start the generator motor and hold on to the attached handle while standing, for manoeuvring (there is a fan at the end of the rod, which remains dipped in water and provides thrust to the boat). We watched birds in the lake while boating. The boat reached a land mass strip (small island strip) within the lake. Other boatmen carrying tourists also halted there. The person there brought sea shells and broke some. The white pearl (moti) was found in 2-3 sea shells. We purchased 2 pearls for Rs.200/- each. He also brought few coral reefs and broke, and ruby and moonga was found in two of these. After spending 20 min there, the boat resumed the journey in the lake. At one point we also saw 2 dolphins. Took several pics of the birds in the lake.
At 1.30 pm, our boat anchored at a beach which is called sea mouth. This is that side of the Chilka lake which is surrounded by sea. We drink coconut water at a shack here. A 5-7 min walk, on sand, from this point, through the trail amidst dry bushes/ trees, led us to the sea shore. It was so serene and clean. The sea was looking green ! We spent about 15 min there.
The boat started again and we returned to the starting point at about 2.30 pm.
We then all started from chilka lake at about 3 pm for Bhubaneswar.
On the way, we halted at Raghurajpur, on Puri-Bhubaneswar highway, after 1 hr journey. It’s a small village of artisans producing different types of handicrafts and traditional paintings. This village has got international recognition due to people like Maga Nayak (9937156954, 9438555879), a master craftman of Patta painting and palm leaf engraving. He teaches this art, for free, the village children. He is about 75 years old, and is helped by his two sons and a daughter. He is a specialist in producing paintings, mainly centred around the life of Lord Krishna. Our team members visited his house where he and his sons run Krishna Arts & Crafts and sell these paintings. Some of us took pics with him, and some purchased these hand made paintings from there.
After spending about 30-40 min there, we started again.
We all reached Lingraj Temple, Bhubaneswar at about 6 pm.
We all gathered and then the Panda arranged by Sanjay came there and accosted us to the temple. He took us around in the temple complex and told us about its history. There are several small temples within the complex. This temple is older than Lord Jaganath Temple Puri and Konark Temple. (President of India Smt. Draupadi Murmu had visited Lingraj Temple today in the morning at 9.15 am).
We had darshan of the main diety (a big black pathar platform symbolises Lord shiva and the saligram piece on it symbolises Lord Vishnu). This is the only temple devoted to both Lord Shiva and Vishnu. We all couples paid 1650/- each to panda for feeding Prasad to poor for 6 months.
Then we were served food / Prasad on banana leaves by the pandas, we all sat down in a pangat style on floor. The food was so delicious. It was such a beautiful sight with we eating food against the backdrop of temple in the temple complex, with no rush of people. It was so quite at this hour. At 7.45 pm, we headed to our hotel.
At 8.15 pm, we reached Hotel Taj Vivanta, Bhubaneswar.
We all checked in and were allotted rooms and moved to our respective rooms, freshen up and relaxed in rooms. I stayed in room # 727. There was no need for dinner, as we already had such a delicious food in the form of Prasad served at Lingraj temple.
We 6 persons walked to the adjoining mall. Ajay and Monica di purchased sketcher shoes. Explored hotel, sat in lobby. At 10 pm, some of us gathered in room of Sanjay and gossiped and ate chaina poda (local desert) and pizza, arranged through zomato.
At 11 pm, we retired to our rooms.
12.2.2023 Sunday
It was a relaxed day. There was no prog to visit any place as we were to return to Delhi today (some wanted to visit Udaygiri caves, Buddhist stupa and Mukteswar temple but there was no time left today).
We all met in morning for morning tea in the open area adjoining hotel’s restaurant on 3rd floor (some of us hit the gym). Gossiped. Then all came down again to restaurant for breakfast, after getting ready.
At 10.30 am, we started from the hotel in 4 innovas. The airport was nearby and it took us only about 20 min to reach the Bhubaneswar airport.
Our flight to Delhi was Vistara UK788. It was originally scheduled for 1 pm, then rescheduled to 1.20 pm and when we cleared security check, we got the message that it is further rescheduled to 1.45 pm. My premium economy ticket was upgraded to Business class !
The flight took off at 1.45 pm.
At 3.40 pm, we landed at Indira Gandhi Int’l Airport, Delhi, Terminal T3.
Me, Meenu, BNaresh, Meenakshi took a cab and reached home at 5.10 pm.
Another interesting and enlightening trip came to an end.
