A Kalinga Tale: Day 2 onwards - Kalinga Conquered!

Sorry for such a late edition of the day 2. The problem was that bhai had read my accout of day one and he was not allowing me to release the sequel:). But now that he is out of my I am free again!.. so here it goes ...


Woke up at 7o'clock in the morning. We rushed to mom and dads room for a quick breakfast. The schedule for the day was tight and no slip in time could have been permitted. We had to visit few rels in Khurda road and from there take off to Chilka Lake. Had our lunch at Bushsho Khala's place. By noon we were heading towards the biggest inland lagoon in the world. It had drizzled when we started, making the climate just perfect for our rendezvous.

The road was awesome, going in and out of Mountains. The journey took us some 2 hours and we were in Panthaniwas, the Orissa Tourism Development Corporations guest house, by 5 o'clock. The plan was to check out the migratory birds at Chilka and then marvel at the Sunrise on the eastern coast of in India. Well, the migratory birds arrive at the birds sanctuary in winters and we woke up again at 7 o'clock. Anyways, we took a motor boat to Devi Kalijai's Temple, situted in a small island some 5 Kms off shore. We did see few Dolphins in the lagoon. The temple was really silent and serene. The dancing peacocks and the chanting priest added to the beauty of the temple. its a pity that I can't spend rest of my life in such tranquil places. Soon we were back on the shore and headed for Rambha Valley. On our way we saw some breath-taking scenes of the Chilka lake from a table top plateau.

After Rambha the next destination was Puri - The Holi city. After much begging I finally got the keys to car. The first thing to be done in my command was to put Dad in the back seat (refer Day 1). The problem with small family cars is that its difficult to adjust 3 people in the back seat, if you get what I mean! I could drive it for no more than 50 Kms before Bhai staged a coup and got me displaced from my postion of the driver. We took a bypass from Rameshwaran that was where Bhai took the wheels from me. But it seems fate is not without a touch of irony, the road from Rameshwaran to Puri was so hopeless that we covered the next 50 Kms in no less than 3 hrs.

We reached Puri in the evening, checked in the Panthaniwas in the quiet area of Puri. The beach resort was one of the best in Puri. We went out for a walk late in the evening. Well before I start giving in the details, I must impress upon you that Mom is a hydrophobiac, whereas I love water and Mom was with me for the walk. Do you really need any more details? To complete my description I must add that the people on the beach were ready to pay us for viewing the tussel between me and mom on the beach! I a grumpy mood for not touching the water even once we reached the chowpatti sort of bazaar on the beach few kms from our resort. I bought a kite there (THAT WAS FUN!!) It was an awsome kite, blimey! It was made of plastic, shaped as an aeroplane and it flew! Some 10 people asked me where to get it on our way back. Bhai shot a video too with me happily flyin the kite :-D!

Next day in the morning I made up for the last evening misfortune! Woke up early in the morning, slipped out of the room w/o waking up anybody and walked along the shore for some 5 kms enjoying the Dawn on the eastern shores. It was breathtaking. Soon Mom, Dad woke up too and there was an uproar that I am lost. Mom sent Dad immediately to look for me. He found me bathing in the water and take my word I have never seen him running any quicker! The crowd flocked again watching Dad pulling me out of the water and me tryin to free myself from his clutches. By the time I was out Dad was drenched too and I couldn't stop myself from rolling on the floor. The only problem was that in the tussel I lost my specs and the rest of the way had to see a spectacles less Aatif.

We left Puri at breakfast time for Konark. The Puri-Konark route is also called the Marine drive road. It goes along the shoreline and you cannot get a more beautiful road than that (FYI I was driving the car :-D). After several stop overs we atlast reached Konark. The magnificient sun temple tells the tales of age old riches. after spending some time in and out of the ruins we headed back for Bhubaneswar. There we made a night stop before leaving for home next day morning.

Our journey back was mostly uneventful. Dad drove most of the distance, I could get my hands on for some distance between Cuttack-Balasore Golden Quadrilateral highway and I enjoyed that bit :).. We all were too tired to enjoy anything else maybe, so by the time we reached home, all we could do was to pack ourselves for a really long sleep!

I don't know when we would head for such a trip again. With bhai's posting at different places all year round, me geeting only 14 days break every year, it would be great in itself if we can manage to even meet each other! I believe everything that happens in life teaches you something, and the lesson that I have picked here is that - Life is small and you don't get second chance. So get as much as you can from it!

Adios!!