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!!

A Kalinga Tale: Day 1 - The tell-tale trail!

Well this odyssey was always on the cards only the destination was not. But as Bhai's hunt for his match got hot, the dream changed into reality. "Orissa - A dream destination" ... Don't youthink that I am using a hyperbole here. With mom rejecting my Darjeeling dream, Dad trashing our Uttaranchal sojourn, Bhai against a south India tour, and Nature spilling water on all other tourist spots, the plan of a trip to Orissa looked surreal to me. The fact that we would be hitting the road for this trip took me off, but the icing on the cake was that I was promised my share of driving on the way (which btw came after a lot of protest from me).

The route had been chalked out, the stopovers highlighted, car checked, route rechecked. And finally with all the prayers in place we left. The plan was to leave home at 6 o'clock in the morning. We left at 0700 hrs (with an army captain on our back, this was a great achievement). The route took us through pot holes ridden Ghatshila, the never ending truck queue at Jamsola, the "Baba-da-Dhaba" at Baripada, the "Guess-where-is-the-road" highway near Balasore, the "diversion ahead" Bhadrak, the four lane golden rectangle to Cuttack and finally to Bhubaneswar-the temple City!

I could lay my hands on the wheel for some 125 Kms between Baripada and Bhadrak. Mind you this was my first hands-on the four legged monster and I tamed it well!! The only problem was that my share of the road included finding my way through the under-construction bypass to Balasore city. May the fact that there was no road to drive on will give you a clear picture. They say its not easy to concentrate in a noisy envioronment. With Mom praying aloud (with her shrieks on every giving a particular tune to it); Bhai giving tips on when to change to which gear and to drive at what speed and to give what signal in which direction and to .........; dad on the font seat clutching the seat belt tight, constantly trying to take the steering from me, jumping before the bumps, and making faces which can even scare the sh*t out of people with a nerve of steel; You might just get a feel of my plight.

To cut the long story short, we reached Bbsr at 1700 hrs in the evening, checked in the Bubaneswar Hotel. Mom Dad went to visit the girl of Bhai's dream , we had our dinner, watched a rerun of evergreen "Hum Panch", got the news of the land and then closed the day.

Here I am!

Lifes been dull.

I think thats sums it up pretty good as to how I have been spending my last 3 months at home! I should, to be politically correct, take out the 17 day excursion that I went about in the month of June.

Mom and Bhai say that friends don't last forever. And when I refute their claim, they say that am too immature to understand it. And it makes me think - "Is it really going to happen?!". Will I forget my friends in next 2-3 years when I get busy with my life? Will people who count the most to me now, won't be there to share the ups and downs of life?

Some how I cannot convince myself that answer to any of these doubts can ever be yes. But then again I had great many friends till 10th and then again I had the best group in my plus 2 days. But none of them are around. Infact at some point of time I myslef have not taken the needfull steps to maintain the contact.

I don't know where the life would take me but I sure hope my friends would always be there in my thick and thin. With Sur there at every step of my life; Gajju on fone everyother day; Chhotu and Adi giving fundaes at the drop of the hat; Soni-Mayu to cheer me up 24x7; Bedi already gearing up for my baaraat [thats another story :-)]; Sudama and Zi as parents; GP n Varoon for support; Ghaza and Vardan for just being there [at Toto's that is :)]; I don't think it would be too difficult.

I hope I can prove my mom and bhai wrong for atleast this one time!!