Puri has been like second-home to the Bengalis. There is hardly any Bengali, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, who have not been to Puri at least once in their lifetime. It is overnight bus or train journey from Calcutta. So, its easy and economical to go there. You can spend a weekend there or a good portion of your vacation. It has sea beach, where you can idle away the whole day. The sea-side restaurants and stalls serve you the most delicious and fresh fishes, something Bengalis find hard to resist. And then there is the famous Jagannath temple for the religious minded. Thus, Puri is for all ages, for all reasons and all seasons.
This time during the year-end vacation, while going home, we decided to spend a couple of days in Puri. It is just a small diversion from the original Bangalore-Howrah (Calcutta) rail route. We spend three lazy days in Puri, a perfect way to start our vacation. And like Bengalis, we had our share of fun in the sea, our daily dose of fishes and then the pilgrimage part involving the Jagannath temple.My daughter, a proclaimed "aquaphilic", had a ball. It was difficult to pull her out of the sea. When we were in our hotel, she had the slide and the swings. For me this was the third trip since 2007. Prior to that I came here twice when I was very small and my father worked in Bhubaneswar, about 60 km from Puri.
In 2007 I came to Puri for relaxation and sort of pilgrimage. A month from then I would be leaving to the UK for my studies. So, there was a bit of thrill, a bit of anxiety, a bit of uncertainty...
In 2010 I visited while returning from celebrating my daughter's birthday in our native town. Life had then settled a bit, but not fully. Then, handling a baby did not seem an easy job. That trip was more of a "Thank you GOD" type trip. We knew we overcame the difficult first one year....things were looking better from then on.
This time Puri was more about vacation and a little bit about pilgrimage. This time Puri was about "fun", something which was missing in my last two trips to this place.
Puri was packed to the full. The Christmas-New Year vacation made the wanderlust Bengalis throng the place. It was noisy and chaotic. People poured on the streets in the morning, in the evening - always. The long queues for the darshan (worship) ensured the priests (called "pandas") made some quick bucks by getting the devotees stand in "special lines" for fedex-kind of darshan. But the devotion is worth appreciating. People from the poorest of the poor as well as the rich ones who filled the temple area choc-o-bloc had only one objective and that was to offer prayers to the deity. True, it was not spic-and-span and yet I felt there is life here. People may not be following the table manners and the formality. Here you find the crowd that is more normal, more Indian, more humane. There is that bit of originality and rawness. It does not have the fake mask that city-people wear all the time. Here you can breathe freely. You breathe a much more relaxed and stress-free environment. You are out of the artificiality. It affirmed that I had started my vacation in a good note. Having stayed in the sophisticated Bangalore life, this was indeed a place where I can lay my guards down. People talked loudly and laughed loudly. These were the people who spoke their heart and had emotions up on their sleeves.
On the beach I saw little brothers and sisters playing with sand, forming different shapes with it, digging out tunnels through them. They put their hearts out building that small piece of art, until either some waves washed it or they are pulled out by their parents. This reminded me of my visits to Puri when I was small... This eternal phenomenon on the beaches of Puri seems as old as the time.
During the day the activities on the beach are more of people enjoying the water, enjoying the sea. The commercial activities are more reserved following sunset. Chairs are laid just a few feet where the waves die down. However a strong wave can easily reach upto the chairs and disturb the shoes that you have kept underneath them. Hawkers carry home-made delicious sweets on their shoulders. Some people sell synthetic pearls in the name of original pearls, There were young children who enjoyed camel ride on the sea beach. Some people in their sunset years watch the sun disappear in the distant horizon as they sip their tea cups. As it became completely dark, the sea changes to an object of unknown fear. You cannot see beyond a few meters and yet you know there is a vast waterbody ahead. The sound of the sea waves seems more of a roaring as the other sounds are less heard. Some people throw glowing balls on the wave, only to be brought back to the shore. A smell so typical of Puri fills the air - it is the smell of fish that the fishermen have caught, saline water, fuel of the distant trawlers - all mixed. After 9, the crowd of the beach begins to thin. The fish stalls and other stalls selling petty things slowly wrap up their business. Suddenly the hustle and bustle can no longer be heard on the sea beach. The hotels and the beach are separated by the road, which sees the last activities of the day. But that too does not last beyond a certain time, especially now that it is winter.
At midnight I ventured out of my hotel room and found a deserted road, desolate sea beach, dead silence only to be broken by a deep growling coming from the dark seas. Even the breeze that was blowing was bone-chilling. The place was in striking contrast to what it is during the day. Who will tell that only a few hours back this place so full of life and energy, so bright and beautiful?
Nature's cycle will never change. This has been there for centuries; it will continue for centuries.The waves...the cool breeze...the yellow sand....the dark nights - these things never change. Only the players (in the beaches) change
To be continued...
This time during the year-end vacation, while going home, we decided to spend a couple of days in Puri. It is just a small diversion from the original Bangalore-Howrah (Calcutta) rail route. We spend three lazy days in Puri, a perfect way to start our vacation. And like Bengalis, we had our share of fun in the sea, our daily dose of fishes and then the pilgrimage part involving the Jagannath temple.My daughter, a proclaimed "aquaphilic", had a ball. It was difficult to pull her out of the sea. When we were in our hotel, she had the slide and the swings. For me this was the third trip since 2007. Prior to that I came here twice when I was very small and my father worked in Bhubaneswar, about 60 km from Puri.
In 2007 I came to Puri for relaxation and sort of pilgrimage. A month from then I would be leaving to the UK for my studies. So, there was a bit of thrill, a bit of anxiety, a bit of uncertainty...
In 2010 I visited while returning from celebrating my daughter's birthday in our native town. Life had then settled a bit, but not fully. Then, handling a baby did not seem an easy job. That trip was more of a "Thank you GOD" type trip. We knew we overcame the difficult first one year....things were looking better from then on.
This time Puri was more about vacation and a little bit about pilgrimage. This time Puri was about "fun", something which was missing in my last two trips to this place.
Puri was packed to the full. The Christmas-New Year vacation made the wanderlust Bengalis throng the place. It was noisy and chaotic. People poured on the streets in the morning, in the evening - always. The long queues for the darshan (worship) ensured the priests (called "pandas") made some quick bucks by getting the devotees stand in "special lines" for fedex-kind of darshan. But the devotion is worth appreciating. People from the poorest of the poor as well as the rich ones who filled the temple area choc-o-bloc had only one objective and that was to offer prayers to the deity. True, it was not spic-and-span and yet I felt there is life here. People may not be following the table manners and the formality. Here you find the crowd that is more normal, more Indian, more humane. There is that bit of originality and rawness. It does not have the fake mask that city-people wear all the time. Here you can breathe freely. You breathe a much more relaxed and stress-free environment. You are out of the artificiality. It affirmed that I had started my vacation in a good note. Having stayed in the sophisticated Bangalore life, this was indeed a place where I can lay my guards down. People talked loudly and laughed loudly. These were the people who spoke their heart and had emotions up on their sleeves.
On the beach I saw little brothers and sisters playing with sand, forming different shapes with it, digging out tunnels through them. They put their hearts out building that small piece of art, until either some waves washed it or they are pulled out by their parents. This reminded me of my visits to Puri when I was small... This eternal phenomenon on the beaches of Puri seems as old as the time.
During the day the activities on the beach are more of people enjoying the water, enjoying the sea. The commercial activities are more reserved following sunset. Chairs are laid just a few feet where the waves die down. However a strong wave can easily reach upto the chairs and disturb the shoes that you have kept underneath them. Hawkers carry home-made delicious sweets on their shoulders. Some people sell synthetic pearls in the name of original pearls, There were young children who enjoyed camel ride on the sea beach. Some people in their sunset years watch the sun disappear in the distant horizon as they sip their tea cups. As it became completely dark, the sea changes to an object of unknown fear. You cannot see beyond a few meters and yet you know there is a vast waterbody ahead. The sound of the sea waves seems more of a roaring as the other sounds are less heard. Some people throw glowing balls on the wave, only to be brought back to the shore. A smell so typical of Puri fills the air - it is the smell of fish that the fishermen have caught, saline water, fuel of the distant trawlers - all mixed. After 9, the crowd of the beach begins to thin. The fish stalls and other stalls selling petty things slowly wrap up their business. Suddenly the hustle and bustle can no longer be heard on the sea beach. The hotels and the beach are separated by the road, which sees the last activities of the day. But that too does not last beyond a certain time, especially now that it is winter.
At midnight I ventured out of my hotel room and found a deserted road, desolate sea beach, dead silence only to be broken by a deep growling coming from the dark seas. Even the breeze that was blowing was bone-chilling. The place was in striking contrast to what it is during the day. Who will tell that only a few hours back this place so full of life and energy, so bright and beautiful?
Nature's cycle will never change. This has been there for centuries; it will continue for centuries.The waves...the cool breeze...the yellow sand....the dark nights - these things never change. Only the players (in the beaches) change
To be continued...
