Back in August, bored from the mundane and spotting dirt cheap tickets I thought why don't we pay a visit to my now second home Kolkata. And since forever we got married, my MIL wanted for us all to go for a holiday to Puri, and I never need any excuse to bunk work (My job is really taxing.. but it pays.. so I don't complain :P) Hence the plan was made. We were going to the beach in Monsoons! Sounds really absurd when I say it out loud, but bear with me it gets better.
Let me be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this place. I have been to very few places and never to the eastern coasts ( Just a stroke of luck that East came into the office and I got married to him, else I would have been stuck with someone as unaware of the surroundings as myself.. See I give you credit when its due :) ) Anyway, my husband was apprehensive, let's just face it, he always is.. one of the reasons I call him Palpy (Don't ask!) The trip almost didn't happen as my MIL was feeling a little unwell, but it all came together at the end and we did go. And I'm so glad we did!
First I'll talk about the sights and scenes.. and then I'll talk about the fights and scenes :D
I'm seriously amazed by the beauty this country has hidden in every state, each so refreshingly unique. We had reached Puri early morning at around 4, so it was still dark outside, but as the day started dawning I saw what I can say was one of the best beaches I have been on till date! Now you might say that how many beaches have I actually seen to lay such a claim. Fair enough: Goa,Mumbai,New York, Venice and now Puri. So I may not really be the authority on the beaches of the world, but I am still entitled to an opinion. The reason is pretty simple, it is clean (unlike Mumbai), not very commercial (unlike Goa) and very budget friendly (unlike New York and Venice).
This really understated coastal state has a lot to offer if you are willing to give it time. I'm pretty sure most of you would be aware that Odisha is the place of residence for our almighty lord Jagannath in whose honour the magnificent rath yatra is hosted every year. The English word Juggernaut is a distorted pronunciation which means the unstoppable deriving meaning from the Jagannath Rath yatra where the devotees throw themselves under the unstoppable in the hope of attaining moksha.
We were staying right on the beach, our balcony opened out to the beach, and as we were visiting during the week there wasn't many people there. The Bay of Bengal is seldom quiet, the waves are big and lustrous. The beach side shops are mostly fishermen catching and frying up the fish/crabs for you, as fresh as fresh can get. A few artists doing these amazing sand structures, which is amazing because it takes them hours to built them up and one brutal wave just takes it all away!
Enough about the beach, there are a lot of other things to see in this pretty place. First up the list was the Chilika lake, for the uninitiated this is the largest salt water lake (lagoon) in India and the second largest in the world. This is where I realised that India has the potential to be the one stop tourist solution to anything someone can have in mind. We've got the magnificent mountains which could give any range a run for it's money (here it is imperative to mention we just paid a visit to heaven on earth "Kashmir"), we have the deserts whose people would spoil you silly with their hospitality (Jaisalmer, never met more welcoming people than Rajasthanis), the mysteriously beautiful islands that I'm yet to set foot on (Andamans and the Lakshadweep) and then we have the envious coastal lines. And somewhere between all these was this quaint gigantic lagoon so rich with life, I just couldn't believe why no one had ever brought this one out to my attention. There is only one thing to do and is to take the boat ride in the giant water body. But don't think it to be an ordinary one, for starters its an unusually long one (4 hours) and you get to see how these poor fishermen make their living (life is hard outside of my comfort zone) but the best is that you get to spot dolphins!! Yes! In a lake! Yes jumping and shouting and in groups in their natural state of being! And the lake is serene and spread out for most parts you wont even see anyone around, your soul boat would be happily wading away. These are the places poets are made.
Up next was the city tour, as it was monsoons when we went, the whole place was such a beautiful shade of green it just transported me to a different world altogether. This was even before we got to any particular place. There are quite a few places for you to see around this modest town, I'll list them out for you to put on your lists: Konark Temple, ChandraBhaga Beach, the city of Bhubaneswar which is often called as the city of temples so goes without saying a lot of temples. But there is also one more place you must go to : NandanKanan Zoo. It has a lot more species and they are kept very well, you will not believe how many tigers both Royal Bengal and White did I see there. And no trip to Puri shall ever be complete without paying you respects to Jagannath temple.
The next thing a good blog tells you is how to get there, 2 simple ways.
1. Fly to Bhubaneswar it's 2 hours from there.
2. If you were travelling from Kolkata then train is your best options. Also, if you were travelling from Kolkata you wouldn't need me telling this because you would have already been there a zillion times. Don't judge me I'm a new recruit, still learning the ropes :)
Enough information on this blog, lest you start thinking it to be a travel blog. Now lets get to the fights and scenes.
So let me begin with a brief profiling of my in-laws, they are a careful couple. And by careful, I mean cautious, and by cautious I mean always imagining the worst possible scenario. Difficulty understanding? How about this: They have an interesting anecdote for every thing we do (that they don't approve of) and that mostly ends with "...and then he died!"
[I know you won't mind it If you read this dear in-laws, you know I love you still :)]
Now that we have the context right, here's what happened. In my Kolkata House the refrigerator is only meant to store fish or other grocery items which may go bad if not kept in cold temperatures. It is definitely not meant to cool water or store cold drinks or worse ice creams. Because you know Bengali children generally have tricky tonsils and hence they have increased susceptibility to cold. So now that we were in Puri and the darling husband could run around free, you know what he does? He buys a bottle of coke!!!! Ohhh My Gawwwwddd... And that too in front of my MIL! And all I could think of was.. does this boy have no sense? But my MIL was very cool about it.. she swallowed the shock and while he happily guzzled down the poison(What? What?) my MIL taught me a very important lesson about these carbonated monsters, which is: These things are high in sugar, which make you fat, which makes to easy prey for diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, weak heart all of these could be very harmful to your health. At that point I also wanted to point out that also given that it's chilled it might also give him a choked throat, and that it contains things a lot more harmful than sugar.. but better judgment prevailed. And in future, I was to make sure that he doesn't do such atrocities to his health, all this while he finished the bottle by himself and started out in the search of an ice cream. Yes.. marriage has really emboldened him. And it also makes me think, the version of son my MIL thinks he is and what I see him as isn't really on the same page.
Also I was stupid enough to say I wanted to eat the roadside seafood.. On which all three of them jumped on me as if I killed someone. What? This? Really? Have you seen the dust? Look at his hands? Look he just dug that crab out from the sand.. And me all this while saying <in small voice>.. but it's fried...
Anyway.. moving on.. Remember that awesome boat ride I talked to you about? So when we just reached about the middle of the lake where the boat was away from all the land masses, the cheery dextrous boys rowing our boats thought of making the ride more fun and started rocking it slightly. Now I could see that it was these boys, who just wanted to ensure we had fun. But to my father in law it was a warning for something more serious, it meant that we were in the middle of choppy waves which were being caused in the sea from which the lagoon draws water and if we didn't hurry back we might get stuck in a sea storm (in a lake). At this point, it actually became difficult for me to contain my amusement. But my FIL made sure to explain to everyone why what he thought was true. It kind of helped that those boys only understood Oriya..
And that's all the dirt that you get. Hey you.. What you laughing at? no one makes fun of my family except me myself!
Oh man... what fun... How I love my new family. And how I'm so glad that it's me who writes this blog and not anyone else.. as then I wouldn't have seemed so normal either! Takes crazy to know crazy :)
But an honest recommendation to all who read, this underdog of beaches is certainly worth a visit.
Until the next time I find something to sing about..
Lots of love and a Happy new Year in advance!!! (So confident won't be able to wrap up something before the new year's eve )
So let me begin with a brief profiling of my in-laws, they are a careful couple. And by careful, I mean cautious, and by cautious I mean always imagining the worst possible scenario. Difficulty understanding? How about this: They have an interesting anecdote for every thing we do (that they don't approve of) and that mostly ends with "...and then he died!"
[I know you won't mind it If you read this dear in-laws, you know I love you still :)]
Now that we have the context right, here's what happened. In my Kolkata House the refrigerator is only meant to store fish or other grocery items which may go bad if not kept in cold temperatures. It is definitely not meant to cool water or store cold drinks or worse ice creams. Because you know Bengali children generally have tricky tonsils and hence they have increased susceptibility to cold. So now that we were in Puri and the darling husband could run around free, you know what he does? He buys a bottle of coke!!!! Ohhh My Gawwwwddd... And that too in front of my MIL! And all I could think of was.. does this boy have no sense? But my MIL was very cool about it.. she swallowed the shock and while he happily guzzled down the poison(What? What?) my MIL taught me a very important lesson about these carbonated monsters, which is: These things are high in sugar, which make you fat, which makes to easy prey for diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, weak heart all of these could be very harmful to your health. At that point I also wanted to point out that also given that it's chilled it might also give him a choked throat, and that it contains things a lot more harmful than sugar.. but better judgment prevailed. And in future, I was to make sure that he doesn't do such atrocities to his health, all this while he finished the bottle by himself and started out in the search of an ice cream. Yes.. marriage has really emboldened him. And it also makes me think, the version of son my MIL thinks he is and what I see him as isn't really on the same page.
Also I was stupid enough to say I wanted to eat the roadside seafood.. On which all three of them jumped on me as if I killed someone. What? This? Really? Have you seen the dust? Look at his hands? Look he just dug that crab out from the sand.. And me all this while saying <in small voice>.. but it's fried...
Anyway.. moving on.. Remember that awesome boat ride I talked to you about? So when we just reached about the middle of the lake where the boat was away from all the land masses, the cheery dextrous boys rowing our boats thought of making the ride more fun and started rocking it slightly. Now I could see that it was these boys, who just wanted to ensure we had fun. But to my father in law it was a warning for something more serious, it meant that we were in the middle of choppy waves which were being caused in the sea from which the lagoon draws water and if we didn't hurry back we might get stuck in a sea storm (in a lake). At this point, it actually became difficult for me to contain my amusement. But my FIL made sure to explain to everyone why what he thought was true. It kind of helped that those boys only understood Oriya..
And that's all the dirt that you get. Hey you.. What you laughing at? no one makes fun of my family except me myself!
Oh man... what fun... How I love my new family. And how I'm so glad that it's me who writes this blog and not anyone else.. as then I wouldn't have seemed so normal either! Takes crazy to know crazy :)
But an honest recommendation to all who read, this underdog of beaches is certainly worth a visit.
Until the next time I find something to sing about..
Lots of love and a Happy new Year in advance!!! (So confident won't be able to wrap up something before the new year's eve )
