No trip to Odisha is complete without a visit to Puri, the legendary city on the sea of Bay of Bengal. There is a chaotic serenity associated with this historic city famous for the Lord Jagannath Temple, symbolizing our rich culture and heritage. I have a personal connection to this city as my roots belong here, my ancestors were natives close to Puri.
The ride to Puri was never smoother for the roads have become wider and lane oriented. At one stretch our car was going at 70 mph (110 kmph) which is the fastest ever speed I have clocked on the road to Puri. This would be unthinkable a few years back. The time to travel to Puri has drastically gone down as no more bumpy rides through narrow lanes for most part of the journey, though stray cows, dogs and incoming homo sapiens from the opposite direction on the single lane were avoidable nuisance
We walked on BADA DANDA (The Broadway) towards the Jagannath temple carefully treading our path amongst numerous bulls and beggars. It is sad that most of our places of worship has turned into an abode of charlatans, pickpockets and beggars ( I have nothing against beggars who are needy but many I saw begging in Puri were healthy enough to work, taking the devotees for a ride).
No sooner we got close to the temple, than the PANDAS (priests) started casing us. Years back, once a PANDA followed me, addressing me in Bengali, DADA ESON ESON.(Brother, come, come with us. Most tourists in Puri hail from Bengal, if Bengalis decide to boycott Puri some reason the local economy will take a huge hit). I switched to Puri dialect proclaiming myself as a native not a Jatri (tourist), expecting to be left alone. The dejected Panda pursued me for a while before asked me for Rs.10. As I did not relent, he melted away muttering behind me, KANGAALA KAHASE AYA (a miserly man of penury has come from somewhere). I took it as a compliment and moved on.
The dogs are prohibited inside the temple. In case a dog is discovered inside the temple, the entire MAHAPRASAD of the day becomes MAARAA (desecrated). But Cats and monkeys roam aplenty inside the tea. I saw a mama monkey revolving on a tree branch, while the baby monkey did the same around her neck, same way moon revolves around the earth and earth revolves around the sun.
The salubrious weather of December drives hordes of tourrists towards Puri and today was no exception. It was 8 in evening, the inside of the temple resembled mini India, with crowds visible from nooks and corner of India, vindicating it is the best time to visit Puri.
It was jam packed inside the temple. The short height folks were standing on the toes and short sighted ones adjusted their glass rims, to take a peek at the Lord. I saw an Air Conditioner hanging from the roof, close to dieties. One thing didn't go unnoticed, the inadequacy of safety measures towards preventing tragedy. Though our Lord is known for His Benevolence, deaths due to stampedes inside the temple is not something unheard of.
The ride to Puri was never smoother for the roads have become wider and lane oriented. At one stretch our car was going at 70 mph (110 kmph) which is the fastest ever speed I have clocked on the road to Puri. This would be unthinkable a few years back. The time to travel to Puri has drastically gone down as no more bumpy rides through narrow lanes for most part of the journey, though stray cows, dogs and incoming homo sapiens from the opposite direction on the single lane were avoidable nuisance
We walked on BADA DANDA (The Broadway) towards the Jagannath temple carefully treading our path amongst numerous bulls and beggars. It is sad that most of our places of worship has turned into an abode of charlatans, pickpockets and beggars ( I have nothing against beggars who are needy but many I saw begging in Puri were healthy enough to work, taking the devotees for a ride).
No sooner we got close to the temple, than the PANDAS (priests) started casing us. Years back, once a PANDA followed me, addressing me in Bengali, DADA ESON ESON.(Brother, come, come with us. Most tourists in Puri hail from Bengal, if Bengalis decide to boycott Puri some reason the local economy will take a huge hit). I switched to Puri dialect proclaiming myself as a native not a Jatri (tourist), expecting to be left alone. The dejected Panda pursued me for a while before asked me for Rs.10. As I did not relent, he melted away muttering behind me, KANGAALA KAHASE AYA (a miserly man of penury has come from somewhere). I took it as a compliment and moved on.
The dogs are prohibited inside the temple. In case a dog is discovered inside the temple, the entire MAHAPRASAD of the day becomes MAARAA (desecrated). But Cats and monkeys roam aplenty inside the tea. I saw a mama monkey revolving on a tree branch, while the baby monkey did the same around her neck, same way moon revolves around the earth and earth revolves around the sun.
The salubrious weather of December drives hordes of tourrists towards Puri and today was no exception. It was 8 in evening, the inside of the temple resembled mini India, with crowds visible from nooks and corner of India, vindicating it is the best time to visit Puri.
It was jam packed inside the temple. The short height folks were standing on the toes and short sighted ones adjusted their glass rims, to take a peek at the Lord. I saw an Air Conditioner hanging from the roof, close to dieties. One thing didn't go unnoticed, the inadequacy of safety measures towards preventing tragedy. Though our Lord is known for His Benevolence, deaths due to stampedes inside the temple is not something unheard of.
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