In National Capital

In National Capital

The National Capital comes with its set of advantages/disadvantages.If cyber cafe and tracing the same can be arduous on some occasions,the traffic on the road looks to be humongous. There are more red airconditioned buses plying alongside fewer green buses. Green buses should be the priority with those at the wheels cautious enough to drive slow.If one has been caught in a jam, it doesn't mean one has to overspeed in vacant spaces. Driving cautiously should be the motto. Buses are for passengers/public.Even if they get late, it is desirable than overspeeding in colony roads and vacant spaces.
Safety should be the priority and pedestrians and those driving small mode of transport should be given their desirable breathing space.
On different outings in the national capital, i have across people from the north east, orissa and rameswaram. Meeting the gentleman from rameswaram  was a treat indeed. Though he is settled in Delhi, he just came from Rameswaram on Friday.  

Accommodation in Kolkata; reaching Mumbai followed by National Capital

Accommodation in Kolkata; reaching Mumbai followed by National Capital

Having taken accommodation on the fifth floor of a lodge in Chittaranjan Avenue on a Thursday night, the vendors downstairs are handy enough for those looking for taking anything light including tea. Morning tea was taken from a nearby vendor and if one has to make calls from a phone booth it is all in the vicinity.  Took metro to Dumdum from which one has to exit to go towards Nager Bazar. Here shared auto is the rule, with four to five occupants in one vehicle, and it took 10 to15 minutes to reach Nager Bazar. From here one has to get on to another shared auto that would take you to No 1 Airport auto stand. From here the best bet is to walk to the Airport. At least autos and rickshaws should be allowed to the entrance of the airport if not the portico as it would come handy for passengers/tourists. Fares checked and took a ticket for Sunday with the benefit of a late afternoon departure.

Nearby there is a Calcutta Airport English Medium School. Something looks promising about this school. The return to Dumdum metro station coming as usual with halts at No 1 Airport auto stand and Nager Bazar. By the time one reaches Chittaranjan Avenue, there is a fair degree of clarity on the challenges one comes across while taking a split ride to airport area. Taxi could be handy but if one has time and resilience to put up with a split ride, the dust delivered template won't be much of a botheration. Well that is true of any big city if split ride is tried.

Meals taken from Lakhan lal in S N Bannerjee Road with the premises having shifted to opposite side. By the time i began the search for a cyber cafe in and around college street, it had begun to drizzle. Twister.com was the writing point with the attendance looking to be full house.

On a Saturday a little before afternoon set in visited Ghosh Sweets in S N Bannerjee Road,one of the few eating joints that have handy plain curd. Later visited S P Mukherjee Road and a cyber cafe in the vicinity. A stroll in the Lake market wasn't diluting either as this area has small roads with fewer vehicles plying in the colony. Those inside the K C Das food outlet in Esplanade on Saturday evening left you with fewer choices. As i sought veg roll from a restaurant near Bentinck Street, there was one gentleman who laid stress that maximum amount of oil should be used for his preparation though i insisted i would prefer little. Here what i could gather was food prepared with oil and the quantity does not bother some as some wash it down with rum.

Sunday as well visited K C Das outlet which had comparatively better management. On both days tea laced with high level of sugar was the option one could get, with mishti doi that is dished out in plenty as sada dahi is not on the menu. Other light preparations from K C Das have sound beat .Since tea comes from a machine, i am told the sugar mix is preset.Perhaps tea with mild sugar could be handy as well. And for keeping tea warm, the cup should be placed next to pouring point instead of keeping it on a tray as the space that is left between cup and the machine pouring point makes it lose some of its warm element.
Sunday afternoon left for airport by bus.Perhaps the point where the bus drops you is just one km or less from the airport.And here the taxi would be charging no less than 70rs to reach the destination, making a solid case for introducing autos till the entrance point. It took a little over two hours to reach Mumbai. The tea on flight was great.
In Mumbai the first halt was at Siddhivinayak followed by Dadar. The tea from ShreeDevi food outlet in Dadar was fairly good. Started from Mumbai a little after 9 pm, reached Nashik a little after 12am. The bus ride from Nashik to Nagar lasted a little over two hours. While approaching the bus stand which perhaps during that period was under renovation,the bus was being driven at reckless speed. One should be cautious as roads are not wide and on both sides pedestrians are in large numbers. It was on a Monday i reached Nagar.
Monday night was the first opportunity to get inside the temple, with 21 flower pots forming decoration template. The feet of the Lord looked to be fairly large with the glow on the face quite a wonderful experience. Tuesday evening left for national capital, reaching the same on Wednesday.

Reflections on Puri

Reflections on Puri
Reached Puri on a Tuesday morning. Well the previous night at Howrah station was anxious to note about the accommodation advantage i could be deprived of  if the rush happened to be huge in Puri.One gentleman was kind enough to suggest the point of accommodation near Beach Road and added i could take his name as reference. Once in Puri station, the rickshaw i took and the man riding it was candid enough to declare the rush was not in the roundabout of the temple as proceedings had shifted to Janakpur.  With accommodation ensured the tea one could gain was from a cart next to a road. There would be ample occasions where carts either positioned 24X7 or placed during day and taken to a resting point during night which the residents and those visiting the town could come across. Most carts come with the leverage of snack point, laundry port and newspaper net primarily driven by the fact that a tea offering would be in the vicinity. Having gained glimpse of the Lord at Janakpur (starting from Jagannath temple on Grand Road to Janakpur)  the first day, the ride back to lodge came with a rider that rickshaw could not go all the way to the main Jagannath temple. This led the rickshawman lose sight of the actual direction to the lodge and there were too many twists and turns before lodge could be located.

Wednesday again saw me take another round of Janakpur  followed by a walk in the evening. In between in the vicinity of Mochi Shahi Road a cyber cafe next to a food joint came handy on different occasions.

A walk in the evening towards beach road led me to one Vishwa Das who dealt with frame pictures of the Lord. Hoping that i would be able to interact the next day, i left and took coffee from a cart next to Puri hotel. The search late in the evening for fruits could not yield much as the beach road brims with traffic and tribulations coming after.  On a Thursday morning the train ticket for Dhauli Express followed by a rickshaw ride in search of Vishwa Das could not yield much as the place from which he ran his temporary shed saw another man selling his wares and any query about Vishwa Das had fewer and fewer response. A search for toast proved fruitful with the one from Sai Chandan Residency and the restaurant run by it dishing a fare that was really good.

Other reflections on Puri
- Hanuman Mandir on the turn to beach road is one that has a perfect location and tranquility
- Maa Kali Mistanna Bhandar has good collection of curd and sweets. Curd served in earthern pots come for 30rs; two cups were sufficient enough to keep the circulation in legs.
- Beach road could well be positioned in a way where traffic during day hours should be denied. Vehicles during day time should not be allowed to ply as the pollution that the area embraces is unwelcome. Respite from pollution can happen by closing the road for vehicles during day time; rickshaws could be easy mode of transport.
- While waiting for ticket at Puri station on Thursday i was told that return rath yatra would begin that day and idols won't be placed inside the Jagannath temple before Friday night. This was corroborated by the fact that when i took accommodation in Kolkata, the TV channel covering the return rath yatra proceedings showed the rath outside the Jagannath Temple on Friday evening.

As for laundry, there are carts along road that cater to this service or houses doing the same during limited hours. One near the Sangram Club is handy; the distance from a lodge in Dola Mandap Sahi could be a dampener.

Reaching Howrah
A little before 8.30pm reached howrah, with an urgency to take accommodation. A call from landline from Howrah station revealed i could take a room in City Heart in Chittaranjan Avenue. The room was on the fifth floor with the surety that it came with attached bath. FRiday morning the first thing i tried was to seek ticket for Mumbai. During three days i was in Kolkata, the search for sada dahi could not yield much as mishti doi is all that the city has to offer. There are points where sada dahi is available but they are few.  

Stay in Puri and leaving for Howrah

Stay in Puri and leaving for Howrah

Having met Ramachandra in the national capital, hailing from Balasaore, it would be prudent to look back on the days spent in Puri during Rath Yatra. In all i stayed for three days in Dola Mandap Sahi area, with the surge in the crowd seen maximum on the day the rath yatra was supposed to take a return journey.

It was Baikuntha Dham where i stayed with the room on the first floor spacious enough to accommodate and assimilate. The draft which i had penned during those days not traceable, the attempt would be to divulge from whatever one can recollect. THe rath had been placed in Janakpur and as one enters the premises one could see a semblance of similarity to College Street pandal during Pujo days. Idols had been placed in a hall and seeking a rush-free entry, a ticket of around 20rs was fixed. There was free entry as well, probably beginning after 12pm. The first day journey to Janakpur was witness to waterlogged roads as it rained the previous night followed by a second day where waterlogging was not to be seen.  The first day the surroundings around Lord Jagannath looked to be little sombre and on the second day the surroundings and the lord looked to be as resplendent as ever.

The day i am supposed to leave, the best bet is Dhauli Express which leaves a little before 12pm. AS the train left Puri station, there is no rush in the station but as we glide past one station after another the trains heading towards Puri are choc-a-bloc. Coaches are filled with passengers and a good number managing themselves on footboard. One could visualise the rush that would be there in Puri during the return yatra and one would hope challenges would be handled with utmost precision.   Dhauli Express reaches Howrah a little after 8 in the evening, some suggesting the train reached well before scheduled arrival. During the course of journey came across one gentleman who hailed from Orissa and was working in a food joint in Hathi Bagan area of Kolkata. Doing fairly well the food joint was one of the few enterprises that could manage well depending on the network and credibility it could develop over years.

As for Puri, the weather was perfect enough to stretch the stay. And the areas in and around temple road were equally appealing.