It is hard to find any Bengalis' who has not been to Puri. I was wondering whether I am the unlikely few who has never been to Puri. One summer my husband expresses his desire to go there. My sister's husband whom we were visiting at that time says "Arre Puri? You want to go to Puri? When?" My husband says "May be end of May". My sister's husband who maintains a tight schedule of work cannot go on holidays at the drop of a hat. But this time he said "Let me see, i think i would be at Bhubaneswar at that time. Would you mind if we join you.?" I was like "Mind???? Are you crazy??" Nothing better to be able to share your holiday with your beloved sister. So here we were planning to go to Puri together. The first things we did were to buy huge bottles of sunscreens. My husband is one person who doesn't step out of the house without any planning. So a date was fixed accordingly. My husband also had a fascination of staying at Puri Hotel one of the oldest hotels in Puri. So rooms were booked for my family. But my sister refused to stay there. Also she was apprehensive about her husband letting us down at the last moment. But nothing as such happened. What happened was something very different. My husband read the ticket timings wrong & we reached Howrah Station 2hrs after the train left. It was raining cats & dogs outside. My family looked miserable half wet, sad at missing the train & the hopelessness of missing a fun filled holiday. It suddenly dawned on me that we could still go for the holiday. I assured my husband not to worry, we can catch an overnight bus from Esplanade. Puri is not very far you know was all I could say. My sister advised to catch a morning train or flight. But I said lets go to the ticket counter & see what happens. Luck by chance is what happened. An agent was selling some cancelled tickets but he had only 2 tickets & not 4 as we required. Also we will get to sleep only after Kharagpur till Cuttack. I said ok, done. The train was Amravati Express scheduled to leave in an hour. We ran helter - skelter with our luggage & rucksacks on my son's backs. Finally boarded, requested the gentleman traveling till Kharagpur to let us sit till then. Phew!!! What an unforgettable beginning to a holiday. Needless to say had a very cramped, sleepless night, taking turns between the four of us to sleep on 2 berths. At 5am morning reached Bhuvaneswar, met at the station by my sister's husband. He knew about our ordeal the previous night so took us to his luxury hotel to let us freshen up & have some breakfast. O god!!! Was I so happy to see him at the station that day. He arranged for a car which would take us to Puri. My sister & her family would join us next day after he finishes his work. And thus our holiday began.
We also managed to visit the beautiful Sun Temple of Konark & Chilka Lake in this one trip..
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| No personal photos but just wanted you to see how carefree we were on our evening adda. |
Spend your evenings on the beach promenade, drink tea, sweets, Jhal Muri or Alu kabli or simple Mungphali & see the sun setting against an azure sky. If you are not planning for a hectic Orissa tour & stay in & around Puri then it can be a weekend trip with another couple of days thrown in, say 3 - 4 days. From Kolkata we have plenty of connections to Puri. An adventurous lot can also drive down, a marathon drive but enjoyable. Also one need not book hotels perhaps as we found plenty of hotels, from luxurious to budget to rundowns. That must be a plus point as you can land up whenever you want.
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| sun temple Konark |
Cannot help but tell you about Puri as a great shopping destination. Take a walk along the beach towards Swargadwar & you would reach the shopping paradise. Apart from cotton handloom saris, buy Bomkai silk saris at Utkalika the Govt of Orissa Handloom. I had some pretty ones. Also eat till you drop sea food if you can digest it. If you have a sweet tooth eat Chana Pora, famous sweet of Puri, very tasty made from fresh cottage cheese. If you are a religious person then please have the auspicious Bhog of Lord Jagannath. Puri Hotel serves it to you for some money at room service. The Bhog is also very tasty
Spend your evenings on the beach promenade, drink tea, sweets, Jhal Muri or Alu kabli or simple Mungphali & see the sun setting against an azure sky. If you are not planning for a hectic Orissa tour & stay in & around Puri then it can be a weekend trip with another couple of days thrown in, say 3 - 4 days. From Kolkata we have plenty of connections to Puri. An adventurous lot can also drive down, a marathon drive but enjoyable. Also one need not book hotels perhaps as we found plenty of hotels, from luxurious to budget to rundowns. That must be a plus point as you can land up whenever you want.
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