Orissa - Random Lovely Moments

While trips can be reminiscenced and cherished for places seen, activities done, new experiences, and so on, there's also these random little moments in between which are so worth capturing, especially so through pictures. This post is dedicated to those, the icing on the chronicles of a lovely trip.

Our first cup of tea, enroute from Bhubaneshwar to Puri. Well, me tea, and Surekha coconut water, which seemed to set the pattern for rest of trip.

This was on way from Puri to Konark, a lovely drive. Part through thick forest and part along the sea

This was Puri to Chilka, just loved the visual. Felt like out of an Enid Blyton mystery adventure in the marshes. Childhood memories are etched deeper than you'd think.

A common sight in Orissa's villages, even really close to Bhubaneshwar, women who yet don't wear a blouse. It always brings out mixed feelings in me. Anger at the racism that might have initiated the practice, envy at how comfortable and freeing that must be, fear at how they must handle the lechers, simple joy at how cute and sexy they look....all of those

                         

This on the other hand is always a purely uplifting sight ....brings to mind equality, progress, independence...lovely 

Khaaja, a popular sweet in the region, also used as prasadam in temples. We had a little misadventure with this.

Surekha bought a packet to take home, and before we knew it the car was full of these really little ants, ants which got into all our other food packets (had bought lots of mamadi taandra), not to speak of our clothes. While we initially couldn't get how quickly the ants had come in, we later figured we'd likely bought the sweets with the ants in them :)

              

So pretty no....a herd of buffaloes crossing the stream

Women working the paddy fields. The wide swathes of the raw green of paddy transplantation evokes a kind of unparalleled calm to the mind ( possibly childhood experience again :)
                               

A small little temple across paddy fields
                              

A painting in the hotel we stayed at. Apart from pretty, it caught our attention because we could right away recall it's inspiration. A sculpture from Konark....and here's picture of the sculpture too.

Puri to Chilka Lake...this little boy, stark naked, oblivious to the world around, so engrossed in his play with the water, his time alone by the pond. It was such a cute sight. I remember the car passing it by, and the picture stayed in mind. So it took me a little while to tell the driver to pull over, and I got off the car and had to walk back, across this jeering bunch of guys, to hang around a bit, and ever so discreetly, share in his joy for those two minutes. 

This was at the ayurvedic garden at Bhubaneshwar. A huge lotus pond surrounded by medicinal plants and in the middle a temple too. Saw our first rudraksha tree here.

                           

The shanti stupa at Dhauli just outside of Bhubaneshwar. More than the stupa itself, I wanted to go because of the historical quotient. It's symbolic of the place that Ashoka gave up violence after the bloodshed at the Kalinga war ( Orissa was earlier Kalinga) . Significance straight out of our history books.

                              

And a final selfie. This ones at Blue Lily Resorts, where we stayed. How well coordinated is that, the blue lily...blue tiles, blue pool...and both of us in blue too :)

                                   

What an amazingly beautiful trip, one to cherish forever. Surekha, god bless you for that moment of inspiration when you called to say "chal, ek trip banaa, kahin chalthe hain dono"