Being Local in Bhubaneswar

A beautiful morning in Bhubaneswar. The modern city is very well planned with large sidewalks and flower beds along side. This is ofcourse the high street with all brands and Govt buildings in the vicinity. 

Shopping 🛍️ at Boyanika. Where ever we travel we bring back memories. Some momento shopping is integral part of keeping memories. I bought a saree and  running material here.

AND with that last coffee on the curb side we said farewells. Farewell Odisha!

Next day for morning flight Sai dropped me at the airport. Those 12 days in Odisha were packed with so many memories. It has taken 2 month for me to post it all. Hope you enjoyed watching and reading the experience through my eyes. Do let me know what you think?

📷 @mycookingcanvas

Adivasi Mela 2024

This was a surprise! Sai @mycookingcanvas had told me to keep my last day free. I thought it was to shop and pack up. Then she took me to this Adivasi mela. It was a lovely conclusion to my Odisha trip. Enjoy the visual. @saswati_gypsytraveller and @prativa_oct came to say bye bye to me. What this trip taught me is to open your heart to new people build friendships. Accept the love and give back double the love you get. Thank you my dear friends for this enriching experience! 🤗😘🤗😘🤗😘

A bungalow in Bhubaneswar

 

Mangala Jodi, Cuttack and Pahala all in one day! We were tired and returned home. Home in Bhubaneswar? 

Yes! As I always do in the last leg on my journey to experience local life I booked into an AirBnB. It was a lovely bungalow owned by a Doctor in Bhouma nagar. A quaint little place. The home was clinical clean 😃. 

After staying in 5 star to come to a spotless home in an old world bungalow is so comforting. It had a big kitchen with the best appliances. One could have cooked if not doing all the exploring outside. The living room had recliners which we snuggled into. Also as soon as We got there we were happy to have separate bedrooms. This home could accommodate 4 guests easily. On the days here we drank lots of tea as it was chilly and skipped dinner. 

That’s Sai nursing her drink 🥃 while I was warming my hands on a tea brewed by her for me.

I recommend this place with a happy heart💕

Shopping for Trarakasi in Cuttack

You must have guessed my trip was coming to an end. But who knew what was in store? 

On the way back to Bhubaneswar from Mangala Jodi Sai suggested going to Cuttack for evening tea and exploring the Tarakasi or Filgree market. 

Tarakasi has been crafted since centuries in Odisha and especially Cuttack thus gaining popularity as the silver city. 

All the Tarakasi work for temple jewellery and Durga pooja is done here.

At the outset we went to the protecting mother goddess of Kataka Chandi for darshan. You can get a glimpse of her right thru the gates. The vigraha of goddess is older than the temple. She is an avatar of Durga therefore Durga pooja is celebrated in a big way here. 

Then after tea we went shopping at the Filigree market. I bought some jewellery for myself and a mukut for our family Ganpati when he comes home next. I captured a video of it when I was showing it to our lil boy. Check it out on reels.

We decided to sample 

Cuttack Fame Dahi Bara Aloo Dum

Birding in Mangala Jodi

Exploring Mangala Jodi wetlands on the boat and watching almost 200 species of birds all in one area has been the most rewarding experience of my life! 

Thanks to Sai who while early planning itself insisted that I include Mangala Jodi in my itinerary. I wasn’t expecting too much.

I have been to many such boating and birding experiences in Kerala to Periyar and Kumarakom which were not so rewarding. Especially Kumarakom was actually disappointing as it was totally empty. In Karnataka I have been to Ranganathittu which was good. Karnala is in sad state. Navi Mumbai for solely Flamingoes in Maharashtra yet Mangala Jodi is unmatched.

We drove to Mangala Jodi wetlands point where they conduct this boating birding experience. The boat can accommodate about 10 people. We were just 2 persons so at first I found the fee expensive but after the experience I can say every paisa was vasool. Each boat gets a guide a reference book on birds and binoculars.

It is the first time I saw so many species of birds. The funny thing was the guide kept saying “More hen” they were as colorful as peacocks. Later I found out on the net that he was saying “Moor hen” 😆😆

Watching birds in their natural habit, diving down to catch a worm or fish was delightful. Taking flights that were fancy and we watched in awe. We saw pairs of birds that were inseparable and they were not love birds 😃 

I was lucky to be in season for watching the migratory birds. We met many photographers there trying to make best of the season. 

This video is very special for me as I was busy enjoying myself when Sai very lovingly captured this incredible memory for me to keep.

Also read about our drive thru rural Odisha and 

Breakfast under ₹50

Let down by Pipul Odi Museum Resort

Pipul Odi Museum Resort at Barkul

25-26 Jan 2024

I fell in love with the pictures of this place while booking my trip. I even called up and requested the manager that I would like one particular room. He promised. Turned out empty! Both the place and his promise. 

Sometimes you fall for these look good places and when you reach there they fall face flat on customer service. 

The museum after which this resort gets its name and markets itself also wasn’t operating! 🙈

 

Firstly the room wasn’t clean. The linen wasn’t changed. We discovered while going to bed the pillows had hair on it indicating they were used. 

 

We had reached by evening and ordered tea and veg pakodas in the room. So we thought ok we could have dinner there.

The worst of all experiences was when we went for dinner to their restaurant and ordered tava fried fish and schezwan fried rice. The rice was nothing schezwan and had corn n peas in it. Which means a pulao was showered with chili flakes and brought to us. The fried fish was deep fried, a prepped fish for curry. 

Sai @mycookingcanvas the tough girl she is summoned the manager made him taste the food and made him take it back. She ordered him to serve staff meal of dal rice to us along with fish besaro. The hotel was so shameless they billed for it! We paid but we also want everyone to know our terrible experience!!!

😂😂😂😂😂

Legend of KaliJai

A visit to Kali Jai Mandir and Island in the Chilika lake. It is as rural as it gets. Had it not been for Sai I would have never known about this place and the legend behind it.

So Jai was a bride to be to whom this mandir is dedicated. It’s in the middle of Bharat’s biggest lagoon between the shores of Barkul and Parikuda. Amazing location as an island should be. Yet it’s the journey that made it enjoyable. 

We chatted up with the poojari and asked him to narrate to us the legend about the temple or as we say sthaan mahatmya. As mentioned above Jaai a bride was on the way to meet her husband to be was on the boat along with her father and the boatman. There was a storm and the boat overturned causing the death of Jai while her father and the boatman survived. Later the king of this island had a dream where Jai appeared and told him to give her a place as she was the form of Kali. So the king built this temple on the island close to where Jai had lost life. This is the name of the temple as well as the island KaliJai. The tribals have a yearly fest at the temple. 

There isn’t much to see except this mandir. There are a few shops that sell sweets and eatables. We enjoyed some fresh jhal mudi scrambled up in front of us. I was tempted by the simplicity of the rustic sweets and respect for that sweet maker. There were coconut ladoos, colorful khaja, khasta gaja etc. Sai bought me some khasta gaja. Those are the brown ones. 

Later after returning to Barkul jetty we had a simple meal of prawn curry and rice with some mixed vegetables at the OTDC restaurant.

Relaxed at Swosti Chilika

 

Swosti Chilika is a long 3hr drive from Puri. When we reached the hotel we were quite tired and after a fantastical meal of crabs and other non veg all we needed is to 😴 snore. Did you read about it on AnnaParabrahma yet? We just vegetated and yapped till dusk and the plan was to walk around the property in the evening. That turned into a walk in the end to end balcony of the housing as the rain gods decided to descend on Chilika  totally unseasonal!

This resort is located on Bharat’s largest lagoon, the Chilika lake. It is beautifully maintained and found it the most relaxing to spend the last leg of my Odisha exploration here. It has its own access to the lake and the ⛴️ boat and jetty is a great place to spend time by the waterfront.