19th November Kolkata to Bodh Gaya

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Our journey commenced quite early in the morning, as winter sets in the days are short and become shorter as we go further North Even in Kolkata it becomes dark by about 5 PM.

6:30 AM we were in the car and heading out, our first stop was at an Indian Oil pump for fuel and air, we got the fuel but not the air, no one is easy with the air and specially in the morning, there is always some excuse or other. The compressor is not working, there is not enough air, air only after 10AM etc. While we were waiting for the fuel a lorry almost rammed into the front of the car, he was in a hurry to hit the road and was not exactly careful and we were lucky.

We moved onto the highway and headed towards Bodh Gaya our destination, the traffic was horrendous, The Kona Expressway was packed with lorries and lorries and more lorries, they were slowing us down and the careless overtaking was terrible, it is a wonder that there was no accident in the morning.

The first toll was slow and painful, we had no change and the person who manned the toll booth refused to accept a Rs 500 note. He just did not move a muscle, we had to search every wallet and purse and come up with the exact change, I hope they demonstrate the same tenacity in controlling traffic and all those two wheelers and pedestrians who want to commit suicide on the roads. Afetr this incident I decided that I shall not part with my change easily, there must be enough change available for the next few tolls. I always a carry a small plastic container with a lot of lose change and I had been free with the change till now.

The traffic was continuous and with no let, this must be one of the busy stretches on the Golden Quadrilateral. So many lorries on the road and all of them speeding and at times reckless. The cars too were not too careful, in my opinion careless overtaking and breaking too many rules of safety. Somewhere on the road we spotted an IndianOil pump and went in for air, an elderly man checked our air cheerfully and refused to accept a tip, which we ended up thrusting on him much to his discomfort. On a long trip it is essential that air pressure is checked often and is maintained at correct levels for safety, remember that the tyres are the only contact the vehicles has with the road.

We stopped at Topchanchi for lunch at a Dhaba called Shaan e Punjab, the food was passable but we did quite enjoy the ambience, sitting under a tree in the shade, pleasant weather and charpoys avaiable if one wanted to stretch out for a while. Seems to be a popular eating stop. Therewhere cubicle type structures in the rear with curtains, obviousy to provide privacy and why I wonder? In the men's bathrrom a large tub was constructed and filled with water and there were lorry drivers bathing. This place caters to lorry drivers and much of their needs. We were served by Rajish who when asked if the food was pure vegetarian answered Yes, and when I told him that if he was lying and that non vegetarian was als being cooked or vessels being mixed with veg and non veg food the gods will punish him, he retorted that even he prayed to the gods he he he he

We continued on our journey and reached Bodh Gaya at about 5 PM. We aksed the hotel for a taxi to take us to the Vishnupad temple.

The taxi came in about 30 minutes and the driver was Gudi, a friendly guy and helpful too, he took us to the temple in spte of the heavy crowd and poice regulation because of the Chaau Pooja which is a major event in Bihar and came with us to help us find our way. The temple is rather small but very significant to the Hindus who come here in large numbers to carry out rituals for their ancestors. The crowd is for the rituals for those who have passed away and maybe this is why there is not much of a crowd for their daily worships. Maybe people think this is a morbid temple. An impression of Vishnu's feet can be seen on a rock which is in a silver basin of about 8 feet in diameter. People sit around the basin and offer their prayers. There is also the banyan tree and the Phalgun river which are a part of the riuals that are performed here. A reading of the text pertaining to the Vishnupad temple would be interesting.

Bihar is a State to be experienced..........

A tub filled with water for lorry drivers to use. Drivers use a mug take water from this tub to have their bath before they eat.

The toilet and cubicle complex at Shaan e Punjab, there were more than 12 small cubicles with curtains, ensuring privacy.....for drivers and highway queens

Our wayside Dhabba

Rajesh our waiter who also prays to the gods

Autos with carriers seem to be quite common

Sugar cane juice boy Kamlesh Kumar Chouhan - remmeber that when you ask for the name all three will be given with pride

Common sight

Narrow autorickshaws at Bodh Gaya

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18th November 2015 - Kolkata

Previous Post - 17th November 2015 Bhubaneshwar to Kolkata

Next Post - 19th November Kolkata to Bodhgaya





No great change in Kolkata since we were here last a few years ago.

We decided to experience a short ride on a launch (ferry) and then a taxi ride over the games Howrah bridge, supposed to be the busiest cantilever bridge in the world. No stopping anywhere on the bridge even for a short while and it is enforced.

An evening walk around Park Street. Window shopping and dry Bhel Puri from the pavement.

A stop at Flurys in Park street for some pastries and dinner at Mocambo.

We leave tomorrow for Bodh Gaya, early in the morning.

Here are a few images of the streets of Kolkata

Snacks in the Capital of West Bengal

Roadside eateries are quite common in Kolkata

Barber shops on busy streets too are common here

Must have lunch before the next delivery - An Ekart employee having his llunch.

Kolkatan enjoying his smoke, I think smokers as percentage of population will be highest in West Bengal.

Bathing on the tstreets is also common in Kolkata

Tram

The Howrah Bridge, highest volume of traffic amongst all cantilever bridges in the world.

Add caption

Kolkata the city with the maximum number of hand pumps on streets in India?

Howrah Bridge

All dressed up for Chauth Puja

Chat Puja celebrations on the streets of Kolkata

Bathing ghats on the Hooghly from a ferry

Animated discussion on a ferry

Home

Here we go

Youngsters in Kolkata

Tobacco stains on a toll booth

Traffic jam? No traffic as it is everyday - Kolkata

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17th November 2015 - Bhubaneshwar to Kolkata

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Next Post - 18th November 2015 Kolkata



A drive of about Km 440 to Kolkata from Bhubaneshwar, good roads and pleasant weather.

Nothing much other than the same story about lack of amenities on the highway and at the toll booths.

Toll booths

Two at the toll booth - security?

Toll Booths closer to Kolkata

The roads did not have much traffic and again we found that there were few private cars on these roads.

Driving on the wrong side of the road (on a one way highway) is taken as acceptable. No one seems to mind and people continue to do it posing a great threat for themselves and others.

Kolkata at about 4:15 PM when we arrived was easy to negotiate, with little traffic on the road we reached our destination swiftly.

This is day 5 of our journey and we have crossed the 1/3rd mark.

Tomorrow we spend in Kolkata and then off to Gaya in Bihar.

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16th November - Sun temple at Konark and Jagannath temple at Puri

Previous Post - Bhubaneshwar 15th November 2015

Next Post - 17th November 2015 Bhubaneshwar to Kolkata

Two great attractions close to Bhubaneshwar the Sun Temple at Konark and the Jagannath temple at Puri are not to be missed, if one is a wildlife enthusiast then add Chilika Lake.

We made inquiries at the Hotel as to the best way to do these two attractions and were advised that we must do the Sun Temple first and then Puri. Fortunately we were given a contact person at Puri to make life easier for us.

The village of Pippili is on the way and we stopped over for a few minutes to take in the applique which is a specialty of this village. Colours are bright in Orissa to the extent at times of being gaudy, I do not know if this is traditionally so or is it the craftsmen are allowed to use these colours to their own detriment. They do need someone to talk to them and improve their colours. While their work is good the colours are.......................

Applique work - Pippili

The famous and renowned Sun temple is about 40 Kms from Pippili, the road to Konark goes through villages and one had better be careful and slow to avoid accidents, the two wheelers ad autorickshaws are clear that their lives are in your hands, they will drive recklessly sure that their lives are safe in your hands so you better be careful.

A banner of sorts tied on the wing mirror from a temple.

Vehicles are not allowed on the road leading to the Sun temple the car has to be parked about 300 Metres from the temple and the rest of the distance has to be covered by foot. Shops line the border selling eats, handicrafts, toys and the usual colourful items that one finds in small town bazaars.

There is no charge for taking your camera in but Rs 10 needs to be paid for every adult (Indian), there are official and authorised guides and also scamsters, make sure you hire a guide here, though the temple complex is small there are so many small sculptures and things to see that one may miss out numerous must see pieces and also the knowledge and history that the guides can provide.

Unfortunately, I think we got stuck with a scamster, the ID he showed did have his name and authenticated his status as a guide but I doubt if he was genuine. he gave some bullshit about a huge magnet on top of the now destroyed part of temple, ow once the magnet was removed the gopuram crumbled, what happened to the magnet? It was taken away by the Europeans, why was it removed? because, the magnet was so powerful it threw compasses on ships close to Konark off the mark, causing many shipwrecks. This guy was all the time pointing out and explaining acts of sex, lesbians, threesomes, different postures etc. yes these were there but I am sure there were other interesting things too

I would encourage you to read about the Sun temple on the internet and watch the video about the sundials on the wheels of Konark (youtube) to be able to grasp the wonder of this temple. That the wheels are actually sun and moon dials was discovered recently because of a sadhu who was found using the wheel to find out time and when questioned he is supposed to have explained how it works. It is believed that much about the temple is not known. A fascinating piece of architecture here and I do believe that one must make a trip here at least once in his lifetime. Take your time walkign around the complex, Imagine the times when the temple was at its glory.

Invading Mughals are supposed to have removed the copper cupola on top of the main building which exposed the sandstone to the weather and slowly the entire building crumbled. The Britishers filled the inside of the prayer hall so that the existing building will not collapse within.

Toll booths are manned by two men, one who takes the money and gives you the ticket and the other person inside the toll booth doing all the work.

Sun temple - Konark

Road leading to the temple

Vendor on the road

The entrance where a Lion sits on top of an elephant which is crushing a man

A women after deliverig her child standing above a fire to disinfect herself, I was told that this practice is prevalent even today

Shanker - Our guide

The Jagannath temple at Puri is alive and well. The month of Karthigai being auspicious in Orissa, there were more than 150000 people who visited the temple the same day as we did, fortunately our contact Hari Krishnan guided us through the 4 hours it took to get Dharshan at the temple. Every Hndu who walks into the temple is eligible for a 4 course meal, a sweet rice, a salty rice dish, two types of dhal and a sweet. Trust me - the quality of the food and the taste are not compromised and when we asked at out hotel where we could eat at Puri we were told to eat at the Jagannath temple. A visit to this temple is an amazing experience. Like at Konark no private vehicles are allowed close to the temple, We took a shuttle from the car park to the temple, with thousands of humans on the broad roads leading to the temple, with vendors, beggars, pilgrims, tourists, locals, priests making up the populace.

The temple complex is not very large but large enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visit every day.

The English word Juggernaut owes its origin to this temple, in olden days pilgrims would sacrifice their lives on the massive wheels of the Rath or the Chariots of the gods, when the gods were taken out in procession in the streets of Puri. It was considered that this was because of the enormous power of Lord Jagannath giving rise to the word Juggernaut a corruption of the name Jagannath.

A mendicant at the entrance to the Puri Jagannath temple

Devotion and faith

Pandas or temple priests waiting at the entrance. Once a pilgrim is in their hands - with promises of easy entry and wonderful darshan they will milk him,

My first view of the Jagannath temple at Puri

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