[Samba]

Few car enthusiasts including Bhpian's and non Bhpian's are a part of a group, named as 'Car Photography' in Facebook. We do have a small whats app group too. From this group we plan for two to three weekend trips every year along with a big road trip. We are road tripping together since the last four years and this was our 15th family road trip together. This is a small group with strong bonding.

This time our destination was Puri, relax for the weekend and drive back.

The itinerary -

22nd November- Start at 9pm from Kolkata
23rd November - Reach Puri early morning and relax for the day and have some fun in the pool or beach.
24th November - Visit the famous Jagannath Temple in morning, have some fun in the beach, drive on the scenic Puri - konark road in afternoon and relax in the evening.
25th November - Drive back to Kolkata.

23rd November, Friday was Gurunanak Jayanti, so it was a long weekend.

The participants -

Team Duster - Bhpian Samba with wife.

Team Swift Vxi (new gen) - Bhpian SouraC with wife & kid.

Team Zest - Bhpian ArindamXeta with wife, kids and his parents.

Team Baleno - Bhpian avrendu with wife & kid.

Team Swift vxi (old gen) - Bhpian Sayata with his brother.

Team Civic - Bhpian Dip27in with wife & kid.

Team Tuv300 - Bhpian Mi2n with wife and kid.

Team Linea Tjet - Bhpian Scorpio25 with wife & kid.

Team Ecosport - Bhpian SVK Rider with wife.

Team Swift Dzire ZDI AMT - Bhpian ALTIMAed with his friend.

Team S-Cross - Bhpian DJR with wife.

Team Avventura - Mr. Rana Adhikary with wife & kid.

Team Innova Crysta - Mr. Abhijit Sinha Roy with his brother.

Team Scorpio - Mr. Saikat Bishnu with his wife and kid.

Day 1- Kolkata to Puri

All 14 cars met up at Azadhind dhaba, Uluberia at night 9 pm. After a sumptuous dinner, we started from there by 11pm. With a very decent cruising speed and few fun stops we reached the entrance of Puri by 6 am.
The road condition was more or less excellent. We negotiated sparse traffic, apart from the Balasore toll, which was slightly congested. It took us around 15 mins to pass through.

But to our bad luck it was the date for Rash Mela. A very common thing about Odisha Police in Puri is, if there is a festival they block the main road. So we looked for some alternate route and a police guy literally insisted us to take a small alley. On his command we took that road with 14 cars but after going for 100 meters, it was more or less a dead end! So with 14 cars, we were stuck in a narrow alley with a dead end! Now whether he misguided us knowingly or unknowingly, we do not have that answer!

So taking out 14 cars from that alley with only one place to reverse a single car was a big task! It nearly took us an hour to take out all the 14 cars unscratched! Most of the locals were cooperative and helpful.

After asking the locals we figured out that by taking the under construction Puri Bypass, we can reach our hotel. We took that route and finally reached our hotel by 8 am. So for the last 2km, we lost 2 hours! It was a mess all over with pure mismanagement on the traffic control.

But who cares now? We already reached our hotel, so some good food and cosy rooms were waiting for us!

We were put up at hotel Prabhupada near the light house on new marine drive road.

Had our breakfast and we relaxed for the whole day with some good food and an engaging gossip or rather a chit chat session!

A pic from the evening.



After dinner the fun continued till late night until we felt sleepy.

Day 2, drive on Puri - Konark Marine drive

Few of our group members decided to visit the famous Jagannath temple and few lazy guys like me decided to sleep till late.

After a late breakfast had some fun in the beach.
Sadly i was more interested to have fun in the beach rather than clicking pics. So no pics from this fun session from me. Hope other Bhpian's to share them.

Post lunch we drove to a desolated beach on the Puri - Konark road.

Few pics from the beach-







A part of our small group, not all are present in this pic.

















Drove back to our hotel by 7 pm. The evening was spent together in the lawn with some good food and good music. By 11 pm we had our dinner and our chit chats continued till late night. We were sad, as the next day was our return journey to Kolkata. We missed staying one more day together. :(

Day 3, Puri to Kolkata

In the morning we lined up all the cars to do some car photography by the sea side. 13 cars were present as Bhpian DJR had to leave in early morning as he had to reach back Kolkata by noon.

Few pics from the photo session-













My wife wanted her childhood friend (Chini) to feature in Team Bhp, hence posting this pic on my wife's demand! Clicked by her.



Few stunning clicks by Bhpian Scorpio25 (Mr.Shayan De)























After the photo-session we left Puri by 11-30 am, had lunch at Hotel Orion Bhadrak, followed by some late evening snacks at Express food Plaza in Kolaghat and finally we reached home by 10 pm.

A fun trip came to an end.

[benbsb29]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues section.

Thanks for sharing.

[hothatchaway]

Seems to have been a fun trip. Puri is a default destination for us folks in Kolkata, only difference being earlier it was usually the overnight train, which has now been replaced by cars!

Spotted an activa in one of the pics above, surely that was not part of the convoy!

[dip27in]

My profession takes me to Bhubaneswar atleast twice a month, if not more. I have lost count of the number times I have driven from Kolkata to bhubaneswar as a day trip. I firmly believed that I can't have anything new from this road since I know almost all the corners, potholes everything. God had something else in his mind, this trip with bunch of like minded friends, some of whom has actually become a part of my family, made it a totally different experience. Finally it turned out to be one of the best 72 hours of my life.

The moment I joined the convey of 14 cars, the night driving seemed different, we enjoyed every bit of the trip, took umpteen number of stops and exchanged funny notes at all possible occasion. The trip was magnificently arranged by our beloved Ranada with assistance from Samba, a person who has dedicated all his precious time for organizing events, trips, just for the sake of love for cars and travel. There are instances, where I firmly believe he spends more time with cars than anything else in life.

The evening passed like a F1 passing a bystander. There was no rush, nor need to return to bed next day, inspite of a whole night driving. It seemed that we had lots to share and there was no dearth of energy among the members. Fun and food kept us awake till odd hours of the day.

When it comes to editing or delivering photographs I capture, my friends prefer to use " lightyears delay". Just give a perspective, few days back, I was working on my photographs taken during my Ladakh visit in 2008. I always admire and wonder how bhpians like Samba, who even manage to post a thread within a day or two. Glad that mobile has come up which delivers decent quality of photograph, with great exposure latitudes which has proved handy to accelerate the matter, little bit. I dropped of the idea to carry a cumbersome DSLR and I dont regret the decision. Phone cameras have evolved and deliver reasonable results.

[Samfromindia]

The Calcutta community seems to be the most active and enthusiastic bunch of people in TeamBhp. Just to put things in perspective, in a recent Pune meet many people didn't join as they were located in other parts of the city where the meet is happening In Calcutta, people coming from different city, heck different country by planning vacation accordingly is not unknown.

Puri is always a superb destination to travel and i see you guys had very good moments. Awesome work behind the lens as always ! Really miss you people.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Nice photographs! Looks like a very fun group and fun trip. Thanks for sharing! Its a shame that I am staying so close to Puri & Konark but my 5 month old Shadowfax (facelift EcoSport) is yet to visit these iconic places.

Will be visiting Puri later this month. These beautiful photos have made me more restless!

[BODHI25]

Seems like you people had lots of fun together, I can only imagine how fun it was to drive in a convoy where so many experienced drivers were present and all I can say is just fabulous.

Pictures taken by Samba da are as usual always a treat for the eyes and makes me feel like just take my car keys and visit Puri right now but can't.

The car line up looks just so amazing and specially the picture of Civic posted by dip27in just too good.

[ARAY]

Beautiful pictures must say. The sunny weather really brought about the true colours of the steeds. The Kolkata bunch is probably having the most number of yearly meets.
Great group man, keep sharing your experiences.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by dip27in

Phone cameras have evolved and deliver reasonable results.

More importantly the phone is always ready to capture a photo. Btw, the photo of Civic going through the woods looks amazing.

[SVK Rider]

Well excellent photographs and equally well written.
Indeed those 3 days were one of the most memorable days of our life.
Puri - Bhubaneswar is a route which I do a lot of time for my job only, however going in the convoy of 14 cars together always gives a different feel.
I remember the odd stops at night after we started from AHD Uluberia, yes indeed they were some memories we can cherish upon.
The late night chit chats and being in the extended family, really miss those times.
However I am not a very good writer so I am sharing my part of pictures and let them talk...

Morning shot at Puri beach


Lonely beach.


Homecoming


Busy in clicking pictures in the afternoon Konark Puri Drive


The Trip planner Samba and his better half


Bhpian Sayata and his Steed Sia


Romina in her glory.


The beach fun


Beach fun continues


This one is really special for us. Thanks to Samba for this one.


Puri Beach Panorama


Another Panorama


The lineup.. P.S not all the cars are here.

[Samba]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Spotted an activa in one of the pics above, surely that was not part of the convoy!

Thanks and yes it was not a part of our group. It was parked over there.

Originally Posted by dip27in

Phone cameras have evolved and deliver reasonable results.

The pics are just fantastic.

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

The Calcutta community seems to be the most active and enthusiastic bunch of people in TeamBhp.

So you admit, leaving Kolkata and getting settled at Pune was not a right decision by you?
Come back fast !

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

Nice photographs! Looks like a very fun group and fun trip.
Will be visiting Puri later this month. These beautiful photos have made me more restless!

'Fun group and fun trip' is the apt description of this trip!

Hope to meet you at Puri, when we visit Puri next time!

Originally Posted by BODHI25

Seems like you people had lots of fun together, I can only imagine how fun it was to drive in a convoy where so many experienced drivers were present and all I can say is just fabulous.

Eager to drive with you in our next trip.

Originally Posted by ARAY

The Kolkata bunch is probably having the most number of yearly meets.
Great group man, keep sharing your experiences.

Was expecting a pic of the famous Bong Duster at Puri!

Originally Posted by androdev

More importantly the phone is always ready to capture a photo. Btw, the photo of Civic going through the woods looks amazing.

100% agreed. With proper use of light, the new generation phone's can really take some wonderful photographs.

Originally Posted by SVK Rider

Well excellent photographs and equally well written.

Thanks. The pics you shared are beautiful. Missing the trip now.

Sharing few pics clicked by Mr Abhijeet Sinha Roy & Mr Saikat Bishnu & Mrs Keya Adhikary. Since they are not Bhpian's am sharing the pics on behalf of them.

Pics clicked by Mr Saikat Bishnu.

Bhpian Mi2n with Bhpian Dip27in



Daughter of Mr.Saikat Bishnu



Bhpian Svk Rider, SouraC, Dip27in from left to right.



Mr Saikat Bishnu, Mr Rana Adhikary , Mr Abhijeet Sinha Roy, your's truly from left to right.



Daughter's of Bhpian Mi2n and Mr Saikat Bishnu



Daughter's of Bhpian Arindamxeta, Dip27in & Mr Saikat Bishnu



Mr Saikat Bishnu, Mr Debjit Sinha Roy, Bhpian Mi2n, Mr Abhijeet Sinha Roy from left to right.



Daughter of Mr Saikat Bishnu



Pics by Mr Abhijeet Sinha Roy







Cars parked in front of our hotel.















Kids having fun!







A stop near Balasore, on the way to Puri.



Few beautiful pics clicked by Mrs Keya Adhikary (Wife of Mr Rana Adhikay)

Mr Rana Adhikary's son with Bhpian Arindamxeta's son, Bhpian SouraC's daughter & Bhpian avrendu's daughter from left to right.









Kids enjoying in full blast!

[Sayata]

It was a wonderful trip.Lovely people, Lovely cars and a Lovely night drive from Kolkata to Puri.
Few pictures from my side:

With my younger brother ( cousin) at AZAD HIND DHABA ULUBERIA , just before we started.






D-Bhpian Samba driving Bhpian ALTIMAed ,Swift Dzire Zdi Amt

Evening adda, topic same: Cars and roadtrip


Midnight Sand run with D-Bhpian Samba in his new duster

[SouraC]

A relaxing weekend in our ever busy life is almost like finding an Oasis in the Desert.
That's what our state of mind in the trip was.

Whatever can be written about this trip has already been shared by fellow travelers hence nothing to add on that front.

But it was a special trip for me as this is the first time to Puri for my new Steed as I have recently replaced my old Swift with a New one



This time I was so busy till we started the journey, I decided not to carry my Camera which might take away some time from me which I should use for relaxing. Hence contribution on photo is almost nil.


Selfie Time.. With Sea




Sunset is always Beautiful



A picture of a colorful moth taken by my little girl.



Best Enjoyed Moments of the Trip:

1. The company of so many like-minded people together (Not forgetting it was a Family trip )
2. Night Drive to Puri (Pack of Wolves going for a hunting )
3. Evening Gossip (Nothing in this World is more Important than CARS)
4. Food Food and Food (We literally forgot, stomach needs some time to Digest)
5. My Time with My new Swifty


Worst Part of the Trip:

1. Traffic Mismanagement at Puri Due to Ras Purnima (God Please give us a Wormhole to reach the Hotel)
2. Start of Return Journey (But Good Memories can be cherished for Life)


Hope to share new stories soon as this association which started in 2014 is Going Strong and Growing Fast.

[mi2n]

This was as fun as a weekend getaway could ever be! Great company of friends and family, soothing drive, great location to relax, good food and constant chit chats. From lazy mornings to jungle trails and a midnight dash through Puri hunting down a sole Ice cream vendor in a growling Civic. This trip had it all. It was also great to see the little ones having fun at the beach and jelling so well with each other.















































Thanks to all friends and family for the memorable trip. Eagerly awaiting the next outing.

[sayakc]

Another fantastic weekender from you Samba! After your epic "Beautiful Bengal" thread, I think you can start another one on Odisha now!

Also congratulations to SouraC for his new steed. How does the new car compare to the old one?

Regards,
Sayak

Originally Posted by SouraC

But it was a special trip for me as this is the first time to Puri for my new Steed as I have recently replaced my old Swift with a New one