[SubodhRage]

Because we dream in colors of the ocean waters,
And I had been dreaming in monotone for so long!

Good Evening one and all,

There is no sight of this pandemic ending and there is no possible way of escaping this other than social distancing and use of proper protection. Masks and weekly lockdown is the new normal now for atleast a couple of years. With no possible chance of another road-trip this year or the next, I thought of re-living my old escapades and penning down my experiences. My friends and I went on a road-trip this January from Bhubaneswar to Konark and Puri.

Before that, a little about me. I'm a final year student at the Department of Aerospace Engineering in Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Even though there is barely any academic work in the final years apart from projects, the only trips that are feasible for us were weekend-getaways. And hence, we planned for this road-trip to Puri.


PROLOGUE

"Beep - Beep - Beep"  the slow and steady buzzing of the alarm woke me up from my nap on a cold, lazy Saturday afternoon. The New Year had just begun and it brought along the cold January afternoons. I had already landed a lucrative offer and was well ahead in my research projects for the Semester. And so, like most of the KGP final year students, I was enjoying this leisure time post the exhausting December placement session.
After numerous automatic snoozes, I finally stretched out my hand for the phone and clicked the power button, stopping the alarm. It was already 5 PM. As I pandiculated on the bed-side, I pondered over my New Year's Resolutions and on top of that list was this → visit to at least three new places this year. And with that thought, I jumped on the study table, opened my laptop and began browsing the travelogues on Team-BHP.

"I need to find a nearby destination place. Weekend trips, that's all I can afford for right now", I thought.

While glancing through a couple of travelogues of West Bengal and Odisha, I found the perfect place for road-trip. Puri! I planned for a road-trip from Bhubaneswar (nearest ZoomCar centre) to Konark Temple, Puri and the Chilika Lake just to make things interesting.

Ecstatic about the idea, I decided to put it forth my close friends asking them to join - Anukool Khangat and Dhruv Mahajan. And, surely, without a second thought, these guys were onboard the weekend-getaway train. Now here was the tricky part. The only dates when all three of us are available was either the next week (January 17–20) or the first week in February (February 7–10). We decided to wing it and go for the earliest dates fearing that we might abandon the plan if kept for a later date and with that, the travel destination and the dates were set. All that was left were the essential bookings and rentals. We rented a Ford Figo Freestyle diesel from ZoomCar after deciding between that, Hyundai i20 and Maruti Swift. I had to upload a photo of the driving license, the Aadhar card as a secondary supporting document and a live photo. They verified the profile in four hours or less. Pick the car, the time slots, and you're done. The app gives you an approximate location of the vehicle instantly and prompts the exact location of the car a couple of hours before the start of the journey. The process was incredibly seamless.Next, the OYO rooms were booked and later the train tickets were done.

We planned to reach Bhubaneshwar by 10–11 AM on January 17th, pick up the car by afternoon, and set off on the journey to Konark temple and Puri, in that order. Armed with our essential beach travel bags and enthusiasm, we began our journey on the night of January 17th. A journey which turned out to be nothing less than a roller-coaster ride, with its lucky crests and unpredictable troughs. But what's the point of a detailed and brief travelogue if I reveal all the jaw-dropping incidents right in the beginning. Read on to know more!

PS:

1. This is my first attempt at writing a travelogue. I've tried to keep the blog an easy read, but brief and engaging at the same time. Do let me know your suggestions about the writing style and presentation. If it was too lengthy or not ? If it was engaging enough or not ?
2. I've mentioned all the rental expenses and other essential bookings along with site references for the hotel at the end of the blog.

[SubodhRage]

DAY 1 | Road-Trip, Konark and a Stroke of Luck

Bhubaneswar ! Always a pleasure!

Ready with our travel bags, we boarded on a train on the morning of January 18th at 3 AM. Since it was a passenger express train, we expected the train to arrive at the Bhubaneswar junction at least a couple of hours late and thus we had booked our vehicle accordingly from 12:30 PM. Unsurprisingly, the train reached the station late by 11:30 AM. With an hour to spare, we decided to head over to the nearest KFC to recharge ourselves, and also stocked food items for the road. We also met a couple of our friends in Bhubaneswar and most of them were surprised why our travel itinerary included Bhubaneswar when the destination place is Puri and Konark.

"It's a bizarre plan, but I hope it would be eventful", most of them said. We had no idea how eventful it was going to be!

After greeting and chatting with them, we went over to the vehicle location and contacted the ZoomCar representative over there. We checked the car for any visible issues in the car, checked the fuel levels and once satisfied with the vehicle given; we headed for the highway. We headed over to Konark Sun Temple first as planned.

Route for Day 1

We left at around 1:30 PM. We decided to take NH16 to the outskirts of Bhubaneswar and then headed south on the four-lane NH316. The road splits off at Pipili from where we followed the meagre two-lane State Highway 13 to Konark Sun Temple.

The tarmac of State Highway 13 was well-laid


Anukool posing for the trip and acting all serious*!

It was our first ride with the diesel Ford, and I was mightily impressed with the car. Its engine had a good mid-range, and the suspension was just apt for highway travels. The build quality is superior to anything in the segment at its time of launch. There is a separate blog on the performance of Ford Figo Freestyle diesel by a TeamBHP member(@cjnigesh) (My 1st brand new car: The Ford Freestyle 1.5L Diesel Titanium+) and the official review. (Ford Freestyle 1.2L Petrol : Official Review) The top speed of the ZoomCar rentals are limited to 80 kmph and for good safety reasons, but that left us wanting for more on the clean tarmacs of NH16 and NH316. On the state highways, the car seldom touched the top speed as there were many villages scattered along the state highway. With that said, I enjoyed the view along the state highways. The view felt homely for some reason with the scattered farms and ponds along the way.

The trip was 70 odd kilometres long and we reached the outskirts of Konark by 4:25 PM. Despite the off-season time, Konark was still a bit crowded (weekend rush I guess), and it took us about half an hour to reach the Konark Sun Temple.

The entrance to the temple

Having already read about the temple, I was ready to be drawn by its architectural beauty. However, the recently installed support structures and sub-standard restoration done at many places left me wanting for more. The sculptures are bizarre but exquisite. It has intricate artwork detailing various erotic poses and scenes. Things surely might get awkward for a teenager who plans to come with his family here . Dedicated to the Sun God, the temple was designed in the shape of a massive chariot with wheels and horses attached to it.

The erotic engravings carved along the length of the "chariot" along with he chariot wheels in the background

We spent almost an hour till the sunset at the temple and then decided to head over to our next stop, Puri. Little did we know that we were in for a big surprise on the way! We had planned to visit the Chandrabhaga Beach on our way to Puri and to our surprise, the place was lit up with strobe-lights and everything.

Dhruv grinning ear-to-ear on arriving at the retreat

The sign read - "Marine Drive Eco Retreat", and we couldn't have been more thrilled to have found this by chance. It had everything you'd expect a beach retreat to have - jet skis, ATV rides, a concert, dining and beverages. Truth be told, before coming on this trip I was a bit sad that I'd miss my last college fest, but with this new addition to the itinerary, I was too happy. It was 7 PM, and we still had to reach the hotel in Puri, so we decided to stay at the beach for a while, have a beer and replenish ourselves at the make-shift restaurant. The seafood was amazing and wasn't too expensive. The beer was cheap, as well. We sat to eat our dinner there as we watched the waves hit the shore and enjoy the beach concert music playing at a distance. We decided to come back again tomorrow and have a go at the adventure activities. However, this new addition to the itinerary meant we'll have to skip our visit to Chilika Lake. We left the retreat by 8 PM. Since I hadn't had any beer, I decided to take the keys of the Ford, and we continued our journey to Puri.

Yours truly, all jolly after having found the Retreat and enjoying fresh sea-food

Now, the main reason we had planned for Konark first was so that we get to ride on the Puri-Konark Marine Drive at night. The Drive stretches for 30 km, and most parts of the road are completely unlit. Unlit roads and no light source in sight apart from the oncoming traffic made this a perfect place to star-gaze. The horizon was lit with constellations, and it was just how we expected it to be. We took out our DSLRs, and began trying to shoot some night-mode shots, some of which turned out to be pretty good.

Star-lit sky! That's the best the amateur photographer in me could do*!

It was 9 PM, and we were too late. Since we had to spend just the night there, we decided to save some bucks by not choosing a sea-side hotel. We arrived at our hotel, OYO 26121 Red Stone Premium, by 10 PM. And the luck just kept shining on us bright. To our surprise, our rooms had been upgraded to a studio apartment that was on offer there, and that was pretty spacious, with a beautiful view of the swimming pool.
We were already too tired from the beach-side walks, the tour of Konark and driving and decided to call it a night, hoping to rise early before the Sun and head out to the beach to enjoy the sunset!

[SubodhRage]

DAY 2 | Conclusion of the Beach Adventures and the Race against Time

"Goddamn it! It's already 8:30!", I exclaimed as I checked the phone and jumped off the bed.

Much to anyone's surprise, we failed to get up early to watch the sun-rise. And still, I was the only one who had woken up. Hastily, we got up and got ready quickly. We bid adieu to the OYO staff there, thanked them for the hospitality and checked out. We went off to the nearest seashore to feel the waves crash at our feet. Being on the far side of the Puri beach, it was a cleaner beach , i.e.,  no poly-bags, or floating slippers; just the clean waves and sand.

The waves bring in serenity and take away the chaos!


I walk on sand, but I'm still far from home

We clicked a few pictures, enjoyed the beach time for a while and then hit the roads to visit the Jagannath Puri temple. After all, your visit to Puri is incomplete if you don't visit the Jagannath temple. This was our first time here, and though I had heard of insane wait times I did not expect the place to be this crowded. Multiple queues starting from the temple entrance stretched for as long as half a kilometre. The whole tour would have easily taken at least 2–3 hours, and we were not ready to spend that much time at a temple. I mean, I was in sheer awe of the size of the temple and its design. From what I had heard, the temple looks good on the outside, but the inside is just plain splendid. At the top, you get this arresting view of the beach with the sea breeze gently hitting your face and cooling you down. But we just didn't have the time to enter the temple and experience it all. There were other activities of more adventurous nature that had my attention at that moment. We were still behind schedule, and it was already noon.

The Puri Jagannath temple with a glimpse of the the huge line of devotees!

"Maybe next time I'll go in!", I thought as we enjoyed the facade of Jagannath Puri temple.

We decided to head for brunch at a nearby sea-side restaurant.With our hunger satiated, we headed back to the Eco-retreat at the Chandrabhaga Beach. We played on the beach for a while, went for the jet-skiing, and before we know it, it was already evening. Exhausted from all the fun, we sat on the seashore as we enjoyed the sun gently setting down below the horizon. Our clothes drenched in sea-water and a wide smile on our face was enough to show just how much we enjoyed the day! We checked the time. It was already 6 PM. We clearly had lost the track of time amidst all the fun. We dried ourselves and paced ourselves towards the car. The train was late in the night at around 10:45 PM; we were still behind schedule. Google Maps showed a travel time of 4 hours from Chandrabhaga → Puri → Bhubaneswar, and around 3 hours via the Konark route. We decided to trust Google and chose the Konark route. According to the plans, we were supposed to reach the rental spot by 8 PM and we were clearly going to be late for that. As we paced our car on the state highway, we were met with the weekend rush once again, which slowed our speeds till the National Highway 316.

Jet-skiing at the Eco-retreat


Route back to Bhubaneswar

We reached the outskirts of Bhubaneswar by 9 PM and the rental location by 9:30 PM, almost an hour and a half late from the scheduled time. We dropped off the vehicle, did the standard checks and began to find ourselves a cab till the station. It seemed as if our luck had run out and we couldn't find any cabs, be it by Uber/Ola or any other local operators for at least half-hour. Thankfully, the ZoomCar representative who was heading home saw us in this precarious situation and offered us lift till as far as he could, and we found a cab from there. We were racing against time as the train was scheduled to leave by 11 PM and the app showed that we might reach by 10:50 PM. To add to the trouble, the driver was driving way too sedately fr situation despite the fact that we had told him about the train timings. I got worried.

"Maybe we should have spent a bit less time at the beach! We should have started from the beach early!", my troubled brain began over-thinking scrambling for reasons for us to be behind time.

We reached at 10:50 PM. We jumped out of the car, and dashed towards the station gates, running across the foot-over bridge and over to Platform №. 5, where our train was stationed. As we reached the platform, we decided to pause for a while and catch a breath when the engine blew two long whistles. The train was about to leave the station. There was no time to rest. With some gathered breath, we again ran towards our coach and boarded it as it was just about to begin its journey.

We settled in our seats and laughed for a while at this unfortunate yet adventurous series of events. The Sun temple in Konark in the evening with the Sun setting behind it was a sight to behold. The beaches of Puri brought us the much required relief from our monotonous weekdays; maybe it was the spiritual aura of the place, or just the fact that the beaches were so serene. The star-gazing on the Puri-Konark Marine Drive was pleasing to the eyes. The Marine Drive Retreat brought a surprising turn of events to the table.

It is said that we dream in the colors of the ocean waters, and all this while living in the college I had been dreaming in monotone for so long! This trip was what we required; it was everything we had planned for and more. The visit to Chilika Lake was left out, and I guess I'll have to come again some time later to visit there.

__________________________________________________ ____________________
APPENDIX

1. Rental Cost of ZoomCar → Rs.3,627 [Total distance 230 Km]
2. OYO Room Cost → Rs. 656
3. ATV and Jet-ski rides → Rs. 500 each

__________________________________________________ ____________________
Thank you for reading !

[aah78]

Note from Support: Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

[GTO]

Nice 1st travelogue on Team-BHP. Top position on our homepage & newsletter . Thanks for sharing!

[nikmar08]

This thread brings back good memories of my Bangalore-Tadoba-Raipur-Konark-Vijaywada-Bangalore road trip in Oct-Nov 2018 with wife and kid in our ever reliable Toyota Etios Liva.

[abhi_tjet]

Nice crisp writeup Subodh. Puri beaches are very nice along with Lord Jagannath temple. Chilika lake is a must see attraction of Puri. Dolphin spottings are quite good.

Your review freshened up my memories of Puri road trip. I along with my relatives visited Puri in 2005 from Bhilai, CG during my early college days. It rained cats and dogs and the entire Puri was choked with water. I still dread the memory of driving our Tata Indica there. Luckily for me, Indica's engine never went off while water wading. It would have been nightmare otherwise.

Thanks for the travelogue.

[SubodhRage]

Originally Posted by GTO

Nice 1st travelogue on Team-BHP. Top position on our homepage & newsletter . Thanks for sharing!

Attachment 2034544

Thanks a lot!
I had a little bit of free time with this pandemic and lockdown, and thought of trying a hand at writing travelogues. Glad you liked it !
Let me know of any suggestions from your side. I plan on writing another blog on my trip to the Seven Sisters and wouldn't want to repeat any mistakes I made this time

Originally Posted by nikmar08

This thread brings back good memories of my Bangalore-Tadoba-Raipur-Konark-Vijaywada-Bangalore road trip in Oct-Nov 2018 with wife and kid in our ever reliable Toyota Etios Liva.

Wow!
That sounds captivating!
I see that, like me, you are also a newbie over here. Do share your experience with us!

Originally Posted by abhi_tjet

Nice crisp writeup Subodh. Puri beaches are very nice along with Lord Jagannath temple. Chilika lake is a must see attraction of Puri. Dolphin spottings are quite good.

Your review freshened up my memories of Puri road trip. I along with my relatives visited Puri in 2005 from Bhilai, CG during my early college days. It rained cats and dogs and the entire Puri was choked with water. I still dread the memory of driving our Tata Indica there. Luckily for me, Indica's engine never went off while water wading. It would have been nightmare otherwise.

Thanks for the travelogue.

Glad I could bring out emotions with this post!

I guess your Indica was more reliable than what some of the people on the forum here have experienced.

[SubodhRage]

Moderators,

Is it feasible to choose the featured image for the post ?

[Sounak04]

Nice and well written travelogue. I'm glad that u guys decided to plan the travel in the month of January. Seeing the current scenario, i do not think any more of such plans are going to happen for anyone anytime soon.
Puri & konark are indeed nice and beautiful places, although it has become too much touristy nowadays.
With regards to the Speed Limiters installed on Zoomcars, it is installed on all the commercial vehicles. In case of Ford cars fitted with the Speed Limiter, it is almost impossible to cross the 80 km/hr speed limit. Although in cars manufactured by Maruti or Hyundai, i have seen that even though the speed limiters are installed, cars can cross 80 without any issues. Dont know how is it possible.

[SubodhRage]

Originally Posted by Sounak04

Nice and well written travelogue. I'm glad that u guys decided to plan the travel in the month of January. Seeing the current scenario, i do not think any more of such plans are going to happen for anyone anytime soon.
Puri & konark are indeed nice and beautiful places, although it has become too much touristy nowadays.
With regards to the Speed Limiters installed on Zoomcars, it is installed on all the commercial vehicles. In case of Ford cars fitted with the Speed Limiter, it is almost impossible to cross the 80 km/hr speed limit. Although in cars manufactured by Maruti or Hyundai, i have seen that even though the speed limiters are installed, cars can cross 80 without any issues. Dont know how is it possible.

Thanks !

Yes, seeing the current scenario, I doubt anyone would dare to go out anywhere unless absolutely necessary. However, to keep things interesting, we are already planning for our Leh-Ladakh trip for next year (if situations get better that is).
I went on another road-trip to the Seven Sisters and do plan to write another travelogue on that.

About the speed-limiters, yes you're right. My friends went on a trip to Mysore in a Mahindra Scorpio and their car was able to touch 80+ kmph easily. I guess it is just a Ford case.

[Sounak04]

Originally Posted by SubodhRage

Thanks !

Yes, seeing the current scenario, I doubt anyone would dare to go out anywhere unless absolutely necessary. However, to keep things interesting, we are already planning for our Leh-Ladakh trip for next year (if situations get better that is).
I went on another road-trip to the Seven Sisters and do plan to write another travelogue on that.

About the speed-limiters, yes you're right. My friends went on a trip to Mysore in a Mahindra Scorpio and their car was able to touch 80+ kmph easily. I guess it is just a Ford case.

I'm still a bit confused regarding the speed limiters. Is it really so easy to disable the speed limiter? Then what is the use of installing it? I have even seen cars from the same manufacturers having speed limiters which limits the speed and some which does not.
Yes please do write about the road trip to the Seven Sisters. Atleast one can virtually visit those places

Glad to see you have passed from IIT Kharagpur. My hometown is in Kharagpur and both my parents are from Kharagpur only.