[avi_swift]

Prologue

I was born and brought up in Kolkata, and like any Bengali worth his/her salt, I have visited Puri many times. But I moved to Delhi 6 years back, and since then, learnt driving and found a new passion as well: trekking. So for the past 6 years, all our trips were driving to different destinations in the north and solo treks to the mountains for me. With my work travels also not taking me anywhere close to the sea, the net result was I hadn't visited the sea for a looong time.

Like everybody else, we were stuck in our home for 6 months since the pandemic started. And finally, after getting bored to death, we decided to drive to Kolkata on the last weekend of August. With the 2nd October weekend approaching, we were thinking of a place to visit. Now in spite of growing up here, I have never 'driven' in these parts, except for short distances inside the city in some of my friend's car. The urge to visit the sea was strong. I have read reports that the road to Puri is good, and I was also looking forward for the drive to Konark, so finally zeroed in on Puri. I would be accompanied by my better half and in-laws for this trip.

Day 1: 1st October

Since this is an almost 10 hour drive, we decided to take a leave on 1st October so that we could have 2 whole days there. The start from Kolkata was smooth as there was very little traffic at 6 AM. However a warning: we saw a lot of trucks stuck after the Nibedita bridge, even in that early hour. If you plan to travel that way, you are better off taking the old Bally/Willingdon bridge. It was Google Maps which saved the day for us.


The road to Kharagpur was superb with excellent tarmac


As we were nearing Kharagpur, dark clouds appeared on the horizon. Sporadic rains were our constant companion for the next 4 days.


Pretty soon it was raining cats and dogs. But luckily it was only for 10 odd minutes. But it did slowed us down and it was past 9:30 when we crossed Kharagpur. Due to Covid, we carried our food from home. After crossing the Kharagpur toll, we stopped by the side and had our breakfast. The food shops at Kolaghat looked inviting enough but we were forced to give that a miss. To me, Kolaghat appeared similar to Murthal, albeit on a less grand scale.


The road turned 2 laned after Kharagpur, although the quality was still very good.


However, there are major undulations are it is advisable not to travel too fast on this stretch (Kharagpur Bhubaneshwar), as I learned the hard way while returning.


Passing train..


It started to drizzle again...

Near Bhadrak, we crossed a monster of a speed breaker. This was under a rail bridge. Although the Swift is not a high GC SUV, I have never experienced the car bottoming out over a hump. Granted we were 4 people and luggage, but still the hump was very unscientifically designed. Cars with lower GC should be very careful. Thankfully the speed was in the 10 KMPH range, so no harm was done.


Although not clear in the picture, one weird thing I saw was this Scorpio had something sticking out of its tires. Remember the scythed chariot in Gladiator? This Scorpio has 4-5 sticks protruding from the rims on both the tires on the right (I couldn't observe the left tires), which reminded me of the famous fight scene from the movie. I'm not sure what purpose they serve but I think it may be dangerous and it may also scratch other cars paintwork.


Near Jajpur..


We crossed Bhubaneshwar around 5PM and turned left towards Puri.


The Bhubaneshwar Puri road is S-U-P-E-R-B, in fact it was the best stretch in our trip. I didn't spot a single pothole, although there were a few speed breakers. And since this was made of tarmac, it was smoother than concrete roads like Yamuna expressway. If only it was fenced off like the Agra Lucknow expressway.... I'm not sure if this is a new road, but if the Orissa govt. can maintain this stretch like this, hats off to them.

We finally reached Puri around 6PM and checked in to our hotel. It took 12 hours to reach our destination, when Google was showing us 10 hours in the morning. Rains were partly to blame for this, but main reason for the extra time was we took many breaks and also, I'm a very sedate driver. On non fenced roads like these, I normally don't risk travelling too fast for my comfort and risk bumping into some bovine lounging on the road.

[avi_swift]

Day 2 & 3 (2 - 3 October)

For our stay, we chose the Victoria Club hotel. I had stayed at this hotel before and it is quite good. We had called the hotel before coming and they had assured us that they were open for business and were taking all Covid precautions. On reaching, we found out that its quite true. After we confirmed our room, they collected all our luggage in one place and sprayed them liberally with some sanitizer. The machine they used to spray resembled pesticide sprayers which are strapped on the back. Besides, there were the now-ubiquitous sanitizer dispenser at the entrance and bottles at the reception. They also sprayed that stuff on the car. Only after completing all these, we were allowed to enter our room.

Now one reason for choosing Puri over Digha/Mandarmani was the drive on the Konark road. But after arriving, everybody else got cold feet and voted to stay at the hotel for 2 days. The reason given was Covid, although that didn't stop them from inviting a panda over to our room (The priests at Lord Jagannath's temple are known as pandas. Since the temple is still closed as of now, you have to ask your hotel to contact a panda who will come and take all your details and return with your 'Prasad' later. Alternately you can pay your obeisance to the Lord from the main entrance of the temple). But by God's grace, that didn't effect us negatively and after 1 month, we are still fit and fine .

The result was our 2 days in Puri looked like: Bathe, Eat, Sleep, Repeat. I know there are concerns that the virus can spread from swimming pools, but I also read reports saying that the saline sea water kills off the virus. And after all these years, the chance of playing in the sea was too good to pass on. Besides there were hardly any tourists we had a small chunk of the beach to ourselves on both the days. But, I do wonder if we should have visited Digha/Mandarmani since they are much closer to home, but all of us like Puri beach way better, and the waves are also stronger here. Also, the primary reason for this trip was the sea which we got plenty of over 2 days, so I'm glad that we chose Puri. The drive to Konark has to be done sometime in future.

The following pictures are in no particular order.


The hotel looked pretty all lit up..


They say this hotel is from 1909. To be fair this hotel has an older wing but I doubt that its 1900's vintage. Nevertheless this is a very good hotel with excellent service.


Hardly any tourists...


When we arrived on 1st October, there was only our car besides a couple of others. But by the next evening, there were more than 20 cars.


All nook and crannies of the parking spaces were occupied


The hotel indeed took Covid very seriously. Each day, after they cleaned the room, they sprayed all corners of the room liberally with this machine. On our request, they also sprayed the room before we checked in. We carried our own bed sheets, but seeing all this effort, we felt confident enough to ditch them.


It was raining now and sunshine after 15 minutes, and it made for some great views. Hardly 30 minutes after this picture was taken, there was heavy rain which sent everyone outside scurrying for cover.


The balcony was the highlight of our room.




I have never seen Puri this empty. And the weird thing is, only our hotel seemed to be running at full occupancy. All the other hotels (if open) appeared empty from outside. And because of low tourists, it was very peaceful and clean.


The food was very tasty.


Being a seaside hotel, the fish dishes were particularly yummy.


The moon rising above the sea made for a lovely sight. This picture doesn't do justice to the way it looked in real life... though a DSLR would have helped somewhat.

[avi_swift]

Since we didn't 'go' anywhere, let me post some pictures of some of the sights and sounds of Puri here.


This crumbling edifice was just 2 buildings away from our hotel. There was an illegible nameplate as well, indicating this was once a private residence. Now I believe there are no private residences on the beach... only hotels restaurants and offices. Somehow, the architecture reminds me of Rajesh Khanna's now-demolished bungalow in Mumbai.


This is the grandest of the surviving old buildings on the beach. I believe this was a Maharaja's palace, which has now been converted to a hotel.


Another hotel with a curious column in front. I'm not sure why it was built in the first place since it does not appear to have any function, and I don't think its pretty at all.


The statue of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Swargdwar


Another hotel, but this had completely blocked any views from the old building in the back. Anyways, I'm glad that they didn't raze it.


Just opposite to the hotel, on the beach, there is a large area used by the fishermen. Here we see a boat returning from the sea. After they have advanced as near to the shore as possible, they get out of the boat and hoist it on their shoulders and carry it the rest of the way.


Unloading the days catch..


The process for launching is quite different. They push the boat a little distance and, with oars in hand wait patiently for the 'right' wave which will bring in the required volume of water. Its no easy feat holding the boat straight and prevent it from turning turtle, even in this shallow water.


And after they finally catch the wave, its furious rowing till they reach the calm of deeper water.


With very few tourists, the camels had it easy..


Another boat raring to go.


Go straight down the road and you'll come to this serene place once the road ends. This is a tad less than 4KM from our hotel.


Back to the statue in Swargdwar, this road will lead you to the Puri temple. However sporadic rains meant that the roads still had patches of water.


A temple with a couple of lions guarding the entrance.


A very colorful temple.


Just look at the intricate carvings on this house.


Puri has numerous small temples. Here's another one.


And finally, the famous Lord Jagannath's temple, one of the char dhams in Hinduism.


The temple is closed due to the pandemic, so this is as far as you can go now.


The grand road of Puri, the place where the famous Puri Ratha Yatra takes place.


The Orissa govt. had decided that all structures within 75 M of the temple must be demolished and have duly carried it out. This is the back of the temple, facing the west gate. I've seen this area before, and though it was very old, it was like Old Delhi, in the sense you couldn't really distinguish the old buildings based on their architectural features because of haphazard later additions. Nonetheless, I feel there must have been a better solution than clearing out large swathes of area. This almost resembles clearing out the area around the Red Fort in Delhi to provide a clear line of fire, in the aftermath of 1857.


Not sure why this structure was spared. The dome sure is impressive.


This scene reminded me of the bombed out cities of WW2, as depicted in 'Saving Private Ryan'.


This building is waiting to bite the dust. Near the south gate of the temple..


But I agree that all these demolition has made the temple itself appear more grand and imposing, with the full length of the robust outer walls and the intricately carved gates visible from a greater distance.

[avi_swift]

Return on 4 October

After 2 whole days passed by, it was time to head back to the daily grind-from-home.


Was tough to say good bye to this place. The room was centrally air conditioned and due to Covid concerns, we opted to keep it switched off. But we didn't miss the AC even for a single second, thanks to the strong sea breeze.


The hotel gave us this memento. A nice gesture on their part.


After having breakfast, we started by 9AM. After exiting the superb Puri-Bhubaneshwar road, we saw this line of shops selling sweets. Now Chena-Goja is a very famous sweet of Puri and is normally available on the beach. But due to negligible tourists, we didn't spot any this time. A shop that we tried also didn't have them in stock. Since these were available here, we took a 10 minute break and bought them.


This place was bang on the highway, the straight road leads to Kharagpur. There was a Harley Davidson showroom just beside the furniture showroom, but it was closed on that day, probably due to HD India's woes.


The road snaked besides a train track... the Kash flowers heralds the impending Autumn and Durga Puja.


Now after leaving Cuttack behind, I was cruising at 80-90 KMPH. The road seemed good as you see in this picture, when suddenly I spotted a major undulation on the highway. Now this wasn't a pothole, it was properly coated in tarmac, and it was very difficult to spot from a distance. By the time I spotted it, it was too late. I stepped on the brakes but the Swift isn't exactly famous for its brakes, so we crossed that at around 50-60 KMPH. There was a loud thud and everything turned topsy-turvy inside. I was scared and the first thing that came to mind was an image I saw here(in Team-BHP) of a BMW whose suspension struts broke through the bonnet. Gingerly parked to the side and did a thorough visual inspection including under the hood, thankfully everything seemed fine and nothing was leaking. I had driven over from Delhi only 1 month prior, and a 3 hour stretch in Jharkhand was the worst I have ever seen. But there, at least you can be sure that the road is bad and you will never try going fast. This, I believe is more dangerous, luring you into a false sense of quality/security. After a 10 minute break, cursed the NHAI and moved on. I was doubly careful for the rest of the trip.


The return leg had many diversions, but other than these undulations, the quality of road was good. The hotel had packed our lunch and we had it after crossing Bhadrak.


This truck was carrying a cargo of lemons and every time it passed a hump, few lemons came tumbling down. Over 30 minutes, we watched probably 500 grams of lemon go to waste. When we crossed the truck, we lowered our windows and shouted to the driver, but I don't think he paid any heed, as I saw in the RVM he continued to drive as before.


The last break just before Kharagpur

It was almost 5 when we crossed Kharagpur. During our return, the Kharagpur-Kolkata stretch, which seemed so good only 2 days before, assumed a very different form. Traffic was heavy and due to the absence of any sort of railings, I had to bear the full brunt of high beams. It was past 8 when we finally arrived home.

And thus ended my first ever drive to the sea..

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing!

[Mile_Breaker]

Hi Avi, I was there in the same hotel same time. Infact I could see my car (Hexa) in one of the photo. Still didn't get time to write up my own travelogue. Took 8.5 hrs to reach. Started at 4 am sharp on 2nd Oct. Went to Konark and Chilika the next day. Made a stop at Dhaulagiri during return on 4th Oct.

[Breathe2drive]

Thank you so much Avi for sharing your wonderful experience. Felt very nostalgic as I have been to Puri numerous times but neve had a road trip. Was planning one for the last 2 years but unfortunately didn't happen for one reason or the other. Have stayed at least 4-5 times in Hotel Victoria even when the new building was not built. But I find the food of Puri Hotel to be much better. Last visited Puri in 2016, so not sure how things are right now.

[Deadpool]

Thanks Avi for sharing such a wonderful round trip travelogue. Puri has a special place in every Bong's heart.

I have been to Puri since childhood numerous times but never by road. Although I did a road trip to Gopalpur in 2017 which includes crossing Bhubaneswar, common path to Puri from Kolkata.

[avi_swift]

Originally Posted by Mile_Breaker

Hi Avi, I was there in the same hotel same time. Infact I could see my car (Hexa) in one of the photo. Still didn't get time to write up my own travelogue. Took 8.5 hrs to reach. Started at 4 am sharp on 2nd Oct. Went to Konark and Chilika the next day. Made a stop at Dhaulagiri during return on 4th Oct.

Seeing all those cars, I wondered if there was a BHPian there and as it turn out, there was. Would have loved to have my first meeting with a BHPian . I missed the drive to Konark.. Chandrabhaga beach is quite empty even in normal times, now it must have resembled a private beach. Do write about your experience. I would love to read it.

Originally Posted by Breathe2drive

Thank you so much Avi for sharing your wonderful experience. Felt very nostalgic as I have been to Puri numerous times but neve had a road trip. Was planning one for the last 2 years but unfortunately didn't happen for one reason or the other. Have stayed at least 4-5 times in Hotel Victoria even when the new building was not built. But I find the food of Puri Hotel to be much better. Last visited Puri in 2016, so not sure how things are right now.

The road to Puri is good for the most part, and if driven sedately, you will enjoy the drive. Go for it...

I have never stayed at the Puri hotel, so I can't comment on it, but I found the Victoria club's food/service to be same as before: mostly good.

Originally Posted by Deadpool

Thanks Avi for sharing such a wonderful round trip travelogue. Puri has a special place in every Bong's heart.

I have been to Puri since childhood numerous times but never by road. Although I did a road trip to Gopalpur in 2017 which includes crossing Bhubaneswar, common path to Puri from Kolkata.

True, I don't think anyone living in Kolkata has not been to Puri. But you missed the drive to Puri from Bhubaneshwar, its merely 60 odd KMs and the road is excellent. Although I'm not sure if it was constructed in 2017 as I found the road to be absolutely flawless with not even one hump/pothole/undulation. So I suspect its new.