The Land of KALINGA Through my EYES

The Land of KALINGA Through my EYES - Part 1

April 03, 2021

Just like many people in this world, I love to travel a lot. Today I will walk you through some parts of India which is not much highlighted but is a part of nature which must not be untouched. I feel lucky to witness such gentle and pleasant aroma which belongs to the place where I grew up.

I am a small town girl, and thus gets a lot of pleasure to share about my place, culture and authenticity of every bit it has. I am an extraordinary fan of my city Cuttack. But today I am not going to bombard about it rather about few places nearby and worth visiting. I will include about locations such as Dhabaleswar, Deras and Jhumka Dam, Satkosia Tiger Forest Reserve, Anshupa Lake, Chillika Lake and Puri. I will start describing the nearest place from my city which is Dhabaleswar.

Dhabaleswar has been one of the most religious places since generations together and has been continuing till now. It is famous for its Lord Shiva Temple. The route used to reach this pilgrimage used to be through boats. In childhood, I remembered we used to park our bikes in one location, and then reached the temple crossing the Mahanadi River. This experience was very special and we spent the whole day happily. I have heard few stories recited by my Dad about the scenario they faced to go to Dhabaleswar with my Grandma and Grandpa. There were no safe boats but still people used to risk their life to reach the temple for sake of seeking the blessing of God. Thus, even till the last few years, there were no road constructed and it was a very adventurous experience to travel such a point. But fortunately my place has developed, we have beautiful roads with special decorated bridges on Mahanadi, the gorgeous river. Now when I visited it, I took only twenty minutes to visit it by driving my scooty.

Once I have gone with my Mom and second time with my childhood friends. My mom loved to show the new route to me as I saw first time. We clicked so many photos and selfies on the pathway and even enjoyed eating hot steam corn and had fresh delicious sugarcane juice.

With this impression when my childhood friends amidst of covid pandemic restrictions wanted to plan a good year ending trip, I had no hesitation to visit Dhabaleshwar during the sunset time.

First time due to Covid, we visited Dhabaleswar not for visiting the temple and to offer flowers to God but shower blessings from Mother Nature which has infinite beauty through it’s over powered sunshine and creates a magnificent reflection on the river. The river bed surrounded by the shining sand was welcoming three of us to witness one of the best sunsets ever. The sun starts to dive into the river after spreading its beautiful multiple colours of pink, orange, saffron, violet and bluish aroma and fragrance. The silent still boat on the river bed picturing the effect which was in need to recreate our old memories.

We did not bothered that temples were closed but felt the pleasant breeze, sizzling voices of the flowing river, cranes dancing and jumping. A very few families with their children were also lucky to witness such a humble evening and with this our year ending celebration ended which was coupled with a sumptuous lunch in a restaurant and innumerable cute selfies. The year ending was required to be with a happy ending as the full year was as dreadful and as unimaginable in the mankind due to covid which is a threat to this mankind. Yes, we welcomed the New Year with cake cutting and big smiles. And I did pledge that I will not waste a day on this year and will try to clear my travel check list as many as possible this year worldwide without keeping any constraints. I would love to take you to the next page of my travel, again in the hidden land of beauty, Odisha.