The 22nd of
January, 2014 was as eventful and enriching a day as it was full of pleasant
surprises, chance acquaintances and encounters. I am no firm believer. I have
never been. But the unfolding events on the first day in Puri, made me take
stock of things from a different perspective and am I not floored?
I was full
of apprehension as we boarded the Howrah-Puri Express after 10, on the night of
the 21st. There were lots of
questions clouding my mind: Where were we going to put up? How much would the
hotel cost us? On the previous evening Jaya was trying to find us from the net
how much staying in an ordinary hotel might amount to and she found out that
even an ordinary hotel would cost us Rs.550/- and above per day for a
double-bed room. That meant, as there were 7 of us, two bed rooms. So for
boarding and lodging alone, we would have to pay over Rs.1000/- per day. Taking into consideration that lunch and
dinner would make us part with another Rs.1000-1500/-, I knew that with the
kind of money we had, we could not stay in Puri for more than 4 days. That
should be fine as there are not many places worth visiting, I thought. Then
there was the problem of the return tickets.
Despite our best efforts, we could not book the return tickets from
Sealdah as all the trains were booked beforehand. I was very jittery and jumpy
by the time the train started streaming out of the station.
We were
unfortunate in not having the berths in the same compartment, though we were in
the same coach. The first sign of ‘things were going to be all right’ showed
up, when the man with the side upper berth, agreed to vacate his berth for one
of ours. That eased things up a bit. We, the elders, could now stay together
with one of us staying with the kids in the other bogey.
Towards the
early hours of the next morning, I remember having switched over to the
children’s side, when many co-passengers got off at Bhubaneswar, the present
capital of Orissa.
The train
arrived at Puri a little latter than the scheduled time. As we started heading
towards the exit, we found an auto-driver coming our way. He was the domineering type and would take us
to Bharat Sevashram Sangha at Swargadwar at any cost. By the way, we had earlier
decided to go to BSS for dear life as the organization is renowned for its voluntary
humanitarian service. Besides, a religious organization is always a safe bet
compared to all those money-mongers, I mean those hotels and all, that would
make money at our expense like a money-making mint.
Anyways, we
cleverly got rid of the driver, but there was another smart chap, who promised
to reach us there at BSS at a cheaper price. We took his bait and reached there
at around 9 o’clock. There were some
people milling around a table for various reasons. Soon we got introduced to
Mr.Partha Sengupta, the Manager of the esteemed organization. The encounter
with Mr.Sengupta made me hopeful that things were bound to look up soon and, in
reality, that was the beginning of the end of all the troubles during our stay
in Puri.
I honestly
told him about all our problems and worries, our being strangers to Puri, not
having enough cash and how panicked we were of being subjected to daylight
robbery if there was no room for us in BSS.
Not only did
Mr.Sengupta arrange a single room that could accommodate all seven of us, but
he also got the lunch coupon, meant purely for the ashramites, for us. The meal would cost us Rs.40/- per head! Once
we had room no-6 on the first floor, we rushed out for our first encounter with
the majestic sea. We came back just before lunch. In the dining room, I met
someone sitting next to me. The man must have been a god-send and he helped me
immensely by providing a lot of unsolicited but useful information.
In the afternoon,
Kaltu, my nephew, and I decided to go to Puri station to see if there was any
possibility of the return tickets. The handsome, young man (God bless his soul)
at the counter was decency personified and helped us book the tickets on
Puri-Howrah-Dhauli Express on the 28th. We had to pay less than
Rs.1000/- for the return tickets! And to think that I had spent a lot of time
the previous night worrying about 3-nights’ stay in Puri, pockets permitting!
On our way
back, we dropped in Orissa Tourism to gather information regarding some of the
must-visit sites. Once back in the Ashram, we had an hour of pure fun and
frolic with Jaya and Rita (Kaltu’s wife) as to the day of departure. We went
out once more in the evening for a more breath-taking view of the sea. The young talent who made the mermaid out of
sand, was nothing short of pure magic.
The talented artisan at work on the beach of Puri
.While we had
some tea at a tea-stall, the bearded man sharing the same bench with me,
provided me with some useful know-how of a ‘within the budget’ stay in Puri. I
came to know from him that the least amount one could pay for a puja of Lord Jagannath was Rs.151/-. He even wanted to introduce me to his
Panda (Priest), who is a very influential
person in Puri. And then my unknown benefactor went on to give me some gems of
advice as the following:
ü We must not eat any fish being sold from
the stalls near the beach,
ü Try to arrange our own cooking by
hiring a cylinder along with the oven at around Rs.120/- per kg and an
additional Rs.50/- for the oven. The initial deposit of Rs.1750-2000/- was mandatory.
The amount was to be adjusted with the total amount of gas used.
ü To bargain for almost everything sold
out on the streets and the markets as well.
Finally, I was repeatedly asked not to forget to circumbulate the main
temple starting from behind.
How do I
thank these total strangers for all their help and advice? Like the youngster
at lunchtime, or the handsome man at the Computerized Reservation Centre? Don’t
you feel like thanking your lucky stars, every time you run into a stranger
like the one at the tea stall? Do not all these incidents prove beyond an iota
of doubt that there is a benevolent angel guiding us all through?
I thought we
had had enough excitement for a day. I was yet to learn about the ways of The
Almighty. I took them all to a very posh hotel (not exactly, to the restaurant
attached to it) called ‘Sonar Tori’ to celebrate our first hassle-free day at
Jagannathdham. When I finally called all the others to follow me down the
stairs, there was a look of utter bemusement on Kaltu’s face. The other elders
looked no different. I ordered with some hesitant help from Jaya, rotis
and eggtarka. The dinner, by the grace of The Almighty cost us
Rs.232/-!!!
That is not
all. As we had ordered quite late, we
had the food served at 5 minutes to 9. Worried about the fact that the door of
the Ashram closes at 9.30 sharp, I had to leave behind one roti untouched and run a walkathon along with the others, to get
back to it by 5 minutes past 9! We still had 25 minutes by the time we were
back.
Thank you
God for being all merciful and for a ‘well-begun is half-done’, first day at
Puri.
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