An Insider To India

1.2 Bhubneswar

The capital of Odisha Bhubneswar a.k.a BBSR is the largest cities of Odisha. It is also the political capital of Odisha. Not to forget the Temple city of India is BBSR. Bhubaneswar, derived its name from Tribhubaneswar, which literally means the Lord (Eeswar) of the Three World (Tribhuban), which refers to Shiva.Bhubaneswar has been known by names such as Toshali, Kalinga Nagari, Nagar Kalinga, Ekamra Kanan, Ekamra Kshetra and Mandira Malini Nagari.

Earlier Cuttack was the capital of Odisha but in 1948 BBSR held its position as the capital. It is also referred to as twin cities(BBSR and Cuttack)

In my view, BBSR is a city which never sleeps as Mumbai. BBSR is the economical centre of India. Not only economy and religious centre, it is an educational centre also. Thousands of student arrive in the city in hopes of good career and success. 

It is near to Puri, just two hours gap between them. And the ride is really enjoyable. Watching the greenery passing by through your car's window and the coconut trees dancing with the wind. The breaks during travel which included coconut drink sold at the roadside throughout must of the journey.

Don't think that these two hours are full of journey only because there are many places in between these two hours which you would want to definitely visit. One of them is the famous Dhauli hills located on the banks of river Daya. Dhauli was built by King Ashoka in memories of the great battle fought there. It is an important centre of Buddhist activities. 

But the most amazing thing about being there is the endless peace and calmness that will give a lot of satisfaction to your mind. I loved visiting there and standing near the edge,watching the amazing view of BBSR city from high above while the wind played with my hair. I loved taking photos. 

If you visit BBSR, be sure to visit it because its around 15-20 minutes ride from Old BBSR.

And the next destination in between the journey is the town Pipili where you will find lots of beautiful handicrafts items for various purpose whether decorating house or a nice purse for the ladies or beautiful handmade toys for the children or the various collectibles for the man.

What I love most about Pipli is the beautiful mirror engraved colourful umbrellas and the wall cloth painting. Yes, Pipli is famous for it 'Chandua" work and mirror engraved work.

You don't need to enter the town to buy the things because you will find the shops in the two sides of the road which leads you to Puri.

Also Pipili is the place where you have an option to another road which leads to another amazing place called Konark. You have to divert to Konark from Puri road. Though Konark in under Puri district.

Konark is famous for Black Pagoda or Sun temple. Its  a really beautiful place with gardens and flowers around it though entrance to inside the temple has been closed to protect it from further damage. I have never been inside it, but the outside view is enough to dazzle you and click photographs. It was constructed from oxidized and weathered ferruginous sandstone by King Narasimhadeva I (1238-1250 CE) of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. 

There are many legends behind the sun temple, two being famous.  First that it was built inside the sea and Dharmapada a 12 year old son of chief architect had solved the problem of fixing the last stone at the top of temple and to protect other builders from King, he killed his life and his dead body was found in the sea.

The other famous legend about Konark is the floating idol.The main pratima (idol) was believed to be floating in the air because of the unique arrangements of the main magnets and other series of magnets. The placement of the temple had been aligned in a way that the first rays of the Sun falling on the coast would pass through the Nata Mandir and would reflect from the diamond placed at the center of this idol in the Main Sanctum. This phenomena would last for a couple of minutes during the early morning. These magnets were later removed by the Britishers for acquiring the magnetic stone.

Also,sea is 3 Km away from the temple, and the Chandrabhaga beach is a very nice place. I remember eating lots of Pani Puris with my mother and sister. Also taking photographs while the sea washed away our feet. I remember my sister and I writing our name on the sand and quickly clicking a picture of it before sea washed it  away. 

Also,me being silly and collecting sea water in a small bottle hoping to do an experiment in home to bring out salt from it. I collected the sea water but never did the experiment but still I have kept it safely. Funny and silly, I know :D

Also,a temple called Ramachandi on the way is a beautiful place  where river and sea got nearer to each other.

So that's it for today, I will upload another part where I will take you inside the BBSR city.

Some of the infos have been taken from Wikipedia