Tennyson confidently utters "I will drink/ Life to the lees" ( ULYSSES).
Refreshingly hopeful. It was indeed an iota of optimism which seeped into His thought currents and drove His grey eyes to discover a new world! Forlornly such a wonderful metaphor carries a little significance to those who consider this life as a farce! Happiness is in fact a shadow, a chimera or an illusion to them. They opine, "More you pursue it, the further it recedes". Moreover, it is nothing but an excuse to resign to the inexorable fate. There should always be a wish to turn from the humdrum world to seek inspiration in the secret dreams of fancy and the adventures of the solitary soul.
Wanderlust has taken me to the unwonted destinations of the country. Let it be an array of snow - capped frowning mountains of Darjeeling, the beckoning of a prattling brook moving snakily through the verdant fields to intermingle with the abysmal depths of the boisterous bay or the pitch dark forests of Assam where a single ray of enlightenment is yet to be reached! But these hackneyed descriptions fail pathetically to cater to the needs and preferences unless I pour out my heart ( over a supper mellowed by wine). Right? So pay a wee bit of heed to enjoy every spark of my peregrination. I had just been to an exotic place. Puri. Popularly known as the "Land of azure sea". We reached Howrah station , say two hours before the scheduled time.
Gradually the time fleeted away but never faded! And at sharp nine - thirty, the train entered the platform piercing the veil of pregnant reticence which seemed to have engulfed the whole station. There was a sense of adventure that came upon me as I climbed aboard, bagged a window seat and settled down to wait for an endless procession of chips, gems, Fanta and Chandamama. A night journey and the time passes pleasantly enough since all of us were travelling to the same spot - Puri. The compartment was veiled with a dense fog as the men smoked through the night in some kind of male bonding way! Slowly and silently the moon renounced the mother earth and wholeheartedly allowed the misty dawn to hail us with an unbridled hedonism. And we discovered ourselves to be very close to the destination.
As the Puri express chugged in indolently on that sun - soaked breezy morning into the Bhubaneswar station, I couldn't refrain myself from peeping out through the glass windows to witness the pristine elegance of nature who has drunk the milk of paradise! Innumerable questions lurked at the corner of my heart. Whatever may be matter, we dismounted from the train and our curious eyes were looking for a cookie who would carry our luggage to the auto or rickshaw stand. The platform put on an expression of cataclysmic appeal and not a single coolie approached us to help!
All of a sudden a fattish, clean -shaven man approached us. I should have chastised him and let him go as I thought him to be a pilfer. Later I was taken aback to see the extremely needy man refusing to take pelf from us as we had a little tittle - tattle with him on our way.
It was nearly twelve o' clock we reached the hotel, located beside the sea shore only. To the intermittent calls of the unseen animals, chirping of the beautiful birds and the whisper of the breeze wafting off the sea, we drifted into a deep slumber.
The dazzling day was ready to melt into a grey afternoon, we woke up and hastily prepared ourselves to go out for a stroll on the beach. The overwhelming murmuring sea. I became a bit fretful as the hot sand of the beach stung my feet! A little boy clad in seedy drapery was seen flying a kite to derive the pleasure. Very soon my reverie was crumbled into pieces by the shrill summon of my friend to relish cream biscuits and a chalice of hot coffee. Wisps of steam were curling up from my cup, I assumed a mid - distant gaze and took a little careless sip. Gradually the day ended and the black night fell upon us, indicated the time to get back to our hotel room. A sense of excitement worked in me as I sat under the star - spangled sky! Attish played a harmonious note and the whole night swam to an infinite distance like the wink of an eyelid.
On the very next day, we planned to visit Bhubaneswar, the state capital is treated as more of a nerve centre for commercial matters, or, at the best a corporate get way. We hired a jeep, running at a dizzy speed, hoped to teach the spot by noon. The city known for its 200 odd temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva, specimens of the most spectacular engineering and artistic feats, some of them with exquisite carvings and sculptures on them are often clean forgotten by the tourist, taken in by the hype over the beaches and Lord Jagannath. In a tour which lasted three days, we managed to do the Lingaraja, Mukteswara and Rajarani - four renowned temples in Bhubaneswar- visit Udaygiri, Khandagiri ( Jain Monasteries , 2nd century B.C), boat our way around the Chilka lake and check out an obscure temple called Narayani beside a limpid little stream further down south. We even dropped at Rajhurajpur - the crafts village where artists specialise in pen drawing and etching on palm leaves. The sight overwhelmed us. We coddled our palates and did loads of shopping at the western tower market building - a busy shopping mall. Souvenir shops form a cluster around the temple areas. A classic blend of beauty and conviviality!
Visiting the shrines on the third day of our tour was a robust reason for our enchantments. The spot which renders you the golden opportunity to witness the confluence of three religions - Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The popularity of this locale has enhanced with the passing away of one decade followed by another. Ample tourists pay their visit to spend a few moments of euphoria in the lap of nature.
Nothing but a simple, casual call of the nature inspired us to capture the opulence of this exotic landscape. I had no time to stare at the shimmering beauty of the God or the descending sun which at last struck the tree trunks, across, the grove filling with mealy gold light for a few minutes or look at the couples engaged in various degrees of intimacy on the beach, wetted their feet in the waves of Bay of Bengal as they cooed sweet nothing to each other!!
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