It was a long distance planning made three months in advance. I wanted to visit Kolkata after a long absence and requested my relatives in Kolkata to arrange for a short trip to Puri. They visit Puri quite frequently and, hence, are more knowledgeable. Accordingly, they made reservations in trains for both the outward and return journeys and also booked a room in a hotel.
However, the cyclone Phailin changed the picture because by the time our visit arrived, Orissa was in chaos. The cyclone had played havoc with the cities and items were in short supply. Therefore we decided to carry some vegetables, rice, tea, sugar etcetera along with us so that if the ned arose, we could cook our meals because the hotel would provide necessary utensils.
Believe it or not, this was a trip to Puri that I wanted to have in 1953, but it finally materialized in 2013. In 1953, my parents wanted to visit Puri during our school summer vacations but, we, the children, fell sick – it was pox. Hence, the plan was shelved and it finally materialized only last year, after 60-years!!
Needless to say, it was an otherwise pleasant experience as we walked on the beach in Swarga Dwar and experienced the sands moving under our feet as the waves receded. We had gone just after the cyclone had struck and, as we went around, we witnessed the devastations of nature when she gets annoyed. Electric poles and telegraph poles were uprooted as were huge trees. Even the electric poles in the Puri railway station were twisted out of shape.
In the course of our short tour we took in the Nandan Kanan zoo garden in Bhubaneswar and the Konarak Sun temple apart, of course, the Jagannath temple of Puri. We missed out on the Chilka Lake because we were told that the road had become bad after the cyclone.
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