It's been said that you can't visit Jagannath Temple, until lord Jagannath himself wants you to meet.
So, when I discovered that 15th April I had an off in office due to Bengali New Year, I started searching for tickets and rooms in the weekend gateways.
But I stopped at Puri. I found a budget hotel, booked that from Oyo and booked the bus tickets from Red Bus, as train tickets were unavailable).
So, on the 12th April, after office I reached the boarding point at Khiderpore, boarded on the bus and headed towards Puri.
The bus was at 9.35 pm and was scheduled to reach at 6 am, but due to traffic the bus reached after 8.30 am.
I was feeling very hungry and at the same time very tired for the 11 hours' bus journey.
Okay, after getting down from the bus, I saw a man was selling some food and people were having that. I went close to that and ordered a plate of that for myself. It costed me just 20 INR.
Basically, the man was selling Dahi Vada. In Odhissa, dahi badas are served with ghugni, dahi and sev. It was too yummy and was looking too colourful.
Then I took an auto to reach the hotel.
I had to pay 100 INR to reach the hotel.
I booked OYO 16511 purposely, knowing that it was a bit far from the Sargdwar. I wanted to stay in some calm place.
The beach is just 200 meters away from the hotel. And I just loved the rooms of the hotel.
After the check in process I ordered for my complimentary breakfast that came with a cup of tea, bread toast and omelette.
After finishing my breakfast took a small nap and then went to the sea beach to have some Vitamin SEA.
So I gave myself a chance to get tanned and asked myself to go back to the hotel.
Beach Wind, super hot golden sand and sun in the mid-sky sent me to the hotel where I took shower and had my lunch.
I had steamed rice, dal, aaloo bhaja and fish curry.
Then again I slept and at around 4 pm I left office for the Temple visit.
Mobile phones and leather items are not allowed inside of the temple. So, I kept them in the locker and finished my Jagannath Darshan.
I left temple at around 8 pm and took an auto to reach Sargdwar.
There I had tea, biscuit, cigarette and obviously the freshly fried fishes.
After having these, I felt extremely full and booked an auto to go back to the hotel.
That night, I didn't have anything else as dinner. Watched the T20 match and slept.
I love to watch this golden hour, sitting in the beach.
Then i found a group of people were clicking pictures of them, so I requested them to take a photo of mine too.
Then when I saw that the sun was going up, I came back to hotel and had breakfast there only.
I was having some me-time over there and suddenly I realised that I needed to go to the beach. I went and clicked some pictures too.
Okay, after spending an hour I came back to hotel as I asked one of the deities to bring the Mahaprasad for me as my Lunch.
The quantity of the food was for more than 3 heads. So, I tried to eat as much as I could, then packed the rest food and I distributed that to one of the street kid.
In the evening I went to the temple again to watch the flag hoisting ritual and left the place at around 8.30 pm.
From temple road, I went to the khaja shops, bought khajas for my near and dear ones and too a rikshaw to get dropped at sargdwar.
From Sargdwar, I bought a few things for my dad and sister and came hotel with two cans of chilled beer.
I had one of them and late at night had the dinner from the hotel's kitchen itself.
I had steamed rice, aaloo bhaja and chicken curry.
after finishing the dinner I just slept as I had to wake up at 4 am in the next morning.
15th April, 2019 was Poyla Boisakh. This the first day of Bengali New Year when all bengalis wear new dresses. I followed the tradition too. I worn a new dress and went for the final temple visit of this trip.
As I said earlier that the mobile phone is not allowed inside the temple, i spent 3-4 hours there in the temple.
After coming out from Jagannath Temple, I started walking through Swargadwar.
I saw a tea stall and had a cup of tea along with a fag and started walking in search of a rikshaw.
There I saw a man was selling something and people were having. So, I went there and as I was in empty stomach, seeing food couldn't resist myself.
The man who was selling this told me that the plate costs 10 INR. And in one plate 5 pieces of idlis come.
I ordered my plate and the best part was while serving the plate, he gave a leaf so that my hand didn't burn.
Here in Odhissa, idlis are served with Ghugni and a chutney made of coconut and tamarind.
I believe that the tradition of eating idlis was started by the Odhiyas, and gradually they have been modified by the South Indian.
And then I returned to hotel and enjoyed a chilled beer session with a plate of egg bhurji (scrambled eggs).
And then, after this beer session I dressed up to go to the beach for the final time.
At around 11.30 am, I went to the beach and took a sun bath and along with that took some photos.
After reaching hotel, from the beach took a bath and called at the reception to serve my lunch.
As it was the beginning of the year, I ordered steamed rice, daal, aaloo bhaja and Homestyle Mutton Curry.
I seriously loved the food of this place.
By the way, the owner of this place, Moumita was so humble and she was so well behaved. I seriously liked her hospitality. She has a kid and he was also too cute.
So, before checking out, I took a selfie with them.
And I was so overwhelmed with the behavior of each staffs of the place.
And you can't believe that Moumita called me at night just to know whether I had dinner or not.
Anyways, I started my bus journey of 10 hours again.
And when the bus halted in some place, I saw a dhaba and had this tadka and roti.
