New Year In East India

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Memories a train journey to Puri, Konark, Chilika Lagoon and Kolkata: 29 Dec., 2007 - 7 Jan. 2008 -

SECOND CLASS CHAI

I was bored of sanitized airplanes and curtained AC trains. They robbed me of the joys of traveling - the smell of earth, window panes clear of tinted glass , of the wind rushing through your hair and of the unique camaraderie of train-travellers.

When an opportunity presented itself for long-distance, second-class travel, I grabbed it with both hands. Last fortnight , finally, I found myself in S2 compartment, upper-berth no.64 of Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express. I thought the 1866km rail journey would be simpler than the 3010km-3-day ride to Trivandrum. But I had really underestimated the crowds, and the hazards of traveling during the peak of winters, next to rattly windows that were no match for cold winds.

My coupe had eight berths for eight persons but it was occupied by about 20 passengers who kept shuffling in and out with bribes for the TTE's. I had also forgotten to carry a shawl or a blanket so I spent my nights chattering my teeth, and my waking hours combating free-riders pouring in from eastern UP and Bihar.

Since a human wall prevented me from moving away from my berth, I spend most of my time with a Le Carre (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and by trying to keep track of the steady stream of vendors, hawkers and beggars who kept walking up and down the busy aisle. Here is a sample of the sales-pitches:

• गरम समोसे बोलिए!! (Samosa vendor)
• दोनो हाथ कटे है बाबूजी, एक रुपिया गिरा दीजिए! -- आप लोगों से भीक मांग-मांग के खा रहे है!! (beggar)
• आ...Dip चाय!! (tea vendor with sachets)
• आ...गरम-गरम गुलाब-जामुन! Tasty रस्गोल्ले!! (Vendor - gulabjamun, rasgollas)
• आ..ई..गोरी-गोरी राम प्यारी चाय!! (spicy milk-tea, served in clay cups -- very common from eastern UP onwards, till Orissa border)
• नए साल का कलेंडर, मेंहदी बुक, SMS jokes, कहानी, चुटकुले!! (book seller)
• पैदा-वाला मथुरा का पैदा!! आगरे का मशहूर pettha !! (sweet vendor)
• आ-ई- Miranda! 7-up! Fruity! पानी बोत्तले! अमुल कूल! (soft drinks)
• आया lemontee!! (Lemon-tea)
• Aaa-- सौप, सौप बोलिए!! (Soup seller)

But the first prize certainly went to an enterprising tea-vendor who went about loudly proclaiming that he was selling Bilkul बेकार चाय!! (absolutely useless tea!). People were charmed by his spunk and cheerfully reached out for their purses to buy an honest cup of train-chai!


PURI

This place is unique. It is one beach along the eastern coast where you can see the sunrise and sunset into the Bay of Bengal. The Golden Beach is one long, congested promenade lined with strangely named hotels (Hotel Swimming, Hotel SUV!); hundreds of vendors (seashells, handicraft, balloons), and stalls (fish fry, peanuts, chops, chaat, alcohol, chowmein and candyfloss).

The skyline is dominated by a ferris wheel, located next to a large cremation ground. So, as you ride the wheel at dusk, you also get to see the metaphorical wheel of life -- thousands of people enjoying themselves on the beach; old folks sitting silently, listening to crashing waves and children playing in the sand while dead bodies burn at Swargadwar cremation grounds just across the road. Eerie.

One evening we rode a cycle-rickshaw to the Jagannath Temple. Winding through the narrow lanes was like rolling back a thousand years through a time-machine. Once inside, I stood gaping at the stupendous shikhara, trying to differentiate the thousands of stone sculptures from the Rhesus monkeys that had made it their home.

Inside the main temple, crowds took a life of their own, surging and swirling like whirlpool, pausing to catch a glimpse of the famous saucer-eyed, abstract wooden statues of Krishna, Balarama and Subadhra. The large images seemed a good 30m away and I wondered why they were spaced so widely that you could see only one full figure at a time. Were these the same images that were carried in the famous Juggernaut - rath yatra?

Was it true that the temple originally was a Buddhist stupa housing the relic which is now in Kandy, Sri Lanka? Was there a link between the eight-spoked sreechakra perched atop the temple, and the buddhist dharmachakra?

Memories that linger those of old ladies selling lamp-wicks; lovely rounded clay vessels full of gleaming white rice being sold as prasad along with other curries from the massive temple kitchen; young security personnel directing the crowds, sometime with a whack from folded palm-fronds, and of tiny shops outside the temple, selling fresh mounds of Jeebe Goja sweets.


KONARK TEMPLE


This place is as touristy as you could get. I always thought the sun temple was among the oldest in India. Not so. It was built only during 1238-1264 after the Jaggannath temple in Puri. During this period, Angkor Wat was already ready; it was less than a century after the destruction of the great university at Nalanda; Genghis Khan had just overrun most of Asia and Marco Polo was on his way to China. And yet, nobody really knows much about how Konark was built or why it was abandoned to sand dunes.

Emperor Akbar's courtier, Abul Fazal (1556-1605) visited Konark during his travels and noted - "Even those whose judgment is critical and are difficult to please stand astonished at its sight". That point is still valid today.

The surviving structure is only the porch of the temple - the Jagamohana. The tower or shikhara was over 60m high - almost as high as the older one at Jaggannath but it had been built of poor quality Khondalite, so by the time Europeans had marked it as the "black pagoda" - a landmark for merchant ships sailing the shallow Orissa waters in the 17oo's - it had already collapsed.

The sculptures are a completely uninhibited portrayal of the daily wonders of everyday life - amorous couples, war elephants, capital punishment, fond farewells, formal portraits, sexy babes, elephants, a giraffe(!), foreign emissaries, flowers & trees.


I found it rather strange that there was not a single sculpture of a turtle or a sea fish among the thousands of figures. For a temple so close to the beach, how could the artists ignore thousands of turtles that have been nesting along the Orissa coastline for millions of years ?

CHILIKA LAGOON

It was a lovely drive to Chilika, about 40km from Puri. Migratory birds, quaint villages, sprawling paddy fields, a shop selling south-Indian "Itili-Dosa" and the fringes of a 100-sqkm lagoon.


We made the mistake of hiring a tourist boat from Orissa tourism (Rs.900 for 3 hours), which had such a noisy outboard engine that we barely got back with our eardrums intact. The sight of a few Irrawady Dolphins and Fresh masala-prawns at Sea-Mouth compensated for this but the private boats are a better option any day. They are cheaper, more spacious and far less noisy.


KOLKATA

The only new thing I did this time was to visit the Kalibari Temple. Finally, after I got past the crowds and queues, it was a major disappointment.

For a temple that gives its name to Kolkata city, it was rather poorly maintained. The sanctum was like a garbage bin strewn with all kinds of trash - rotten flowers and leaves, plastic packets, broken coconuts and glitzy paper; the walls had been caked with grime and cobwebs hung on the fans.

The Kali idol was larger than I had imagined, with red eyes and a long gold-plated tongue. It was barricaded inside an ugly metal cage and presided over by fat, loud priests who apportioned darshan-time according to the size of currency notes they received. It is certainly not a place I would visit willingly again to reach out to the almighty within. Give me a village temple in Kerala any day. Or better still, a few moments on a beach, a mountain or by a forest stream.