Bhubaneswar Stories

The scenic river bank and Talasari beach in Balasore, Odisha. Pic @ Krushna's  Looking for an weekend family outing in the lap of nature in the hot summer month of May, me and a childhood friend, a property consultant by profession, zeroed on Talasari beach in Balasore district, a tiny coastal tourist destination close to Odisha - West Bengal border. As none of us had ever been to the place, whatever little knowledge on the place was courtesy the promotional advertisements of Odisha Tourism featuring the unique red crab and through reference search online and via local acquaintances. The iconic red crabs at Talasari beach. Pic @ Krushna The initial thought was to stay at the border town of Digha in West Bengal and a site-seeing visit to Talasari which was just 10 kms away, mostly influenced by the search results of 300 plus hotels in Digha, in sharp contrast to hardly any good accommodation available on online searches at Talasari except the Odisha Tourism Development Cor...

The majestic Ananta Vasudeva Temple standing tall on the banks of Bindusagar in old Bhubaneswar. Pic @ Krushna's As a child I had always flooded my father with numerous questions about various aspects of temples whenever we used to visit one. The answers in the form of narrations and stories always fascinated me and further increased my quest for knowing more about them. The same childlike curiosity within me continues as I always get super excited whenever I get an opportunity to listen to the ever fascinating temple tales. As it happened, on a Sunday morning, while participating in the weekly heritage walk 'Ekamra Walks', I walked into the abode of Lord Ananta Vasudev, the only ancient Vishnu temple in the Ekamra Kshetra or the Old town area of Bhubaneswar. Standing tall on the banks of pristine Bindusagar lake, I had been to this Maha Vishnu temple nearly hundred times over the years, once in a while to pay obeisance to the deities and mostly to relish on t...

After making it to Arribada, the annual mass nesting and egg laying ritual of Olive Ridley sea turtles, I was keenly following the events around the marine turtles. As the mass nesting was over, I was curious to know about the hatchling time, when the baby turtles tumble out from eggs laid deep in the sands. It takes around 45 days after the mother turtle lays the eggs inside the pits in the sand. The hope of making it to this spectacle brightened when a former colleague, whose hubby is a wildlife professional, asked me whether I should be part of the team of volunteers  going to help out the baby turtles reach the open sea safely. I immediately registered as a volunteer in the limited member team finalized for this trip. While getting confirmation about my participation, I was informed that attending a nearly two hour orientation programme is a pre-requisite for volunteering to this unique rescue mission. Given the skeptic within me, as I entered the hall where t...