Bhubaneswar Stories

An Olive Ridlay sea turtle returning to Bay of Bengal after laying eggs at Podampeta shore near Rusikulya river mouth in Ganjam, Odisha. Pic @Krushna's The first time I had seen hundreds of Olive Ridley sea turtles was at Rusikulya River mouth in January-February 2006 with an erstwhile mentor and another friend from South Korea. We started from Bhubaneswar at around 10:30 PM and reached the Rusikulya rivermouth well past midnight. Having no camera and a Nokia 1100 mobile handset with me at that time, what I remember from the tour is that hundreds of people walking down on the sand in the dark with big torches to witness the mass nesting of the Olive Ridley sea turtles. Olive Ridley sea turtles returning to sea after laying eggs at Podampeta, Rusikulya beach, Ganjam. (Pic@Krushna's) In this backdrop, the news of lakhs of Olive Ridlays arriving at Rusikulya beach for laying eggs prompted me to plan a trip during the peak nesting period (average around 10 days annually) ...

A flock of ducks playing at Guajhar pond in old Bhubaneswar . Pic@Krushna's On a wintry Sunday morning, after completing a rejuvenating walk along the heritage abundant by-lanes of old city in Bhubaneswar, I asked a local resident on the whereabouts of the dozen odd ducks which were often seen marching on the streets of the old city or making the pond near the picturesque Mukteswar Temple their favorite playground. The question was just out of curiosity and part of casual conversations while returning towards the 7th Century shrine of Parsurameswar Temple, my usual parking place during Ekamra Walks. After few moments of looking around, he pointed towards a compound with low height boundary walls and few big trees and a havan mandap structure visible from outside making it look like an ashram. Wearing a bewildered look, still apprehensive about what was going to greet me inside, I approached the entry point to the compound, where the writing on the wall near the entry m...

5 yr old Shreyansh at Satkosia Sands Resort, Badmul, Odisha. Pic @ Krushna's When a friend mentioned about an adventure trip happening inside Satkosia reserve forest, the first thing that came to my mind was the picturesque gorge, the deepest on the mighty Mahanadi river. I had only seen it in pictures till then. As a travel bug, who loves to get lost in sea, sands and jungle (... my twitter bio says so), I was instantly game for it. The awesome pictures posted on the newly created website doubled my enthusiasm while the only concern was whether it will be safe for my five year old son ‘Omm’ to join the trip as the accommodation there was planned inside camping tents on the river bed itself. Camp site for 'Camping Under the Stars' at Satkosia Sands Resort, Badmul, Odisha. Pic  @ Krushna's Once I made up my mind, the canvassing stage followed and I started the PR mission by showing some of the beautiful pictures of the location to the kid to understand his int...