Free hit counter

Ok

By continuing your visit to this site, you accept the use of cookies. These ensure the smooth running of our services. Learn more.

11/25/2011

Orissa or India and her pious tradition… 3

The next morning, on the advice of the guy at the hotel, we decide to go to Jagannath temple at 5 in the morning, the “best time” according to him. We are excited: it is an important place of pilgrimage, apparently a site that Hindus should visit at least once in their life!

How surprised we are when we discover, at the entry number one, that only Hindus are authorized to enter!! But how??? It was written nowhere on the site of tourism of Orissa!!

I jabber a bit of Hindi and the guard sends me to the “identification office”.

In the most total chaos of pilgrims, cows etc, we turn around this immense temple, with guys following us all along.

At the last entry, it seems that we will be able to enter. A so-called priest with a loincloth and only one tooth begins to talk to us. I leave shoes, camera and cellphone (all of this is prohibited) to my friends and go to try my luck with these guards.Nothingl. When I go back to my friends, I am a bit irritated (I respect; but I would have found nice if the guy at the hotel or the rickshaw had informed me; it is 5 in the morning for the love of God!!). The priest is still there pestering them. He wants to sell offerings for the God we won’t be able to see. It pisses me off!! I ask him to leave us. The fellow understands that his pathetic strategy to get money from us has failed and gets upset: “You are Christians? HERETICS!! Go back to your country. ”

Mmmmhhhhh. Mmmmmhhhhhhh. And YOU WANT MY FIST ON YOUR FACE @fod,ezi#[|éfr€ioz@] ?? (I did not say that, it is not very politically correct, and he was old and skinny, and above all I could not the words, but it gives an idea of the atmosphere on that early morning with people annoying tourists at any hour…)

 

It reminds me of the situation Christian-Hindus is tended a little in Orissa, and apparently, this is not a joke.

 

But not regrets, it was awesome to see all the pilgrims and the fishermen when we got back to the beach.

 

This time, the taxi to the airport was there one hour early. The boy comes to seek me on the beach for me to announce it and I indicate to him that I want to take my breakfast first. He asks me what I want. Just toasts. 30 minutes later, we are in the restaurant room. And 20 minutes later, nothing. Nothing at all. I call the boy, inquire where the toasts are. He looks at me with empty eyes and asks “what toasts?”. Holy cow…

 

Puri, Orissa - Nov 2011

 

 

Retrospectively, first words of Lonely Planet on Orissa: it is very laid-back.

Ah! That it is the least you can say!! No stress there…

 

I learned my lesson: to avoid bad surprises next time, I will take the Lonely Planet, no matter its weight, and I will know that the following temples are for Hindus only:

·         Jagannath Temple of Puri (Orissa) and Lingaraja in Bhubaneshwar (Orissa)

·         Golden Temple of Vishwanath in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)

·         Temple of Guruvayoor in Guruvayoor (Kerala)

·         Temple of Trimbakeshwar close to Nashik (Maharashtra)

·         Temple of Balaji in Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) – but apparently people from abroad have already entered there.

Apparently an American tourist succeeded in melting down in the crowd and entering the temple in 2010. She was arrested and she must have had a good time!! (Source: http://www.eturbonews.com/20247/us-tourist-arrested-india-entering-jagannath-temple)

 

More details on tourism in Orissa, Puri area: here 

11/23/2011

Orissa or India and her pious tradition… 1

I recently did a mini-break in Orissa.

 

Orissa, and more precisely Puri, is there:

Map Orissa Puri.jpg

 

 

Immediate question when I speak about this trip (to Indians and others): “But why there?? Why Orissa??“

I was looking for a place to visit with my friends, with a big time constraint – which doesn’t really help in India.

 

I had posed a first option on Bundi, in Rajasthan. Super pastoral. But that implied one night of train + one hour of car to go there and 3 hours of train + a plane to return. And then while doing some research I found out that we would miss the local festival by only a few days. But that we could attend the festival of Puri, in Orissa. It is a sacred city in India and there is a festival! No need to say no more. And it is also easily accessible by plane and not too expensive. Done!!

 

We arrive at the mini airport of Bhubaneshwar. How nice to be able to walk from the plane to the terminal!! We find a car without a problem for Puri (one and half hour from there). It is dark outside and we can’t see anything. On the other hand our ears take load. Loud Indian music and the driver is hooked to the horn. Never seen (or rather heard) that. Really. And surprisingly our 2 other drivers during the trip, same thing!!

 

We arrive at the hotel. I succeeded in taking the last one on the beach, so far from the other hotels that the driver believed it did not exist! There is no roof, the 4th floor is in construction and obviously the work has been stopped. The restaurant is in the basement, “nicely” decorated with plastic flowers. There is no one… Guys constantly pass half naked (apparently the restaurant is between the staff quarters and the shower). The roasted fish is good but the chicken is not well unfrozen. I have to point it out. Answer of the waiter - which honestly did not express anything (the absolute vacuum): “it is the AC”. Good Lord. The food is not cooked and he talks to me about the AC! Good luck…

 

The night goes by, with crackers and other backfires…

10/17/2011

Picking up the trash in pics

To continue with the theme http://www.indiandacoit.com/archive/2011/09/24/trash.html

 

Photos of trash picking on Juhu Beach (one of the biggest beach of Mumbai) on a Saturday afternoon!!

Yeah, manually, and so what?? ;) 

india,trash,collecting,beach,juhu

india,trash,collecting,beach,juhu

india,trash,collecting,beach,juhu

india,trash,collecting,beach,juhu

india,trash,collecting,beach,juhu

india,trash,collecting,beach,juhu