Arabian Nights 1

Ground Down

So I’ve bitten the bullet, and I’ve bought myself a domestic flight ticket.

I didn’t want to, but it was the only way to meet my friends down south in time. I can't get a train seat. Everything's booked out, in all classes. And I no longer have enough time to take the whole pile of buses needed to get to Trivandrum in time.

But actually, despite my eco-guilt, it's just as well, because I’ve been as sick as a dog, and a few more days of overland travel would’ve probably knocked me over the edge.

My belly’s been a little dodgy off and on since I got back to India a couple of weeks ago, and in Puri it got worse, I started to feel really crap, and started having sweaty feverish nights, for all the wrong reasons.

Since I’ve been here in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the state of Odisha, it’s been the same, and, besides my first day here, I’ve pretty much had to stay holed up in my room, horizontal, only going out for food, if I felt I could stomach it.

India can be taxing on the body, physically. One big issue is the poor air and water quality, which, over months and months, can really wear you down, especially if you’re on the move. Overland travel here is often slow and pretty rough, and is itself pretty physically taxing.

Hygiene can be dodgy in places, and even though my immune system’s definitely had a lot of practice with new bugs, they sometimes get the better of me.

Living in crap air for long periods can’t be great, I’m sure that it's taken its toll on me. I’ve basically had a cough, and often a runny nose, ever since I left Southeast Asia nearly 3 months ago, which has rarely let up. Every day I cough up the crap that I breathed in the day before.

Bhubaneswar

As soon as I arrived in the Odishan capital, I could see that the state government's on the ball. The place is relatively clean. There’s electric buses and rickshaws plying the streets. There’s vehicle air pollution testing stations around, something I’ve never seen in India. And there’s electric billboards displaying current air pollution levels in different parts of the city.

It seems to have made a difference here. The air quality is better than in many urban places in India. It’s noticeable.

Yeah the traffic’s still bad in places, but not too bad. There’s traffic cops stationed at every major intersection, directing people along. There’s traffic lights that people obey. Sure, the population of the city is only 1.2m, so I guess it’s unfair to compare traffic management here with Delhi or Mumbai, but it’s still relatively impressive for an Indian city.

On the clunker from Puri

Rickying to a hotel

My hotel was in a quiet suburb a few clicks from the city centre, in this street.

Selfies are still happening everywhere. Every now and then I get them to take one on my phone too, to add to the countless pics they take on their own phones, and then post on social media. Go figure.

Don’t ask about the helmeted receptionist.

Then I went wandering.

There’s even cycle lanes in this city. No matter that motorcyclists use them too.

Mobile vehicle emissions testing centre.

Air pollution indicators

Brand new electric bus

I headed towards the main attraction of this city - the collection of incredible ancient temples right in the city centre.

The centrepiece, and the biggest temple in Odisha, is called the Lingaraj Temple, and is yet another incredible marvel of the ancient world.

The temple from behind the outer wall.

Note the ancient shrine right in the middle of the road. I love that.

The temple was founded in the mid-600s, but the really speccy parts were built in the second half of the 11th Century, in what is known as the Kalinga architectural style. Kalinga is an ancient region encompassing current-day Odisha, as well as northern Andra Pradesh, Odisha’s southern neighbour state.

The temple has been built with a succession of tall stupas and shrines, culminating in the temple centrepiece, a 55m tall stupa, which contains a rock linga.

Unfortunately the temple is also closed to non-Hindus, so I couldn’t go inside the temple walls, but I could see part of it from various high points on the outside.

Looking in on the Lingaraj action

Main temple entrance

Very human-esque lion guardian. Love the mo.

I met Larry, from Chicago. He's an interesting guy, and has been hanging out in Bhubaneswar for awhile now. He comes to India regularly, and is a sprightly 80 years old, and damn proud of it. I don't blame him. We hung out and chatted about lots of things, he's writing a book on Indian spirituality, and his brain is full of interesting ideas about how the world operates.

The Lingaraj temple is just one of many incredible temples in the old city. They’re everywhere, you just need to wander around.

And wander I did.

A baba in his temple home.

Afternoon snacks. Really delicious, especially the eggplant pakhora.

Carved stone crockery

Yeah, what to say

Bindu Sagar, a sacred lake close to Lingaraj.

Ananta Basudev Temple

Papanasini pond

I tell you, there's just so many historic temples, all over the place. The whole area is littered with incredible history, it's so amazing walking around and discovering things everywhere, unmarked, unsignposted, but ancient and significant nonetheless.

Part of the stunning Mukteswara Temple

Bhubaneswar also has ritz. As the state capital, the city is an important administrative centre for the 48m people who live in Odisha. Yeah, 48m people in one state.

Concert hall

I found a great place to eat just around the corner, Hotel Venus. This is sambar wada. Wada are basically little savoury donuts made of legume flour, and spiced. They're really delicious, and in central and south India, are served with a curry sambar, a savoury coconut sauce, and something chillified.

Another lassi variation, even though I ordered just a plain lassi

Bikki snacks, and my dirty shoes

Florist. These were all real, believe it or not. The smell was divine.

So, after more time of not being well, and resting, I finally made it to the snazzy Bhubaneswar Airport, where President Modi was looking all smooth and loving.

I had a stopover at Bengaluru, the new twin-terminalled airport there is just over the top. Super ritzy brand new modern state-of-the-art. Plus there was another Christmas tree.

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