Odishaaah!! 1

Some random kids are squealing as they run around a tree in these vast gardens. They’re having a ball here in the shade, and so am I, as I sit on the grass under a tree.

In front of me is the awe inspiring Sun Temple, dedicated to Surya, the Sun God, and another of the true wonders of the ancient world.

My view

It’s amazing to finally be here in Odisha state, on the northeast coast of India, south of Kolkata, and south of the top of the Bay of Bengal, where 2 of Asia’s largest rivers, the Brahmaputra and the Ganges, spill into the ocean.

It’s been a bloody mission to get here, but I’m here.

To The City of Joy

I met Polish Michael, pronounced Mee-how, as I boarded the train to Kolkata from Gaya station.

It had taken forever to get to the station by rickshaw from Bodhgaya, because it happened to be peak hour in the city. Peak hour in Gaya comprises of an unbroken relentless noisy honking crush of cars rickshaws motorbikes bicycles and pedestrians, all of whom are trying to get through the same place at the same time, with no real way of prioritising who gets to go first.

It’s all to do with will, and how accommodating (or not) you are.

So it’s just a gridlocked mess. The intersections are unrecognisable, in terms of what you might previously have imagined an intersection to be. Traffic direction or vehicle positioning forms no patterns whatsoever. Everyone’s everywhere.

Hardly anyone’s moving, because they can’t. Wherever you can get through, you go. Sometimes people will get out of their vehicle and move something on the side of the road so they can scrape through. A parked motorbike. Some rubbish.

You cut people off, they cut you off. Pedestrians will give rickshaws an assertive whack! on the metal body of the vehicle if they wanna squeeze past, and everybody has neverending shout matches with each other, telling each other what to do. They’re shouting because it’d otherwise be impossible to be heard above the incessant cacophony of honking and engine noise.

In that gridlock, given that cars are the least common vehicle, everyone’s literally in each other’s faces the whole time.

It’s sheer madness.

My train departure was hours late, as usual. So off I went and grabbed a snack and a chai or two.

Cute lion temple guardians

Writhing humanity at Gaya Station

The train journey was relatively painless. The train was full, my lower berth sleeper was occupied when I boarded, but the teenage girl in there was happy to move, knowing she’d commandeered someone else’s spot.

The funny thing is, I awoke in the middle of the night to discover that 2 other people were sharing my one-person sleeper, a teen boy and a teen girl. I really have no idea how they did it. I just woke up and realised it was impossible to stretch my legs, and realised that two bodies were tucked up on my sleeper where my legs wanted to go.

Both kids were sound asleep of course.

And I didn’t really care.

When I woke again, around sunrise, they’d gone, and my legs were already stretched.

I imagined them carefully scrunching up my legs earlier in the night as I slept, to make room for themselves, and then unscrunching my legs again before they disembarked, so I’d be none the wiser.

Kolkata

What a great city Kolkata is. I mean, it’s an Indian city, so it has its predictable drawbacks - traffic gridlock, air pollution, mess - but it’s not as bad on all of those measures than Delhi is, for example.

But I guess that's not saying much.

Many of the residents of Kolkata are educated and cultured, and the place has a more refined, relaxed vibe. People walk more slowly. There’s lots of art around. There’s arty cafés, and (some) people who have the money to spend in them.

Even Howrah Junction, Kolkata’s main railway station, and one of the biggest railway complexes in the whole country, has been cleaned up and organised. It was a cesspool of poverty and filth the last time I was here.

But, unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to be in the City of Joy. I travelled through here because it's the easiest way to get to my next destination, Puri.

My first task was to find a bus station and buy an overnight ticket for the same evening.

Michael and I spent the whole day and evening together. He’s a Vipassana-head, having completed lots of meditation retreats over the past few years, including one in Bodhgaya just a couple of days ago. We get along well, we both love music, we both meditate (him way more than me), and we’re travelling in the same way - the locals way - eating street food, taking local transport etc.

It was quite a long but leisurely stroll to a spot where I could get a ticket to Puri.

Outside Howrah station

The ubiquitous Kolkata yellow cab

Incredible flower market

Re-Lactation?

Busy streets

Hanuman. The dude.

Colonial disintegration

My bus ticket seller

After the ticket mission was done the next job was for Michael to find a room, so off we went towards Sudder Street, a backpacker semi-hangout.

Eden Gardens Cricket Stadium, one of the most iconic in India. All of the current and past cricket greats of India are right there, sanctified and idolised. And there’s even the token woman. Change comes slowly here, especially in the gender equality department.

Michael eventually found a cheap room. Well, cheap for a city.

I couldn’t believe it. As we strolled past this record shop the old music lover owner was playing a vinyl album by Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Four Way Street. It was a complete blissful balm for us sunstroked and tired travellers.

Saturday evening, and the markets were pumping

Ravindranath Tagore, a famous Bengali poet, writer and social reformer. Liberal Kolkatans are super proud of him.

The first actual Christmas tree I’ve seen in India. Even though it’s not even a tree. Yeah, I know. Christmas is well over.

Michael looking pensively out across the human river. We headed upstream, sticking close to the bank.

Masala dosa dinna. And a kesar lassi, which has almonds and saffron in it, but which I forgot to photograph. Yum.

By the way, I’ve gotta say there’s so many delicious lassi variations in India. Every place has their own take on it, pretty much. Lucky for me.

http://buymeacoffee.com/krolesh9

Go to Part 2