Day 4 - Cuttack

We were ready by 9 AM when the Indica having Uncle and Aunty came to pick us up at our hotel. We drove to Cuttack, most commonly called as the Silver City, in the hot sun. We had to cross the long bridge over Mahanadi river. Cuttack city is mainly an island.

Cuttack is also referred to as the millennium city of Orissa. It is also called the Silver City because it is world famous for its silver filigree work. Also, it is referred to as the business capital of the state. It was the previous capital of Orissa until the capital was shifted to Bhubaneshwar. Its perhaps only the second lowest city in the world after Amsterdam which is below sea level. Cuttack is protected from the mighty Mahanadi and Kathjodi by the Baimundi Mark which acts as an embankment to the city.

First we went to the famous Cuttack Chandi Mandir, which is located near the banks of the River Mahanadi. Its a small well maintained temple and the idol of the Goddess was magnificent. It was covered entirely with silver filigree works.

We then had a look at the ruined Barabati Fort but didn't get down as it looked more like a garden. On our way we saw the Cuttack Cricket stadium.

Further, we travelled for around 25 kms to reach the Dhabaleswar Temple, which was on the other side of the river and at an other end. The temple, located in an island on River Mahanadi, is embellished with stone carvings that date back to the early 10th and 11th century. We crossed the river over a suspension bridge and went straight to the temple.

There was a huge rush by the time we entered the temple, and we had to stand in the queue. As it was moving quickly, we had the darshan of God in 20 minutes. We then went to the roof of the temple to have a full view of the surroundings.

The old couple were feeling hungry and so they had small vadas at a local shop. We avoided it. We then crossed the bridge again and left for Cuttack.

Out of the 4 places to be covered in Cuttack, 3 had been over. The fourth one - Netaji's birth place, was not even aware for the driver himself. So we went on asking for directions. En route, we stopped at Naya Sadak, which is a famous street for Silver filigree works. We stepped into some shop, had a look at the filigree works and were impressed by their intricate designs. The cost forbid us from buying them.

We finally reached the Netaji Birth place Museum and entered it by paying fee of Re. 1 per head. This old house where Subhas Chandra Bose was born had been converted into a museum. There were around 10 rooms converted to galleries, each housing events of his childhood, college life, letters to his brothers and dad, his political life and freedom struggle, his great escape to Germany to meet Hitler, the anthem of Azad Hind, among others. The room where he was born also has been displayed. This museum is a great source of information to all things related to SC Bose.

The interesting part which caught my attention was a portrait of his daughter, Anita. She was so cute, along with her mother Emilie. Little in history is known that Subhas was married!

By the time we left the museum, it was already ringing 2:30. We were in desperate search of a hotel, and found one somewhere. The hotel was crowded, but they didn't have all the stuffs printed on their menu. Uncle and aunty left the place as they didn't like anything. We settled with Biryani as only rice items were available. Later, we found out that the old couple had pizza from a nearby shop :)

We then left for Bhubaneswar and we got dropped off at a shopping street nearby our hotel. We exchanged address and telephone numbers and told we would visit them when we come to trip in Maharashtra, and vice versa. We strolled the long market street, but found nothing worthy to buy. We took a rick and came back to our hotel by 5 PM.

As we had to catch the 5:45 train back to Bangalore the next day, we started packing early, and had early dinner and slept soon.

The return journey was a little boring, as usual. The entire coach was in bad shape with dust and tapes. An elderly couple joined us in the same compartment all thru the journey. The lady was telling few facts of Bhubaneswar, Rajamundry, Godawari river, etc. Also the train passed very close to Chilika Lake between nearly 4 stations. Chilika is HUGE! The food on train was better than the onward journey. We reached Bangalore by 12:30 PM, half an hour delay against the expected arrival. We were at home by 1 PM, exactly after a week.

Over all, we had a good time and enjoyed the trip. We were overwhelmed when someone asked - "Oh, you went to Orissa? Rarely someone goes there for a trip" :). Had we planned a little carefully, we could have covered Kolkata as well, we thought. No regrets now.

Post trip, while reading about various articles on places which we visited, I came to know that Puri is part of the Char Dham pilgrimages for Hindus. The Char Dham defined by Adi Shankaracharya consists of two Vaishnavite, one Shaivite, and one mixed site. They are: Badrinath, Dwarka, Jagannath Puri, and Rameshwaram. Among these, except for Badrinath, I've visited the rest three. Time for a North India tour next... fingers crossed.. :)