Vijayawada, Cuttack & Puri

We departed Vijayawada in the afternoon, quite happily. There were too many mozzies, Guy had a bad cough the whole time we occupied the minuscule hotel room, and the workers in the hotel were so pushy, always begging for tips. When we left the hotel one waiter, and then two staff helped us get the suitcases into the car, and suddenly there was 6 persons we had never seen before from the hotel asking for their tips as well!

Puri Traffic Lights

We were travelling with Sandeep’s student Harshid’s family, who are very lovely, and have been hosting us at their family home for quite a few amazing meals while we were in Vijayawada. Sandeep and Harshid’s father took the cars back to their relative’s place, to store them while we travelled the 850 km by overnight train to Cuttuck. We are now quite familiar with the whole train deal, and Freya really loves sleeping on board. Harshid’s family brought a delicious simple tamarind rice dish for us all to eat for dinner on the train, which still tastes really great at room temperature. I was pretty wiped, and coming down with a cold, as was Caspar and Sandeep. We all crept into our bunk with fresh linen and pillows supplied, and all sweated away all night to kill the bug. Freya woke me up around midnight with a stomach ache, and I was worried that this was the start of something bad. She could only just bear to sit on the toilet in the train which smelt really bad, so I waited outside most of the time with my cough, and thankfully after about 15 minutes she came out feeling just fine and went happily back to sleep!

We arrived at 9 in the morning, and all got into cycle rickshaws to take us the short distance back to Bombay Hotel (a bit misleading perhaps as it is nowhere near Mumbai), where we stayed at the beginning of January. The staff here are very nice, and do not ring the bell at 7am to deliver the newspaper (that we had not ordered), nor do they knock on our door at 10.30 pm to demand another advance on our hotel bill, as they would do in Vijayawada. It is cooler here at night, as we are further north, and it feels comparatively pleasant and light.

Today, January 14 in the festival day, and as Freya’s performance programme starts tomorrow, today was our only chance to visit the famous city of Puri on the seaside. I have been starting to hanker after a swim in the sea, so despite my ticklish cough I very eagerly jumped in the nice Jeep Sandeep had hired for us all. We fitted in both families (just), and headed for Puri, 80 kilometers from where we are staying. It felt great to be driving through the country, but once we arrived in Puri itself it was another matter. There is a very famous temple there dedicated to Shri Jagannath, which is a form of Lord Krishna sitting with his sister and brother. There is no other temple like it in India. They wanted to show it to us, but as we neared it the congestion was incredible, as it was the main holiday festival day. We had to park a mile from the temple, and walked a fair way in the heat, avoiding the cows and their dung, and the hands of lepers constantly poking their stumps out to ask us for money. It was really getting too much for us, as we also very much had the idea of the ocean swim on our minds. From past experiences the idea of queuing up at a temple for hours on end with thousands of other pilgrims did not appeal.

Can you spot Guy, Freya & Caspar?

So Sandeep took Harshid’s family to the temple, while we searched the road until we found the car and driver, and headed a little further on, until we reached the beach. We almost ran to the water, jumped straight in, and Freya who had said she was not planning to get her hair wet, was soon bodysurfing the waves, and having a general ball, much to the curiosity of the locals, who had never seen a little girl tackling the waves quite so enthusiastically.

The cows also love the cool of the beach

The water had the most perfect temperature, not soupy and hot, but warm enough to stay in for a long time. Guy said “This is the cleanest I have felt since I got to India”. It was really heavenly, not just to swim but to know we had escaped from the maddening crowds! I was trying to get used to swimming in a punjabi suit, which was not easy as the waves kept pulling at my clothes. But I would not have been seen dead here in a swimsuit that is for sure. It was bad enough trying to get changed back into dry clothes under a towel, with some mad person trying to photograph me with his mobile phone! Lots of other more friendly people came up and asked us where we were from.

After our swim, while Guy ate some chaat (snacks) on the beach with Sandeep & the others who had finally found us on the very long beach, I went across the road to a craft exhibition, where they sold all sorts of lovely craft things from the state of Orissa. They make the most stunning silver filigree work here, and Freya bought some delicate and very cheap silver earrings. I went for a set of peach pearl bangles for an overpriced foreigners rate of $4. Sandeep is always trying to find out what we want to buy, then get us to disappear, and then haggle with the shopkeeper for the best price and pay for us. But sometimes I just have to give him a break as our perpetual tour guide, even if it means I pay a few dollars more. Freya bought a most lovely stone carved statue – they have the most amazing stone carvings here – the big ones start at several hundred dollars, but are very difficult to transport home. Luckily their famous applique textiles are soft and relatively easy to transport. As we drove home their famous cloth applique lamps hung off large trees and had light bulbs inside – it looked wonderful, and cheered us up on our 2 hour 80km ride back to the hotel, where we are all in need of an early night tonight. I am still sitting here covered in the salt form the sea, and I think I might leave it that way, as there in only hot water in the morning, and it also reminds me of our beautiful afternoon at the Bay of Bengal.