The car turned the short bend, climbed the broken speed bump and the last five kilometres were coming in agonizingly slow, as huts, people, houses, and trees came in front as the road was swaying left to right and back.
We were impatient to see the sea.
Salty sea air
sea atop a sand dune as waves of salty air swept over us
The air was salty, the rows of bent coconut trees were almost touching a drunken sixty degrees with seven gale-force wind hitting them.
As we neared the sea, the greenery vanished and the surrounding area was painted with golden damp sand. A fine salty sand was blown by wind which continuously whistled past the half-open glass of my car window.
Puri beach approach
We could n’t go wrong in our assumption that sea was near.
It had to be; too many familiar things told us, that the road from Cuttack to Puri had almost ended.
Any moment the dark straight line should be visible and then the road went up beside a few shelters and almost touched the horizon washed with fluffy white clouds.
We moved on and with a gasp, we smiled, there she was…
Blue, Gold and yellow colors
The unmistakable dark line which looked like miles into the sky kept well within its seam, the deep tempting blue-green waters of the sea.
Click ‘PLAY’ to see the sea
How beautiful it looked. We drove along the beach road and parked on the left in an opening to see the magnificent view.
Puri’s fiery beach
The beach of Puri is famous for its relentless breakers, big and fierce that kept coming on the shore owing to a steep continental shelf.
The sand was coarser and with its big grains, got quite heavy on bathers when you get wet and the sand sticks to you.
We were tired after driving 535 kilometres from Calcutta but the salt charged wind that almost lifted us off our feet and the burning sun beckoned us to touch the sea.
as the acres of sand swallowed her as we headed for our hotel
We stopped for a while and headed for our lodge which was to our advantage, was a mere 10 mins walk away, nestled in the rows of hotels that dotted the shoreline at about two kilometres from the throbbing sea.
Sultry summers
painted different images of sea, sand and sky
I think it is advisable that a visitor is aware which part of the year, this coastal town is visited.
We went in October, and the heat from the sun almost baked us like an oven. Added to that was the heated sand which was challenging when we walked through it to touch the sea.
The sea remained far cooler than the environment around and somehow with the seawater washing you all over, the heat gets going.
as the environment is near ideal to hit the sea
November to February is when you should aim to visit these beaches if you want to savor the elements that are in play.
The beach road of Puri ran parallel to the seashore and remained very busy.
Touching the sea
We tried to take a dip at different times of the day – loved the sea and bathed in its fuming water in the early morning before the sun turned the beach into a hot platter.
on the Puri beach road as the sea roars behind
Visitors, business seekers, shell collectors, fast food chains, innumerable small stalls, sold everything under the sun to attract customers.
Puri’s souvenirs
They offered on sale mainly shell items from a wall hanging, a humongous variety of statues made of stone, wood, marble, and shell to woo buyers. We came across a great variety of conks around – small, big, slender, thorny which the visitors tried to blow and only when successful, bought them.
Typical shopping time is right after a short siesta after lunch when the sun has lost its rage. Late afternoon attracts drones of visitors who bargain as much as they can before closing the deal.
As the day deepened, so did the sun’s fury. Braving the scorching and sweltering heat, we made a beeline for the sea.
Crashing waves
white sea water before breaking off to form another wave
The sea rolled us over as each breaker slammed us and hardly gave time to recover when another series of waves made us fight for air and all that was there were layers of grayish sandy water.
Loved the water’s immense power which threw us like a rag-doll. We kept ongoing and into a trance perhaps and eagerly soaked ourselves.
As we looked at the green and deep sea, the water changed its pattern from still to uneven and then fumed as it came nearer to the shore and smothered our full length.
We cried with elation and screamed as the fast undercurrent of the receding water removed the sand beneath and it felt like being drawn into the sea.
We scrambled for a hold in the shifting sand.
Click ‘PLAY’ below to see the rolling waves
Sea drenched, we return
riding to playing frees bees and less adventurous were touching the sea
Burned to the skin, bare feet turning red, we trudged across the sand, reached our car which provided a temporary refuge from the heat, – acted as a shade gaving the welcoming coolness.
All of us, gulped down bottles of water to quench our thirst. We changed swimming gears and got dressed for the city life, dirtying the car in the process and headed back to our lodge. The area where we checked was Hotel Deepak, quite good, located in “Charkratirtha‘ which is comparatively less crowded and is about five to six kilometres from the main Puri beach.
Sumptuous dinner
Puri beach itself has a large array of hotels and eating joints which sell cuisines of all kinds – Chinese, Indian Afghani like kebabs, veg and non-veg rolls and a few of them provided fried sea fishes, like Prawns, Betki, Pomfret, Papda, and Parshe.
of the shimmering sand looked like a forbidden territory of quicksand
Each dish was very tasty, especially when we garnished it with lemon, capsicum and threw in slices of coriander; attracted both young and old to relish the unique mix.
Longed to stretch our legs, we drove back to the hotel and ended the day with a lovely sea fish dinner. Within minutes, we remembered the sound of the rhythmic beat of the waves which acted as a lullaby and we passed into oblivion.
Inference
| Kolkata to Puri distance | 498 Kms |
| Time to visit | Preferably from November to February, to escape the heat |
| Places to visit | Shree Jagannatha Temple, Swargadwar beach, Udaya Giri, Khanda giri caves, Chilka lake, Konarak Temple, Bhubaneswar (Orissa/Odisha capital), Pipili |
| Pocket pinch | Rs.1250 to Rs. 7850 per night (Budget to posh hotels) |
SPITFIRE GAUTAM 