(3) Orissa state, mostly Puri

CT road in Puri, is about 2 km away from Puri railway station, and about 50 km from Bhubaneswar - capital of Orissa.  there are many home-stays available, for cheap rent of 100-150 per day.. some have attached bathroom in that one room as well.  (in season, like nov / dec, when its least hot, prices can go bit up).  overall, most things are cheaper here than most other places of India.  about 3km from CT road, there is Bengali beach (locally known that way), which is touristy and crowded area, with Puri market and lots of buildings around.  the Jagannath temple of Puri, from many many centuries ago is near these area as well.

CT road is mostly residence area of fishermen, which is gradually changing.  about 1km away from CT road beach, towards north, is called as 'empty' beach, which is a deserted area.. great for quiet walks.   the beaches are good, but the sea water is not so clean, as on couple of areas in these long stretch of beach, waste water (small streams) flow into sea.  its such a pity, as there seem to be multiple NGO's / organizations, who are trying to keep everything clean.  a waste water treatment plant is a necessity here. sea waves are rough and it gets deep quickly, so swimming should be recommended for good swimmers.

street food is great in Puri, and various milk based sweets are a must.  Konark temple (more than 1000 years old) is few kilometers away.  there are many other ancient temples around within few km vicinity, but beware of some people who will try to con you out of some money, posing as priests, guides etc.

bicycles can be rented, many corner tea stalls are there to sit leisurely to meet other backpackers, narrow streets are there to explore around.  there are forest areas, and smaller beaches too around.  one day tour buses are there, which charge about 200 rupees per person, and could be used first to explore, and then travel on your own pace later, if required. but overall, its an idle relaxing vacation place, and most shops are aimed at such travelers in CT road.

 didnt take many photos here.  though noticed, the sun sets here comparatively early than in Mumbai..  like around 5pm onwards, and gets darker by around 6pm.. it rises early too,  well, maybe i should have noted down, specific aspects everyday, during my stay here, but my main aim was to experience everything first..  so, orissa days now seem idle, leisure days.. which they were.


sunset at puri beach, around 5.15pm

 at Konark Temple... huge stone wheel


 at CT road.. a temple

(2) Southern end towards North of India...

I had packed my bag, after about 1 year of working in a project, and towards its completion, began to remove possessions which i won't require, and thus filled one big backpack (rucksack), with all my belongings, which i can carry on my own (so, it had to be less than 10kg in weight, as i weight some 60 plus kgs. initially, due to attachments,

i could not throw away some un-necessary things, and carried them on, till realization hit me, few days / weeks / months later.  then i was able to lighten up my baggage / burden..  (to become more of an email, without attachments ;)

Kanyakumari, as a place is more of a tourist trap.. or the people there are more commercial, and used to people coming there for short stay, of a day, or 1-2 days... mostly to be at one end of India.. of course, Vivekananda rock, which is the real end (about 2 km away from land, a big rock, like an island in middle of the sea).. which you can access, only through a boat ride, is worth visiting.

Trivandrum (Thiruvanandapuram), capital of Kerala comes up next... where i had dome some work, but, soon traveled up, to Tamilnadu, and to Kodaikanal, which is more of a city.. the surrounding hilly areas around Kodaikanal would have more appeal to natural lovers, as its colder, greener and more exotic and peaceful.

from Kodai, to Coimbatore, where some of my friends had invited me to stay with them (they were staying in rented houses on the town's outskirts... most of them, 20-25 year age group, enthusiastically exploring their new found adult life, as the generation of 21st century's second decade... so many differences from my own youth period and culture...  these youngsters, dont prefer solo traveling (yet), and more into traveling in groups... more into peace, and not much interested in concepts which divide people, such as regionalism, religion, caste, etc. etc.  i was amazed to see this, and kept becoming more hopeful about a better future (in comparison to my own youth experiences).  though, not all these youngsters agreed with my positive and hope about future ;)

from there, to banglore, to goa.  in goa, stayed in an organic farm setting as a volunteer and met and interacted with most youth (20-30 age group mostly)..  tho in goa, many more from all over the world, and i was excited to learn rapidly about amazing cultural differences and personalities.

but, these days were like an incubation stage, and by the beginning of this year, the bakpakng aspect hatched.. a very short trip to mumbai, and train to Orissa, Puri..  something like 40 hour plus train ride, gave me lots of time to introspect and realize what kind of bakpakng i want to do.

in Puri, stayed in CT road (Chakra Tirtha), which is close to beach, but enough away from the touristy / commercial / crowded part of the beach..  nothing much doing, but living alone with own time frame..  fortunately, there were many such solo bakpakers there, who were totally onto themselves..  while occasionally for couple of hours a day, might join others at a tea shop corner for some chit chat.  that was it.  amazing time, but maybe not everyone's cup of tea ;)

more about Puri, orissa in next blog..

(1) So, what was that (your bakpakng travel) ?

Bakpakng, as i would like to spell it due to a reason..  (instead of Back-Packing).

the dictionary meaning / definition of backpacking is: travel or hike carrying one's belongings in a rucksack..  
But, that was not MY definition..  and hence the different way of spelling it.  i did carry a rucksack carrying (all) my belongings... but there were many other elements added to it.

I wanted to add, randomness to it all.  there was no plan, no destination, no time frame, and no goal, and it was a solo (alone) activity.

mainly, it was for un-conditioning in a way..  generally, at present, in 21st century, every day, we try to be focused on time and some constructive productivity, during every second of our existence. been conditioned to behave that way, since many generations, and as close to current societal rules/norms as possible.  this was to see, whether, no-plan, no-time based, existence thru wandering is possible or not..  and to see, what i as a individual human being could do.  take me out of my comfort zones, and explore what i would be, if there are minimum of restraints, rules, norms etc.

of course, when we try to maximize Freedom, then, Security on the other hand gets imbalanced, and its a price we have to pay..  and as everything in nature, we can't imbalance totally, but only upto some extent.  i was exploring multiple limits, if i wanted to do that.  (which means, it was not to push myself to some edge deliberately, but just letting everything be, letting myself be, and going with that flow.

i was in one end of India, at Kanyakumari, during the beginning of last year.  in a way, these travels had started from there mentally.  i gradually drifted up north from south end.  in between stayed in some places longer, worked and earned money for these travels, volunteered (where some things like stay / food etc were free), in v.few places charitable organization/people helped, and v.few places were expensive as well to stay/food.

i will try to write about that, in a haphazard way..  some blogs may seem like a travelogue, and some like philosophical soliloquy (talk with myself).  but, guess most readers would be aware of these varying styles of writing and will take what they want.  

of course, i was barefeet (reasons for me being barefeet i have written earlier in this blog), and was going to use my own saved money from my earlier salaried jobs i had earned.  it was going to be on as low budget as possible, was going to avoid luxury and live in a very simple way, to reduce my carbon footprint as much as possible.  i could get room / place to stay, for rs. 100, but, i was not going for anything above 200, unless unavoidable, and not spending more than 150 on food per day.. there was no fixed number / ruppees, but, a general gut feeling.  cheapest bus / travel form was used, and unreserved train journey throughout, which is toughest but cheapest as well.

another thing which evolved was, i didn't use much info. from internet (my mobile phone was a cheap one, with very basic, 2g mobile connectivity),   i had like a budget of 200 rupees per month for mobile charges, 1.3 MP camera on it, and was going to ask people for information and depend on it to make spot decisions as where to go and not go.  many a time, it was based on, which train or bus was available, or based on how attractive / exotic name of a place i felt at that moment etc.  it was very random, so, its very tough to explain how i was deciding my travel plan..  it was that crazy ;)

**In a nutshell, or briefly, this Bakpakng was letting go, not bothering about 'control'... but, i am still figuring out, how to communicate it in a nice way..  finding out, it makes too many ppl scared/insecure in some way, maybe its my energy now, or maybe i am not ready to communicate it all yet...