During the month of February, this year (2025), I went to Puri with my family. It was one of the pleasant experiences of my life if not the best experience. The trip was packed with cultural experiences, beach experiences, historical experiences and a lot more. A trip like this is not only refreshing but also enlightening towards our golden heritage.
The Plan
Puri is situated in the State of Orissa, in the surreal east coast of India. Since I live in central east of India, accessing Puri was rather easier for me. It was just an overnight journey via train hence, a prime location for our probable trip. Since it is a well-travelled destination, it is rather easy to book hotel online. We also booked a whole day trip to Chilika Lake, which is India’s largest lagoon. Booking the lake trip online through state government website was cheaper and convenient. With just this much preparation our happy trip began.
Lessons Learned
There is still cold in February where I live but when we entered Puri, it was evident that there is no cold, rather the fierce summer was already there. We arrived in the morning and after checking into our hotel and renting a Honda Activa scotty we started right away for the iconic Jaganath Temple. We knew it would be crowded, we just didn’t know how much on a Sunday. It was mighty crowded, and standing in the queue was made worse by the heat and the humidity. There was some respite from mechanical humidifier and fans, but it was not enough. The situation was tough but there was no lack of resolve in us especially considering the mighty importance of the temple we were in. We stayed in the queue for hours and were able to visit the gods. We entered in the queue around 10:30 AM and we came out around 6:00 PM, tired but satisfied with our mission accomplished. We returned to the same temple twice during the later part of our trip. Once in the evening and once in the early morning (4:30 AM). There was hardly any queue in the evening, and we were towards the head of the queue during our morning trip. As a result, during both these occasions, we had an easier time visiting the gods. It was a lesson learned for our future Puri trips: either visit the Puri Jagannath Temple in the evening or early morning.
Seafood and the Beaches
We were fascinated by the options of sea food available as street food in Puri. We wasted no time in jumping into some exotic sea foods which are generally not available in the place where we live. We started with deep fried crabs and tiger shrimps, there were the options of saltwater fishes such as pomfret, tuna and more. We started our beach adventure from the Puri beach, which was rather crowded though on a positive side, there were many street food options there.
Niladri beach (around 4 kms from the Puri beach) was a relaxing beach where we went in the morning. There were no shacks there, so we mostly walked. I love water; hence it was very satisfying experience for me.
Chilika Lake
I kept a whole day for Chilika Lake which is huge. We had booked the trip online through Orrisa Government’s tourism website. Bus and boat trip was included in the package. We had to board the bus around 6 in the morning at Panthnivas Puri (One can book offline, the same package from here). There was a stop for breakfast before boating and a stop for lunch after boating. The boat ride was for more than 3 hours in which we saw majestic lake, sea birds and dolphins. We had a stop on a beautiful island. Visiting Chilika through the package was significantly cheaper and safer than a private tour. The trip ended with a delicious fish lunch made with the local recipe.
Konark Sun Temple
Our final expedition was to Konark Sun Temple, a 13th century UNESCO world heritage site. A site around 40km from Puri which was easily accessible through our rental scotty. I was amazed at these ancient and yet intact sites. There was a beach called Chandrabhaga beach in Konark which is worth visiting. The path to Konark leads through a forest and driving though it was an exhilarating experience.
Disappointment
While the trip was satisfying, there were some disturbing elements to it and to be fair to the place, those are human size disappointments. The crowding and garbage at Puri Beach, plastic bags at beaches in and around Chilika Lake is truly disheartening and it makes me question if we really deserve these nature’s gems. On the island in Chilika Lake, there is no human population whatsoever, so all the plastic garbage left behind by the tourists will hardly be cleaned and hence it would keep accumulating there until this heaven turns into a hell. It would be nothing but a taste of our Karma if in future Puri or any other tourist place become garbage dumbs and thus denying us the beauty that nature has bestowed upon us.
A Final Remark
India is full of places which are nothing sort of heaven on Earth and Puri is one of such places. There are many places in Bhubaneshwar (the capital city of the state) which we had to miss due to heat and time crunch which I would defiantly want to explore in future, till then I will treasure the time I spend in the temple, in the beaches, on the boat in and around Puri for my wonderful trip to the Hindu Heritage land.
