Bhubaneswar « What Ho!

12Apr/090

Gangtok Trip – Day 2 – Odissa

April 12, 2009, Day 2, 11.00 am, Odissa:

We arrived in Bhubaneswar almost on time. My parents have come to the station with lunch and I am sure Odiya sweets. My mother only has sweet teeth, not just a sweet tooth! My mother-in-law was also there with upma, allu chop (another Odiya invention the marathis stole and renamed Vada, as in vada-pao) and mallai chop, a sweet made with cottage cheese like most other Odiya sweets.

The bengalis also have a liking for sweets but they don't have a culinary tradition like the Odiyas. Rassagollas for example were first cooked in the city of Puri almost a thousand years ago. Odissa has a culinary tradition as old as the land, going back to the days of Ashoka and beyond. There is mention of Kalinga in the Ramayana. Indonesia and other parts of South East Asia were settled by Odiya traders sailing with the Monsoons.

The kids have munched through most of the food my mother-in-law had brought. No dent in the supplies from my parents yet. Maybe in another hour or so. After that crash off the few hours it will take to reach Calcutta.

Tagged as: Bhubaneswar, Gangtok, Mother, Odissa, Train, Vacation No Comments

11Apr/090

Gangtok Visit – Day 1 (cont)

April 11, 2009, 9.15 pm:

Settled down for the night. I managed to get hold of two berths in the coupe next to ours that Padmaja and Bablu were to take. Bablu wanted the upper berth because Mamli had one. And there we were trying to convince hiim that the lower ones were actually nicer. While I was busy fighting this losing battle with the grim determination of a parent who knows that parents are always right, Padmaja convinced the other gentleman in our coupe to take the one next door. Parent child problem solved. Bablu got his upper berth. Yes I know! Parents do know best, particularly when the other parent can be handed any blame forthcoming from decisions taken.

I am lying in my bunk (upper) typing this out on my Sony Ericsson P1i. I think we are running about an hour late. The driver might make up lost time during the night when there are few stops.

I am living up to my stated intention of not letting any food vendor pass by without sampling his wares. That's part of the fun of traveling by train across India. Tomorrow morning will bring the snacks of Southern Odissa, which will give way to the milk and cheese of eastern Odissa which in turn will give way to the popped rice snacks of southern Bengal. And of course we are all looking forward to sampling the gastronomic delights expected of Gangtok with it's Tibetan and Chinese influence to enhance the Sikkim cuisine.

We have also placed orders with our parents for our favourite snacks. I don't think we need to order anything for lunch. Not with the food packages I expect to see tomorrow at Bhubaneswar station, courtesy our parents. Parents always seem to think that they know best about what their child, no matter how old, should eat. And how much.

Will write again tomorrow.

Tagged as: Bablu, Bengal, Bhubaneswar, Gangtok, India, Mamli, Odissa, Padmaja, Sikkim Tourism, Train, Vacation No Comments

11Apr/091

On The Way to Gangtok (Day 1)

April 11, 2009, 5.15 pm - Gangtok Trip

Padmaja, Durgesh Nandini (Mamli), Jyotiraditya (Bablu) and I are sitting in the 2nd AC coach of Falaknuma Express on our way to Calcutta. The train left Secunderabad Station at 4.00 pm. We will arrive tomorrow evening about 5.45 pm, and stay overnight with my fourth maternal uncle, Shri Rebati Ranjan Dash and aunt, Mrs. Bandana Dash. My uncle is the head of LIC East Zone.

Some shopping in Gariahat and The Esplanade, may be a visit to the Victoria Memorial before we catch the Darjeeling Express from Sealdah Station in Calcutta to arrive in New Jalpaiguri early Tuesday morning. Then a cab to Gangtok, a distance of about 150 kms. I am told this journey is very scenic and will take about 6 hours.

We will stay at Mingtokling Guest house (found and booked on the internet) doing the rounds of the local tourist attractions till Saturday, April 18, when we will retrace our steps to Calcutta via New Jalpaiguri. Then on to Bhubaneswar by Puri Express on Sunday night.. A week in Bhubaneswar before Padmaja and I return to Hyderabad on Apr 26. The kids will stay with their grand parents for a couple of weeks more before retuning to Hyderabad with my in-laws in mid May.

That's the whole vacation plan.

We started planning this in Jan 2009. In fact today's train tickets were purchased on Jan 15, 2009, only 4 days after the reservation window opened 90 days prior to the date of journey and we still got lousy berths. Anyway that should be resolved as soon as the TTE completes the RAC assignments. It is just a question of shifting berths around so that our 4 berths are together.

I intend to post regularly during this vacation. Gangtok, here we come!

Tagged as: Bablu, Bhubaneswar, Books, Gangtok, Hyderabad, Internet, Mamli, Padmaja, Shopping, Train, Vacation 1 Comment

14May/080

Bablu and the Bobbing Man – Bhubaneswar

During our recent trip to Bhubaneswar, Padmaja, my mother-in-law, Mamli, Bablu & I went shopping to the Bapuji Nagar market. Padmaja wanted to visit the new Kolkata Bazar.

While the ladies were busy shopping Bablu and I walked around the store. Bablu was checking out the toys and I the girls

Anyway, Bablu found the bobbing man toys but was rather skeptical initially. He had never seen one before and took a lot of encouragement to approach it. He soon out how much fun they were

Click for full size image

Tagged as: Bablu, Bazar, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata Bazar, Toys No Comments

1May/080

Bhubaneswar Trip – Flight from Hyderabad

Padmaja and I are booked on the Indigo flight to Bhubaneswar. The flight will depart from the new airport in Samshabad. I had done some research on available conveyance and have made a couple of posts on the subject.

We decided to take the special airport shuttle service from Begumpet. Our flight is at 4 pm and the shuttle takes an hour. We left home at 1 pm and took an autorickshaw to Paryatak Bhavan, Begumpet. The auto ride from Srinagar Colony took 15 mins via Panjagutta. I had to tell the auto-walla to take the Panjagutta route and not the Ameerpet one. The Greenlands area has a number of traffic restrictions and this is the best approach route.

Ticketing was straight forward. Two ladies man a desk in the ground floor of Paryatak Bhavan and issue the tickets. Rs. 95/- each.

The bus has lots of luggage space and the attendents are a helpful lot. The A8C does not have much effect from the aircraft type vents above the seats. The bus left on time at 1.30 pm.

The drive to Samshabad took an hour.

The new airport is nice. Looks good with a number of conveniences like direct check in without having to run through a security scan first. But all this is marred by the people manning the airport. The same stupid rules, highhanded and rude security, clueless airport staff and uncoth co-passengers who refuse to respect queues.

We met Sandip Mishra and his family just before Padmaja and I went into the boarding zone. They too were traveling on our flight.

The prices at the coffee shops and fast food joints are atrocious, five or six times the rate I would expect to pay at a Hyderabad Mall.

The flight was packed. My aunt, sister-in-law and her two daughters were also on the flight was, having boarded at Bangalore. I spent most of the flight standing beside my aunt.

We reached Bhubaneswar at about 5.45. My mother and father-in-law came to pick us up. Baba left for Ranchi on an official visit earlier that day.