Orissa- A Travelogue

Orissa?...but why?..of all the places in world why Orissa?...

I was wondering why my colleague wanted to visit Bhubaneshwar .He wanted to write some exam and wanted me to tag along with him on the trip.Even befire he came with valid acceptable lie to drag me along i gave my last and final verdict. "No Way"..You dont expect a guy of my calibre who has Phd in Laziness and Inertia to sweat on sundays in some Place whcih i know nothing of ., either language or anything and morever Naxalites and other anti social elemnts are pretty much active these days in those parts.
"No way" i told again before he could reason with me again..as i closed my eyes again n trying to re enter into my dream world







But this Ashish the Bihari babu is pretty stubborn.Qucikly he opened Google, Wikipedia and zeroed on Orissa Tourism site,
He was bent on pulling me out of my slumber.He started shooting marathon excuses on Why i should go along with him...

In Oirssa , they speak Oriya exclaimed Ashish

Without even opening my eyes i blurted out "So what ??"

He countered"You can understand Oriya culture better if yiou know oriya and we can get to understand oriya gals better"

Yawn..I didnt bother answering, i just covered my face with Robertludlum Bourneys Supremacy ., Anyway you dont need to know language to win a gal

"How about Temples??Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa, is also popularly known as the "Temple City of India"

Hmm..Iam Agnostic and Non Ritualistic i answered

How about many green botanical parks? He questioned

I love greenary and natural wildernes not clean n green parks,.Morever Parks are for couples and iam Overtly and Covertly Single.,Though in my dreams iam linked to Katie Holmes and engauged to Ana Ivonovic in my hyper sense of imagination.







He , relenlessly took another swipe at me " Imagine the local cuisine , When was the last time u experumented the food beyond Andhra food?..Now he touched my heart ., he knows what a big foodie iam ...but still ...hmm...maybe or may not be ..,,reason not convincing enough

No Way ,,,is my answer still ..now and forvere .Once i give word ., its like being etched on stone.No force can change it

Books and Nature are always my 1st and ever lasting love being Food comming next in series,He knew it.
He pushed his final arguemnt"How about visting Historical locations on mountanoius region in Kalinga ??...""








Even before He completed the sentence i was in train to bhubneswar mentally watching the scene that i have seen million times in past.Its from movie" Asoka " by Sharukh khan.The encounter betwen Sharukkhan and Kareena kapoor.

""Kareena Kapoor:Kshrtraiya hu ..mar javogi (Iam warrior ...You will be dead)

Sharukkhan:Margyaa (Iam dead)""


This one dialgue is my favourite., i might have seen it in youtube million times..It maybe the effect of Asoka the historical king or Sharukhkhan the history maker on me,But King Ashoka is a facsinating character.No king has ever given up war and conquest when he was at peak of his power n energy in the world and embraced Buddhism ..As HGWells , a biritsh author says ..

"In the history of the world there have been thousands of kings and emperors who called themselves 'their highnesses,' 'their majesties,' and 'their exalted majesties' and so on. They shone for a brief moment, and as quickly disappeared. But Ashoka shines and shines brightly like a bright star, even unto this day."






King Ashoka is said to be ChandiAskoha meaning "Terrible Ashoka" as he had unquenchable thirst for war and conquest.His territorioes spread as far as Afgnanistan .He brutally massacred all the claimants to throne which legend says he kiled 100 of his own brothers .whatever maybe the case .. Kalinga war was turning point of his life.Kalinga now in Orisa put a stiff resistence to Ashoka forces but was finally defeated .Entire Kalinga was razed to ground.Thousands killed and many more thousands deported.The River Dhuavathi turmed red with blood of killed .The sight of massacre created a sesmic change in Ashoka heart and attituide towards war whereby He immeduately gave up war and promoted peace and Buddhism




Photos:

Stupa built by a Japanese govt overlooking Dhulavathi river where Kalinga wart was fought

Buddhist relics in State Museum