Travel to Puri with Dida
It is said Puri Dhaam is the only dhaam of Kali Yug. It is one of the four most important places (dhaams) of worship for a Hindu. The other three being Dwarka, Badrinath and Rameshwaram. Puri dhaam is called the only dhaam of kali Yug - The myth goes like this - kali Yug started after the day Lord Krishna died. he was killed by a hunter with a blue stone, mistaking him for a deer. that blue stone was later swallowed by a fish and later it was found by a man. So Puri is also known as Neelachal and Lord Jagannath is also called Neel Madhav. That brilliance of that blue stone that brought this kali Jug cannot be witnessed by the human eye, so Neel Madhav asked the brahmin to worship it as Jagannath, Balaram, Subhadra and Chakra.
I have been to Puri 2-3times before. Last time I went there was in 2004-2005 with my parents, brother, thakuma (grandmother) and my boro masi and mesomosai along with two of my father's colleague (Saha kaku and Chandan kaku) and their families. This time, I had booked the ticket and planned the tour with the intention of taking my grandmother (dida) to Puri. She is above 85 and had broken her leg 2-3 years ago. So it was shocking for everyone concerned to even think of taking her to Puri in a long distance mail train. But I was determined and no matter what I am going to take her.
The tour was a grand success. We went to masir bari, took a sea bath twice and had Jagannath drshan twice along with dida in just 2 days. It was an absolute challenge to hold dida and make her climb those steep rock stairs and protect her from that maddening crowd of few hundread thousand people. We aimed to go to the temple at 4 am. And we did go at that time. But I must admit it was due to my parents, it was possible to take dida to the sanctum sanatorium.
The hotel Bhudevi wasn't as good as Bhajani, that we stayed last time, but we had to take it because it would have been impossible for dida to climb 3 storeys at Bhajani. But Bhudevi was on the temple road and near Bidesh Ghar (which once belonged to our relative, the Chatterjee's of Sorsuna) and both last time and this time I had chow min there. I wanted to eat those delicious and huge red sea crabs but couldn't.
I had a bundle of new 10 rupee notes, that I had withdrawn from the bank before the Haridwar-Yamunotri trip of 2015. I distributed it amongst the poor brothers at Puri temple. They were elated to see crispy new currency notes. One of them yelled in joy "korkorey tonka dichey rey". We also bought 2 kgs of Khaja. Dida gave me 1500 Rs and asked me to but blouse pieces for her daughters (3), daughter-in-law (1) and her brother's wife and also 1 kg khaja to distribute at Bhedia, and gifts for myself, my brother, my 2 cousin sisters, and 5 other girls who looked after her at Bhedia. I bought red stone necklaces for my 2 youngest cousin sisters and white pearl necklaces for the 5 girls. I bought wooden idols of the Lord Joggonath, Balaram and Subhadra for me and also for dida. Dida kept asking me if she needs to pay more, but I kept assuring her there is still unspent amount from the 1500 Rs she gave, but it goes without saying that amount had vanished quite a while ago. Last day I bought her 1 Kg Khaja (sweet made of flour n sugar syrup) and joked that I am going to eat all of that and she cannot give any to her son! She became emotional and sad and had tears in her eyes and said something in protest. Then I revealed that I was joking ha ha.
Our return journey was in a non AC sleeper train, but the journey was quite comfortable. A Poila Boisakh holiday well spent. We had hired kartik,s AC Swift dezire tour car, for our journey to Howrah Station and back. It was supremely comfortable. We would have taken the local train from Howrah Station to Rishra because it's quite empty at 5 am, but it would have been impossible for dida to do so.
I reached home and to my delight all the fishes in my aquarium were alive. they were quite hungry, no one fed them for 2 days, and a little sad, because no one interacted with them.
I have been to Puri 2-3times before. Last time I went there was in 2004-2005 with my parents, brother, thakuma (grandmother) and my boro masi and mesomosai along with two of my father's colleague (Saha kaku and Chandan kaku) and their families. This time, I had booked the ticket and planned the tour with the intention of taking my grandmother (dida) to Puri. She is above 85 and had broken her leg 2-3 years ago. So it was shocking for everyone concerned to even think of taking her to Puri in a long distance mail train. But I was determined and no matter what I am going to take her.
The tour was a grand success. We went to masir bari, took a sea bath twice and had Jagannath drshan twice along with dida in just 2 days. It was an absolute challenge to hold dida and make her climb those steep rock stairs and protect her from that maddening crowd of few hundread thousand people. We aimed to go to the temple at 4 am. And we did go at that time. But I must admit it was due to my parents, it was possible to take dida to the sanctum sanatorium.
The hotel Bhudevi wasn't as good as Bhajani, that we stayed last time, but we had to take it because it would have been impossible for dida to climb 3 storeys at Bhajani. But Bhudevi was on the temple road and near Bidesh Ghar (which once belonged to our relative, the Chatterjee's of Sorsuna) and both last time and this time I had chow min there. I wanted to eat those delicious and huge red sea crabs but couldn't.
I had a bundle of new 10 rupee notes, that I had withdrawn from the bank before the Haridwar-Yamunotri trip of 2015. I distributed it amongst the poor brothers at Puri temple. They were elated to see crispy new currency notes. One of them yelled in joy "korkorey tonka dichey rey". We also bought 2 kgs of Khaja. Dida gave me 1500 Rs and asked me to but blouse pieces for her daughters (3), daughter-in-law (1) and her brother's wife and also 1 kg khaja to distribute at Bhedia, and gifts for myself, my brother, my 2 cousin sisters, and 5 other girls who looked after her at Bhedia. I bought red stone necklaces for my 2 youngest cousin sisters and white pearl necklaces for the 5 girls. I bought wooden idols of the Lord Joggonath, Balaram and Subhadra for me and also for dida. Dida kept asking me if she needs to pay more, but I kept assuring her there is still unspent amount from the 1500 Rs she gave, but it goes without saying that amount had vanished quite a while ago. Last day I bought her 1 Kg Khaja (sweet made of flour n sugar syrup) and joked that I am going to eat all of that and she cannot give any to her son! She became emotional and sad and had tears in her eyes and said something in protest. Then I revealed that I was joking ha ha.
Our return journey was in a non AC sleeper train, but the journey was quite comfortable. A Poila Boisakh holiday well spent. We had hired kartik,s AC Swift dezire tour car, for our journey to Howrah Station and back. It was supremely comfortable. We would have taken the local train from Howrah Station to Rishra because it's quite empty at 5 am, but it would have been impossible for dida to do so.
I reached home and to my delight all the fishes in my aquarium were alive. they were quite hungry, no one fed them for 2 days, and a little sad, because no one interacted with them.
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