The Discovery Of India

Image by sreeji.. via Flickr

The land which Goddess Samaleshwari looks after, the land of diamond trade then and now land of the black gold trade.. we can put in lot of sobriquets to this city in western Orissa but none of those will strike as truth once you step into the city of Sambalpur. This dry city with dust laden roads, rickshaw walahs, cows and cyclists jostling with the motorcycles and cars, small shops which are also covered with dust, the biggest shopping complex only big by virtue of building but also a collection of small shops, a whole array of hotels, Indian, Chinese, Continental et al which leave you wondering whether these guys know what they have written! This was my first impression anyway.

I reached Sambalpur in hot time of the day, and before I knew I slept off. Inside the hotel itself, I got my first jolt,, there was no coverage for vodafone. Only my trusted air-tel was showing range. After getting up in late at night, I started out. Eight O'clock in the night, the city was still bustling which is a good sign because many good cities start putting half shutters by that time. I decided to try out some food, and I had seen some real good signs on the hotels in afternoon. Hotel Saket had an adjoining fast food joint, pizzas and burgers were written, and photos also showed good ones. I went inside and ordered a paneer pizza and a coke. No coke, sir. (Oops, Sambalpur doesn't have coke at all, not in this hotel, not anywhere else) Ok, then Thumps Up. And I started my wait. There came a Muslim couple(a really good looking girl) and another typical Oriya couple. Was I in a metro? I was ruminating on the people outside. All the guys had a typical attire, low waist jeans with fancy embroidery and even the older generation were wearing jeans itself. The girls were wearing mixed wears, couldn't point out anything special but then it was either modern wear or traditional Punjabi's. I was waiting to see typical oriya design sarees and dressing. By that time, my pizza came – a mass of mayonnaise and fried paneer mixed on top of an old bread whose crust was not made proper. Well, so much for junk food. I somehow finished my stuff and went off. I walked on marking out a levi's store and couple of other branded stores. I will check them out later but I couldn't find the sambalpuri sarees which I was looking for. At the end of the road, I found a South Indian restaurant, established in 1956! I loved it. I shall eat there tomorrow. That was enough for the day, time to go to bed, I had come for work not sight seeing. It was 930 and still the city was alive.

Next day, I had to go to Bhushan Steel plant, which was near to Jharsuguda. That was nearly 50 km from here. I took a bus and the half of that was filled with Bhushan employees itself. In the evening, I again started out. This time first to the South Indian restaurant. I had dosa, but then it was all customized for Oriya taste. Not good for a South Indian. After that, I started my exploring again. This time I was into the main area. There were laptop/computer houses and a multitude of gadget houses for the men and women together. All were small houses, just not big enough to make a statement for these big brands. I saw it after a few more hours. It was the people! Oriya people were simple to the core. The public were not flashy, but not hiding also. They were truly down to earth. A guy who sat next to me took my number and offered me any help at BBS. Another guy was impressed just by the fact that I am from Kerala and more by the fact that I am an engineer. A small help will fetch you a friend. Only I couldn't gage whether this would be for life or their memory will be less. I could see one thing, the people were true, had very little haughtiness and had humility as humanly possible.

I had looked for the Oriya design sarees and saw a huge variety. There was a mix of Odissi and Bengali designs. The sequence laden sarees and the colorful designs were truly exotic. The ladies were also beautiful. I would say they had an earthy look. With all the short blouses and other designs which I can't name but surely caught my eye, the ladies of Orissa will find a million mention in any fashion magazine. I decided I will buy one Saree but that was one thing that eluded me. I couldn't find a shop which proclaimed ethinic sarees inside :). I searched a bit. I didn't get any luck except in a Oriya hand loom Saree house which had Bomkeri design sarees. There was not much selection. So I left it. That night also came to an end.

The eve of Durga puja was grand day in Sambalpur. The whole street was laden with lights and pandals. The people were enjoying with their families. There was many new cars and bikes on road. The glitter of the city in the evening sharply contrasted the dreary look in the daytime. I walked along the streets savoring the pandals and paraphernalia. This was my second Durga puja in the east, but as with the last time. I had to move on, just before the ninth day of Navrathri. Twice shy of the target.

The end came abruptly as I had a certain tryst with destiny. On that eventful day, I was there in the temple of Lord Jagganath of Puri! The unstoppable, all powerful God, the parabrahm of Lord Krishna, the lord who will grant all your wishes! I have a story to tell, my friends. Words are yours, story is mine, and in the end we all live for one another!

So in the end I had to cut short my exploration and start my travel back to Kochi! Before that, my tryst with Puri Jagganath.

Labels: Durga Puja, Hinduism, India, Orissa, Sambalpur

# posted by Rajasekhar @ 10:05 AM