Konark Again

Konark Again

Orissa is one state which is attractive in many ways. Mostly, people visit it with a religious mindset to pay their obeisance to one of the sacred ‘dhams’ of Hinduism. Puri – one of the four sacred abodes (dham) comes first to the religious minded. They think that by visiting the temple of Lord Jagannatha, all their sins will vanish and it will ensure them a place in heaven. Beautiful fantasy that. Then there is the heritage factor for lesser mortals like me who are above the petty thoughts of religion. A wonderful idea that.

I like Orissa for the heritage and, above that, I find people of Orissa so full of honesty and decency. For a tourist the first measure of honesty of people at any destination is the behavior of taxi drivers. I have seen it a number of times that auto / taxi drivers in Orissa are not out there to fleece you. They will charge you reasonably and are generally polite and helpful. Orissa is very hot in summers but Gopalpur on Sea is a wonderful place to be in. I have been to this place a number of times.

The Black pagoda this time:

I last visited the Sun temple (the Black pagoda) in Jan 2015. It was under renovation. This time in Nov 2017. It remains still in scaffolds. In 2008 there was a heap of fallen stones on one side which now appears to have been restored. The ASI appears to be doing a nice work. It reminds me of Ta Prohm, Cambodia, where the ASI is doing excellent restoration job of the world heritage site.