Puri - V: The Conclusion

So, finally it has arrived! The final installment of the Puri series! Enjoy:

[ Catch previous episodes at: Part - 1, Part - II, Part - 3 and Part - Four ]

Puri - V: The Conclusion

(Part 4 and part 5 - Written by Harsh Sheth with additional inputs by Sridhar Vedula)

We had reached Cuttack and it was the day of Dusshera!! So, after taking some rest Principal Sir told us to get ready for the Cuttack Dusshera Mela which is famous all over India. Everybody boarded the bus in an hour and then we headed to enjoy the Mela. As we reached the city, driver bhaiya took us to a place from where the Mela started. We got off the bus and saw a massive mob of people in the Mela and from here we went in chunks and started enjoying in the Mela. I remember that all the boys were together till the end. Lokendra and I bought some pellets for our mausers (Harsh’s was broken, unfortunately, so he was just looking at us disappointed :P). After few hours we came back to the guest house for dinner and night stay. Can’t say about girls’ room but ours was very small and smelling very bad as well, so we boys decided to sleep on the terrace. We asked the owner to arrange Gaddas and Takias on terrace. After a few hours of usual routine night time chit-chat and fun we started falling to sleep one by one. Weather was awesome and it seemed as if winter had started knocking on the doors. But it got soooooo damn chilly in the night that it felt as if our bones were going to freeze! Everyone were curled up in their flimsy chaddars trying to save themselves from the chills.

All the boys woke up around at same time early in the morning. Deep was the last to wake up. By the time he woke up we were already in our masti mood and were cracking jokes and having fun in the half-woken state, when we suddenly noticed something unusual with Deep. He was there sitting just woken up, still trying to wrap the chaddar around him. But he was not alone in the chaddar!! We saw a dog coming out of Deep’s chaddar!! Everybody were shocked to see that, and Deep said “abe, yeh kahan se aaya be????” We all started rolling on the floor laughing! hahahahaha... Deep was more shocked than us that a dog slept in his chaddar and he didn’t even notice. The dog graciously stretched it's legs & body and ran towards the stairs as if nothing was unusual for it. It seemed that the dog surely had a good night's sleep :D

The scene was really a great one and I still remember the shocked face of Deep. Everybody now had got enough reason to tease him all day.

We all assembled in an open area downstairs. I remember after having bath early in the morning we boys were in a dilemma which I shall not disclose (:P) and then I came up with an idea which helped us a lot. Me, Nikesh and Lokendra went on the roof of our bus and fixed each and every piece on place carefully. (Boyzzzzzzzz yaad hai na kya rakha tha rassiyon mein phasa kar?? ;-))

Now we had to leave Cuttack, following state highway towards Hirakud Dam which is built on Mahanadi River. Everybody were on the bus again after having the breakfast.

It was again a pleasant start of the journey, everyone were busy with themselves and we were told that there will be a halt at Kalinga, and from there we will move towards the Hirakud dam. On the way to Kalinga the highway was fully accompanied by greenery on the both sides. Wherever you look you would find trees and trees and more trees. Nikesh, Vivek Sir and Deep were busy playing cards. Class 11th batch was busy in listening to music, some of girls were taking power naps and once again I, Harsh and Nishant opened the emergency window (not for firing this time!) This time for having fun with the people passing by. We messed around with an uncle on a scooter. We were waving at him and he looked at us as if he was trying to remember if he knew us. We started waving even more to confuse him. He even asked an aunty who was sitting on the back seat. We were smirking at his confused looks. He was continuously with us for almost half an hour. We waved a final goodbye to him when our ways parted. After few hours we reached Kalinga.

While walking the zigzag path covering a mountain we saw a Budhha Temple which was constructed there. From there if you look down you would see a big even ground where King Ashoka fought his last battle. All of us visited the temple and while returning we found some peddlers outside the temple selling cashew nuts. Few of us started asking rates of different variety of the cashews when Nikesh told us that the cashews are nakli (duplicate) that’s why they are selling it in very low price. I don’t know if he was correct. We just walked away from there. We changed our mood and started walking towards the bus. While returning me and Harsh saw Meenal, Esha and Bosu standing near a rock and discussing something in a very serious tone. We were concerned about what happened so we asked what was wrong. We came to know that they found red marks on the rock which they suspected to be blood marks, that too from Ashoka’s time. On one go it really looked like blood but then we noticed that the color of the soil was slightly red and it could be the reason for the red marks. We laughed at our stupidity and returned to bus. Now the journey starts from Kalinga to Hirakud Dam.

Everyone were so quiet because we had used almost 90% of the whole energy till Nandan Kanan and after that we all were utilizing the remaining 10% very cautiously. We were spending the time playing Antakshri (Girls v/s Boys; with the universal result DRAW), sometimes listening to songs of "Peechli Gali ke Ladke" and some of us spent the time by sleeping or playing cards.

Finally, we were about to reach Hirakud Dam in the evening, when I was sitting at the window seat, suddenly all of us bounced up and fell back on the seats! I tried to understand the reason of it and what exactly happened and I saw a huge pothole on the road which the bus had crossed in it’s usual speed. I am not able to recall who but there was someone whose head had hit the luggage rack above the seats. All of us were disoriented because of that sudden tossing. After few minutes when everything was settled we saw an awesome scene! It looked like we were witnessing the God's beauty called Nature. We were crossing the Hirakud dam with so much water on one side. It looked serene. We moved ahead towards Govt’s Tourist place. The place was equipped with all the facilities like Restaurant, Rooms, Snacks bar and a view point from where you can adore the Divine Nature.

As usual, everybody scattered around in small groups and started wandering here and there when Principal Sir called everybody and he took us to a museum where we came to know about the simplicity and beauty of people from Orissa. Nice moving sculptures wearing local traditional dresses, doing daily routine tasks like harvesting and related work. After getting to know about the traditional things about Orissa, we came outside and started hovering around as per our normal routine during the trip. We roamed almost aimlessly for about half an hour, then I with Nikesh, Harsh and Nishant went to have samosas from the snacks bar. After enjoying for few hours it was finally time to start our journey towards our home, i.e., Bilaspur.

The road which we came through to Hirakud dam had Gaddhe hi Gaddhe all over. While driving on this road you will enjoy dust and nothing else. We started from the dam towards the main city from where we moved towards Raipur. Now that same big pothole came again and it again tossed everyone around in the bus. But this time we were ready for it and enjoyed it, but there was a change with the tossing around. Because of the impact of the jerk the glass pane of the window of the Meenal’s and Esha’s seat came out it's grooves and landed inside the bus. One by one all the boys tried fixing it back in the window but with no success. Even the driver tried later doing the same exercise with no result. Finally we placed the glass safely on the last seat. Meenal and Esha were not able to tolerate sitting on that seat anymore because of cool aandhi type wind blowing inside from the open window. Then I and Harsh tried to show some of our 'heroics' and exchanged our seat with them. But.....................

With every passing second we were cursing ourselves for trying to show the unnecessary heroism. The percentage of cold in the wind was increasing as if were were heading towards Kashmir. We tried covering the window by the using towels as curtains but they were getting blown away due to the sheer speed of the wind coming from the window. Slowly slowly me and Harsh started shivering because of cool waves but still we were quietly bearing it. A disastrous step for us to choose. Then someone helped us by giving a shawl to cover us up due to which we really got some sort of relief. Then while sleeping, as if God himself gave me divyadrishti, I turned around and saw an empty seat next to Nikesh. This was like a life saver for us. I asked Harsh to go and sleep there for couple of hours and then we switched the seats in regular intervals. This method helped me and Harsh to cope up with the broken window. But the decision of showing heroic skills actually turned against us in catastrophic manner. Subah tak haalat kharab ho chuki thi :P

Early in the morning even before dawn some of us woke up we requested driver bhaiya to stop the bus so that we can get ourselves a little freshened up. We stopped at a Dhaba between Raipur and Bilaspur, not for food refreshment, but for natural refreshment. Even here at the last stage with exhausted states and at this odd hour we were cracking jokes and having fun in our own way. Nikesh started singing the song “Chhote chhote gaiyya, chhote chhote gwaal.. Chhoto so! Chhoto so! Chhoto so mero Madan Gopal!” This not only set us up in cheerful mood again but it also made Principal Sir so happy that he also started singing with us! “Kyu bhaeee Nikesh, achchha ga lete ho bhaeee!?” :P

Finally we were back to from where we started. Bilaspur. The bus dropped everyone to there respective drop points one by one. Everyone walked to their homes. After a whole week being away from the home everyone were happy while going home. But there was some disappointment too. Disappointment that it ended too soon. Hearts were heavy for being going away from the friends with whom we were 24x7 for whole week. Friends, many of whom were just acquaintances before the trip. You know it was kind of funny too because all of us were going to meet everyone else in the school the next day! Hahaha... But still, the feeling that such a fun-filled trip had ended was there.

Writer's note: For me this trip turned as my life’s greatest memory. When it started I was a newbie and apart from Harsh, Nikesh, Deep and Nishant I was not friend with anyone. But at the end Kuch khaas dost dil mein jagah kar gaye...  -Sridhar


Editor's note: I completely agree with my friend Sridhar. This trip changed the dynamics of our friendships very much. I made new friends from Class XI. So many memories about the trip. It was an event of a lifetime. Even though the picture might be not so clear as time passes but I don't think we will ever forget this trip. This trip comes only second to another unforgettable experience we have had: Jabalpur. Let's hope I don't get lazy again ;)

Thank you for reading. Please do leave comments [good or bad, any will do :)]


-It's Me, Harsh (with Sridhar Vedula)