A train journey to Bramhapur from Bhubaneswar is a true-blue Indian treat for the senses, although this treat may pan out to be slightly more unusual than you had imagined.
So you wake up one fine morning to catch an early train. You get yourself a window seat and wait for the journey to begin. The train starts to roll and you lean by the window to soak in some fresh, dewy morning air. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a strong, thick, retching odor of urine hits you.
And if you underestimate it as just a minor inconvenience, think again. Cause this isn't just some old, bad smell; it's that heavy-duty, pungent reek which has enough horse-power to knock a pair of iron lungs out, and if inhaled twice, could cure the worst case of consumption. Worst of all, this reek trails the train for atleast five minutes.
Anyways, a more welcoming treat is reserved for the senses of touch and taste once your reach Balugaon Station. There, towards the end of the platform, is a small stall that serves some of the most flavourful fritters. Pakodas, vegetable chops, black-lentil baraa, aloo chops (that's the way aloo bondas are known here), you name it.
Hot and tasty, their aroma will flush out any of those poisonous residual fumes that you might be carrying in your nasal cavity from that five-minute "passage through hell" near Bhubaneswar.
Similarly, there's the pure, rustic, cuss-ridden dialogue native to the people of this place, that does a good work of warming your ears, but more on that here.
And as for the eyes, few sights can match up to the beauty of Lake Chilika on a winter morning. When the sun rises and shines on the wide-spread vista of water, you would feel as if somebody has lain a huge mirror underneath the sky.
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| The calmest lake in the country |
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| Check out the dazzle off the lake's surface. |
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| Quoting S.T Coleridge-"A painted cloud on a painted sea" |
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| The mist adds to the mystery, and is half the charm of this snapshot. |