Chilika-A bird’s view

Do you ever feel the need to be just lost in a vast expanse , to sit and just retrospect about your own place in the huge universe? If yes, then Chilika lake is one such place whose limitless water will make you feel insignificant and little in the oscillating world of sorrow and happiness .

Chilika boathouse 

Nestled between the districts of Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha this lake boasts of being the largest coastal lagoon of India and second only to The New Caledonian Barrier Reef in the world. It is also the largest wintering ground for more than 16- species of migratory birds on the Indian sub-continent.

This January I marked my calendar for a trip to Bhubaneshwar and Chilika with my parents. I  regret to say that this was my first visit to this beautiful place even though I am a resident of Odisha for the last 24 years and one of my best friend’s native town is Chilika.

There are several routes to reach Chilika. Several trains run from both Bhubaneshwar and Puri to Chilika. We took a morning train to Chilika from Bhubaneshwar and reached Balugaon by 10 am, booked a local auto  and headed to the boat house at Chilika lake.

It is a 1-1.5 hour boat ride across the Chilka lake to Kalijai Mandir. And there are several boats to take you across. The boats usually stay at the mandir for around 20 mins which is enough time to explore the temple and have a darshan.

There are a great many fables, folklores and mysteries surrounding this temple but I am sharing the one that I read in an odia poem by Godavarish Mishra in my school days. Goddess Kalijai is actually Mata Kali. As the folkore goes, JAI was a young girl who was being taken by her father on a boat to her in-law’s house after marriage which was across the Chilka lake. Their boat capsized due to a strong whirlpool in the lake and they drowned. But even after this mishap, the voice of JAI could be heard and the local people started believing that JAI had reincarnated into Goddess Kali and started worshipping her. Other accounts suggest that the temple was built in 1717 by King Jagannath Mansingh of the kingdom of Bankud, present day Banapur.

The ride to the temple is relaxing and soul-enriching. The freshness of the air and the scenic beauty engulfs you into a frenzy of delightful calmness. The boat ride is as good a place as any to sharpen your photography skills. We were hoping to see some famous Irawaddy dolphins but we were of no luck. Travel tip:- Travel to Satapada lake from Puri if you want to see dolphins. As you start getting near to the temple, you can see beautiful migratory birds swarming around the temple. Birds like flamingos , sea eagles etc will grace your eyes and their effortless glide into the sunshine will mesmerize your soul.

Approaching Kaljai temple

Life in the lake

After reaching the temple, we finished a quick darshan and captured some amazing clicks of the beautifully serene sights beholding us. Do drop in a coin in the temple’s wish box for any unfulfilled desires.

The burden of a barrage of prayers-Kalijai temple

Wish box-Kalijai temple

The ride back to the shore was equally pleasant. We headed straight for lunch to the famous Chilika Dhaba. I was pining for some tasty crabs and tiger prawns since these are extensively exported from Chilika. Due to unavailability of tiger prawns, we ordered crab and prawns curry which were lip-smackingly delicious. The service staff of this dhaba are courteous although there is much to be desired in the ambience.

Sea-food love – Chilika Dhaba

We caught the late afternoon train back to Bhubaneswar the same day. And thus, came an end to a glorious day spent admiring nature at its best and treating our taste buds. This place has a lot of potential for development on the tourism front and hopefully the government capitalizes its potential and makes this place wondrous and more tourist friendly while at the same time taking measures to safeguard the avi-fauna and wildlife which reside in the lake.

Straight out of a dream-Queen of hill stations, Ooty

Well if you are trying to find heaven on earth, look no further than Ooty. Ooty or Udagamandalam (also called Ootacamund) is a town in Tamil Nadu which is located 86 km from Coimbatore and 277.8 km from Bangalore. This January I had an opportunity to visit this beautiful place. Although, the best time to go to Ooty is summer but we wanted to have the winter feels since winter is hard to come by in Visakhapatnam where I reside. This post will feature a review of my Ooty trip as well as be a fashion guide. Now I am not claiming to be a fashion guru. But I will just share what I wore throughout the trip.

We decided to take a road trip from Bengaluru via Mysore. We started from Bengaluru in the middle of the night.Our first pit stop was Mysore Palace which is the royal palace of Wadiyar dynasty. It truly looks majestic at night. I was all in for tres-passing and going inside the barricaded portions but thankfully my friends put some sense in my brain.

Night view of Mysore Palace.

We reached Ooty in the morning.The first place we witnessed in Ooty was the tea-garden. I would recommend this place to all nature lovers. The serenity and the luscious green surroundings will put you in a trance for sure. The most amazing thing about these gardens are the fact that you can see green gardens blending into the blue sky seamlessly. It seems like the beautiful green gardens just transcend into the blue sky. Being from a humid area like Visakhapatnam , I hardly ever get the chance to wear winter clothes. But finally I got the chance to sport this leather jacket look. This black leather jacket is from FabAlley and it is sure to be quite a valuable and useful addition to your closet.

Ooty tea gardens

Our next stop was Pykara lake. This place left me spellbound. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that I could witness something so beautiful. This lake and waterfall is an amalgamation of a plethora of colors. It feels unbelievable that this place is a part of India.

Pykara Lake

After this we finally reached our hotel -Two Seas Residence around 2 pm . Nice hotel with a duplex room. After taking rest for the afternoon we headed to the Botanical gardens which has an explicit collection of flowering trees, beautiful shrubs, a lotus-adorned pool and well maintained green lawns. It’s a picturesque scene and the best place for lovers. And speaking of love, what color would symbolize the emotion better than Red. This red cardigan coupled with black jeans and sport shoes does help me add more colors to the already colourful garden. If you visit this garden make sure to see the cool India map shaped shrub arrangement.

Government Botanical Gardens

Day 2 in Ooty was initiated with a trip to Doddabetta Peak. The place looks straight out of a sci-fi movie. You can witness an aerial view of the entire hill-station. I would suggest going to this place early in the morning as that’s the time you can actually see why this place is compared to heaven. Another spectacular tourist spot of this place is surely the Ooty lake boating house. The serene lake nestled between greenery is the perfect spot for a group outing of boating. I would also like to recommend buying fresh mouth-watering carrots, lichis and strawberries from this place.

Ooty Lake

Another place worth-visiting in Ooty is Avalanche lake but it was a disappointment. Firstly, because we were not able to find the exact route leading to it and secondly because by the time we reached, the place was closed. It’s far off from the city and the confusing uphill journey to reach this place is definitely not worth it. My outfit for the day is one of my favourites. This check skirt coupled with white top and leather jacket does give you a hilly feel. The Government Rose garden is also worth a visit but I felt it could be a bit more maintained.

The second day evening was devoted to the tea factory. I would highly recommend buying the white tea, tea tree oil and lots of chocolates from this place. This place has a courier service too and you can order your favourite goods later also.

And with this culminated our enthralling experience in Ooty. This place is a bit over-crowded during summers so it’s a good option to visit this place in winters.

My thoughts on Kangana starrer Simran

And I thought Queen was the best Kangana has got!

This flick is totally hers. She ruled it. All the drama about Kangana-Hrithik controversy saga that shrouded the movie actually should have been avoided. The movie has the potential to succeed on its own.

Hansal Mehta’s refreshingly fresh plot revolves around the life of 30-year old divorcee Praful Patel (A.K.A Praf ) who works as a hotel maid (oops housekeeping department ) to save up enough money for buying her dream house so that she can move out of her over-bearing father’s house. Twist arrives when she is invited by her cousin to Las Vegas for her bachelorette party ( read her last fling with her ex-boyfriend) and gets addicted to gambling. After a first day of beginner’s luck , she ends up getting addicted and losing all her life-savings.  She then falls into the trap of private money-lenders . what ensues is falling into the world of bank robberies and the world of crimes.

The movie touches upon a lot of poignant issues. It gives us a picture of the lives of the typical Indian immigrants in US who didn.t quite live up to the “American dream”. It is the opposite of your typical Karan Johar movie families . The character of Praf makes you love her even when she is on a morally shakeable ground. She is an independent woman who just wants to fly. She nailed the knack of speaking English with a subtle touch of Gujarati accent . Miss Anushka Sharma – you should take tips from Kangana on how not to stereotype a Gujju accent.

But apart from giving all due credit to Kangana, the movie falters in other areas. The supporting cast cannot shine or even make their presence felt with Kangana in the frame. Hence, it makes the viewer feel disconnected and disinvested in anything apart from Kangana ! This movie is worth a one-time watch just for the sake of seeing Kangana’s in-the-skin acting .

My review of Whiplash

It can be best described as a battleground of music. It was totally intense and thrilling. I never imagined that I would be chewing my nails while watching a movie about musicians. Teller plays the character of Andrew Neiman, a musical prodigy who is taken under the wing of ace music conductor Terence Fletcher ( Simmons). What ensues is totally a gripping tale of how a musical prodigy transitions into a total PRO!

While J K Simmon’s unconventional training methods are a little scary ( I mean he threw a fucking chair at the poor guy !) , but he acts flawlessly. The scene where he slaps his pupils for not getting the exact tempo he desires was absolutely breath-taking. We all believe that the world of music is this soothing universe where the calm and composed thrive. But this movie introduces us to a world that has the same amount of stress as any other job in this world. The movie was able to successfully give me an epiphany - pushing someone to their breaking point just so they could achieve greatness. That last scene where the teacher and student smile at each other was actually a smile of utter contentment!

J K Simmons truly deserved that Oscar. The man is one brave actor. He makes you empathize with his not-so-lovely character. He is fierce and totally unstoppable. He pushes Teller’s character right to the edge and completely toys with him. But what absolutely floored me was Teller’s character. He gives the exact amount of expressions – not more, not less. His performance deserved more recognitions and appraisals.

And this movie actually gave me some insight into the music world. I had the misconception that some great music legends were child prodigies and would have had an easy time making it big. But the amount of practice and stress that goes into the job is insurmountable. But what I realized is that only at your breaking point, can you truly achieve what is called as greatness. You can rise above your inhibitions, break free every bondage that ties you and truly FLY!