Day 254 of Indian places making you smile – the simplicity of the Rural Kendrapara district
On the last day of our trip to Orissa, we got to see a rural side of the state that was not seen by many tourists. We had a long drive on the state highway and stopped only to buy the famous local Rasgollas that were made using jaggery and not sugar. We drove past the city of Cuttack and got to see and experience the simplicity of the neat, clean, green, unspoilt rural Orissa. At a point, we were driving alongside the branch of the Mahanadi river called Luna.
We stopped at a place called Ichhapur and visited the most important Baladeva temple, probably the only temple built in honour of Lord Krishna’s brother Balarama. However the main idol of the Lord was taken away to another location for a few days during the annual Rath Yatra festival. We visited the Mukti mantap, the Anada bazar, the Gaurang and Basudev temples. The area surrounding the temple is known as Tulasi kshetra and it is believed that this is the place where Lord Balaram got married. We sampled a variety of the tasty dishes that were offered to the Lord as part of the temple rituals.
We were extremely lucky to get a feel of what it was to live in rural Orissa. We drove still further into the village and visited the house of a local teacher, whose daughter’s wedding we had come to attend. We were charmed by their simplicity and their wonderful hospitality. We went back to the narrow yet lively village roads of the Kendrapara bus stand in search of an authentic local handloom emporium.
We then went for a walk through the greenery. These rural folk seemed to be so much at peace with themselves and the world as compared to the stress-filled faces of most of the urban people. And they are highly God-fearing in nature. I spoke to some of the ladies in the local temple, they were happy to see themselves in my digital camera. One of them was genuinely concerned why I was not wearing any bangles as they considered this as a very important symbol of being a married women. I hastily showed her my mangal-sutra and explained that this was what we in Karnataka consider as a marriage symbol.
I then realized how different this eastern state was from any of the south India states that I had visited before. In fact the diversity and uniqueness of India surprises me with new experiences at every nook and corner of India.
I have seen many North Indian and South Indian wedding processions where the groom’s parties arrive in style for the celebration. But in this remote Oriya village, I was surprised to see a row of bullock carts (yes bullock carts) and open tempos coming with the local youth dancing merrily to the loud blaring music. I obviously couldn’t understand the language, but I did see that these simple rural folk seemed to be having a time of their lives.
Even the Oriya wedding rituals were a long time consuming all night affair. I admired how each of the family of the five brothers considered this wedding of their brother’s daughter as their own. It was a pleasure to watch the co-sisters laughing and helping each other and the bride with the different aspects of make-up and other arrangements!
The bride and the groom made separate visits in and out of the wedding podium for the numerous separate rituals. The other guests were mostly bothered about enjoying their dinner. Finally after what seemed like ages to my sleepy eyes, the actual main wedding ceremonies took place like exchanging of garlands or tying the mangal-sutra or walking around the holy fire. At 3.am. in the morning the couple stood together posing for photographs with the huge joint family members.
We had spoken with many of the local people who had never traveled outside Orissa. I consider them as peaceful and blessed people. One thing that struck me most about the people of Orissa was their attitude of service. They always wanted to do their best for the guests who visited their state.
Thank you God for showing me people and places in this side of the world that inspire me just with their simplicity! I will always remember my memorable day in the interior rural part of Orissa!
So which Indian place made you smile today?
Please share your experience of Indian places that made you smile
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