Traveling India From West-to-East (Part1) - BeingItinerant

Traveling is an obsession for some people. Isn't it...? Considerably a sort of mission... Wondering How?? Lets Check this story....

Google Map from Pune-to-Odisha Via Telangana State

This is my very first long road trip which I began with my family on 3-Oct-2021.

We had started early morning at around 06:30 from Hadapsar,Pune. And we drove  till Jajpur,Odisha (with intermittent stay in between) which is my Native place and even destination too.

This blog will describe all the close encounter which we had relished by India's unique Culture, Cuisine, heritage and the thrilling moments which had been experienced by us throughout our peregrination. So folks, to understand this journey, you need to adopt the mindset of Itinerant throughout the travel. So, with this lets begin our expedition of realizing the rapt feelings of VibrantIndia. 

Complex Beginning & Some Initial Training

Guys, very basic thing I want to put here is that, at this stage I was not very versed with driving. This was the period where my driving was not even at a very primary level. But still, I had an obsession of driving. Following which I had decided to buy one SUV based car. Indeed, learning drive from scratch & getting involved in a thrilling journey as such, that is also just in a 3-Month timeframe was truly a challenge for me. But there was a saying....A trap is only a trap if you don't know about it. If you know about it, it's a challenge. 

Harrier XZA+, Shot taken near Khopoli-Lonavala Ghat

Hence, to ramp up my learning fast I hired a dedicated trainer for around 10 days. Personal trainer had supervised me under various scenarios like - Day driving, Night driving, City driving and narrow road driving. During these training duration he had also accompanied me for few long drives of 200-300KM like Pune-Nashik, Pune-Aurangabad & Pune-Mumbai. And this was the time when I've started acquiring true confidence in my driving and finally my effort reaped into an intermediate category. I had nearly completed 3000KM of driving during my training period itself. Here, I also want to Vouch one thing about the importance of hiring right trainer. Right trainer will provide the right value for your money and save time too. 

Itinerary Planning

Planning an itinerary of such kind is not a very usual business for us. Our annual visit to my native land is always through flight. This time the decision of trying something unique was stems out of the curiosity. Firstly, I started googling out the known experiences of people who had tried such excursion. And I was extremely startled when I found there are people who had covered the entire mile on a bicycle during Covid lockdown. Also, I took reference of few vlogs from YouTube, where Bikers had also accomplished the same travel. Apart from these searches, I had also started exploring the maps beforehand for making me aware about all the pros & cons. 

Step1 - Identifying the route

Considering the fact about my newness towards driving. And also the feeling of traveling for very first time through unknown territories made me ponder hard mainly on identifying a safe and sound path. And I found route via Telangana & Andhra had been much secured in terms of safety, food, stay & road condition etc. The second toughest part here was to convince family member for such venturesome journey. So, long story short, they had also agreed finally with this proposal. And, also we've decided to strictly avoid any night driving. Throughout the trip we've decided to start at dawn and then take refuge before dusk. However, in reality there were a few deviations due to the factors which are not very much controllable.

Step2 - Analyzing Travel Essentials

Route & Road Conditions :- So, finally the route identified for our travel was through Telangana & Andhra.(Pune-Solapur-Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Rajahmundary-Vizag-Berhampur(Odisha)-Bhubneshwar-Jajpur(Native)). Our ride was not very aggressive, in fact we've planned to stay & enjoy sightseeing of famous locations/monuments emerging from the immemorial past, cultural styles, ancient authentic cuisines & of course shopping as well. So, the plan goes like this -

One important thing here is that, except Hyderabad Outer ring road all others roads are usually 2-Lane wide. Hence, aggressive/rash driving is not very much encouraged for these roads. Secondly, Current Government is taking immense interest in improvising existing road connectivity. During my travel on the identified route across West-to-East I found a lot of road work going on after every 70-80Km. The construction aims to ensure a seamless connectivity between state highway. Hopefully, you guys can enjoy this benefit in coming days if in case you wish to travel through the route mentioned here. 

Service Center, Tyre Pressure, Fuel & Tool Charges :- This is an extremely critical parameter while planning for a long drive. Wear & Tear of Car, Sufficient Fuel and Fastag with Sufficient Fund must be checked before driving the car into Highway. National highways has scarcity of these facilities; one has to travel long in highway to avail these services. Hence, it is wise enough to refill the fuel properly. Also, nowadays Government has enacted strict mandate to make FASTag mandatory, Fastag activation & recharge with sufficient amount is a mandatory requirement which should be done before entering into Highways. 

"Service Center" Essential here is to trace down the Authorized & Franchise service centers located on the selected route. If in case your Car broke down during travel you'll at least have some console. TATA Motors have well defined service location all over India. Also, TATA motors provide 24x7 Roadside assistant service. Though my car was new, it never went into carping mode, but I can share one instance during my return trip which showcase the promptness of TATA motors. While coming back my Android Auto Crashed and Navigation was completely stopped. However, in my next Halt at Vijaywada I had  coordinated with Nearest Tata Motors and they have provided me immediate help. The issue got resolved after restarting the car and also the USB cable I was using was not trustable. Hence, Service support team has suggested to replace the same before further journey.

"Tyre Pressure" Nowadays there are automated ways of monitoring tyre pressure via Pressure Sensor. I advise strongly to get this sensor installed on your Car. In my case this had been installed by TATA motors during car purchase, but for those who devoid with this functionality, they can always get these sensors fitted externally.   

"Fuel" The Car I was Owning, having an average mileage of 16Km/Liter and it runs on Diesel. My journey was about 2100Km. Hence the calculation of fuel expense was coming somewhere around ₹12-13K.

However, my actual expenditure was ₹11023/-. This was mainly because there were various other parameters too, which I felt had played an important role in saving my overall fuel expenditure, like - maintaining constant speed nearly 90-100Km/Hr. on an average. And also my intermittent halts in-between are very less or you can say it was planned well. Also, one important thing here, we luckily got some highway touch fuel stations where Diesel was quite cheaper as compared to my estimated price.

"Toll Charges" The estimated charges were of ₹2500/-. Refer the Toll charges details below which incurred by me during the journey. But the calculation was quite precise, which I had evaluated from the internet before the inception of this journey.

One marked with red above with Sr. No. 15 & 16 was actually a mistake. I had lost my focus from navigation due to busy chatting on one interesting topic, and this had resulted in detouring to a wrong route. It happens in a long-trip, where the person driving sometime loses the focus. Anyway, no one had taken this mistake seriously. And we continue driving towards our next destination.

Expecting the Unexpected :- Frankly speaking, it requires a lot of grit to stick with your plan, especially when you're travelling with family. We were 4 people - Me, My Mom-Dad, And a supporting driver for providing additional help if needed. Although everything was well planned, but still luggage packing was not much finalized till the end, and this has resulted in many additional bags, which had posed a problem for being fitted in the  boot space. And ultimately this had delayed our whole plan. So, the biggest lesson learned here is that to ensure smooth travel it is very imperative to being proactive in packing your belongings before Travel. Because such delays will also deteriorate the advantage of staying ahead of time.

However, there could be other factors which can't be well identified like apt Road Condition, Traffic congestion, Climate abnormalities like Heavy Rain & Thunderstorm. Hence, it would be better to keep some buffer time reserved.

Step3 - Chosen Halts

Our halt during our peregrination was purposeful. We had decided to enjoy our stay & sightseeing the cities which are of historical relevance. India "Āryāvarta" is a nation which has an immense deep rooted heritage emerging from its very distant past. Likewise, cities falling in our way does actually pertaining some definite contribution towards India's history & custom. However, covering all was certainly impractical for us. Hence, we have decided to stay & tour selective cities like - Hyderabad, Rajahmundary & Berhampur. 

The hotels chosen by me were based on the safety & precautions against Covid pandemic. This was the time when Covid was at peak & intensified. And every state governments had promulgated various measures for containment of Covid pandemic. So, we preferred staying in such hotels where safety stands utmost important. Second critical consideration is the ease of accessibility. So, following are some of the highway touch hotels where we made our reservation & halt too. 

Sheraton, Hyderabad

"Sheraton" is situated at Gachibowli, Hyderabad which comes under IT park. Traffic congestion here is usually very seldom. Most of the important sightseeing of Hyderabad is situated within 16Km radius. And location-wise it is extremely near to the Outer Ring Road, hence ideally this location provides an easy accessibility to inside & outside of the city. This hotel comes under luxurious hotel chain in India and also part of Marriott franchise. Services offered include all standard amenities including city tour package. This location of the hotel had provided me a better strategic control for further journey & tour. My stay planned was just for 1 Night. So, Overall charges incurred by me during reservation were ₹7434/-. This was the cost of 1 night stay in a single room with 3 occupancies.  

La-Hospin, Rajahmundry

"La-Hospin" situated at an extremely enchanted location, which is exactly near the bank of river Godavari. This hotel provides a very magical scenic view of the  whole River bank. The entire city is just few steps away from La-Hospin, and also it has easy connectivity to the highway. It also offers all modern amenities & luxury. The best part here is that, the whole infrastructure is located in the middle of the city, from where Rajahmundry's sightseeing locations, markets are hardly few steps away. Our stay was planned here for 2 nights, with 1 room and 3 person occupancy the cost was somewhere around ₹8257/-. 

Hemo Chandra Bhavan, Berhampur

"Hemo Chandra Bhavan" though this hotel was identified, but I hadn't made any confirm reservation till Day3 of my Journey. Booking site had also provided a facility to pay after reaching to the property. Also here, I was quite uncertain about the need of having a reservation. We will discuss this further why this thought got installed in my mind.  

**Note - Folks, this is my first travel blog. And accept my sincere apology for not capturing some Events in reality. This has happened because I never thought of writing this blog during my journey. Hence, whatsoever images available to me from my journey, I have leveraged it fully. And, also I have taken additional help from few images available on the Web to set the context in a right way. My intention here is not to misuse pre available content or commit any plagiarism act. Hence, I believe, you'll accept my earnest request and give more preference to my diligent intent for writing this blog. Forever Thankful...**

3/10/2021 Day1 - Pune to Hyderabad. And Hyderabad Tour

So, folks as mentioned above how your schedule got disturbed due to unplanned luggage. But, despite of all deviations we started our trip from Pune at around 06:30. The road was quite vacant, we tried to compensate the time difference, but our paramount preference was safe drive, hence we'd maintained an average speed of 80-90Km/Hr. till Sholapur. Till destination, we need to follow same NH-65 (previously NH-9) which got further extended till Rajahmundry.

Ujani Dam, Sholapur

During our Journey we had enjoyed the Sun rise scenery, very decent orange sphere gleaming out of the distant mountain. Serene sky view via Sun Roof. Alluring views of fresh Guava sold by road side sellers. And giant Lorries carrying tons of Sugarcane for further processing. 

Panoramic view of huge water reservoir will fall at your left side during traveling towards Hyderabad, this is Ujani Dam of Sholapur. This reservoir has been built on Bhima River whose origin is from Bhimashankar, Shyadri Mountain range. This reservoir is one of the primary source to cater Sholapur water demand. Additionally, this reservoir also serves tons of fishes of various kinds every year. The road was smooth and providing great complement to the overall scenery. Also, we have witnessed fleet of swans & ducks sailing over the water body. All of us were silently enjoying the scene and also the music which was played in the car at that moment. It was a retro music with melodious beats, meaningful and fits for every age group. Being in the driver seat I got a very rare chance to involve in chatting. But, I can feel from their vibes that they all had enjoyed the drive.   

Nisarg Dhaba Sholapur

We've identified one roadside restaurant to take our 1st halt for breakfast, this was Nisarg Dhaba. By this time we'd almost covered 250Km from our origin Pune. "Nisarg Dhaba" is one of the best restaurants available in that area. I had checked the review on Google about this restaurant and this was 5/5. Also, they have a huge variety of food. We had ordered Masala Dosa & Filter Coffee, which got served in just no time. We partook our breakfast. And realized that the rating loaded by reviewers are truly worth. Taste & Service both were genuinely good. Good value for money & time. 

After 30-Min break, we resumed our journey again. The road condition was quite nominal, sometime smooth & sometime rough. And sometime no road at all 😀. I mean quite a few patches of 500-800Meters were such where you will find the under constructed roads. But, this is mainly because of on-going highway widening & repairing activities. So, while traversing through the course we've also witnessed distant view of Naldurg Fort which is situated quite close to the highway.  

Naldurg Fort, Osmanabad

This fort still stands invincible irrespective of being timeworn. This fort is named after King Nal. The creation of this fort dated back to the Medieval age during Chalukya Period. But this has witnessed the takeover of ephemeral ruling from Hindu rulers to Mughalain. This site had just occurred instantly, and we haven't laid out any plan for visiting inside the fortress. Hence, I would strongly recommend the reader to add one stop while passing through this humongous monument. This has a lot many things to narrate its own. And also you can get lots of nice shots in the vicinity of the fortress, which I realized lately during studying the web review about this fort. 

Moving ahead, we entered into Karnataka. One way to identify the territorial transition is to keep an eye on Vehicle registration plate. The moment when you find a plethora of motor vehicles bearing the same kind of State registration initials, that will give you an indication that you have entered into the next neighboring state. The sign of Rural India was quite dilute till the point we've covered so far. Urbanization has captured the focus of many people. And Governmental policies provide sufficient bolster to every common man for invoking Growth & Development. Agricultural lands/areas are gradually disappearing or being getting transformed into fixed infrastructure like a mill, small-scale industry, township etc. And exactly the same was the feeling we got after entering into Karnataka. 

Even people traditional attire & dialect had also gradually transformed. Till Maharashtra and even inside Karnataka to an extent I found the attire of men & women are very identical. Men commonly wear Pehta (White Color Topi), White Kurta & Dhotar,  and in some cases White Pajama, with open sandals type footwear. Where women saree wearing style is also very similar to dhoti, which is very typical to Maharashtra. That's why in India there is a very common proverb "Kos-kos par badle paani, chaar kos par baani" (Which means after every few kilometers both language and taste of water changes). The Young generation of these regions and even in many parts of India, has already given up wearing such cultural dress code except during special occasion. But, still these heritages have some existence in the day to day lifestyle of the senior people. And this is where our Indian culture Standout in comparison with rest world, we sets the best Paradigm of holding Unity amongst the diversity.

Finally, we entered into the Telangana State (Previously was part of Andhra Pradesh). We thought of having our Lunch late directly after checking-in into the Hotel Sheraton. Our Journey got further delayed due to bad road conditions and even hindered by an unexpected downpour near Bidar,Karnataka which has limited the distance visibility. However, we checked-in to the hotel at around 04:30PM. The overall Check-in process had taken around 15-20Min. Strict norms of Covid Guideline has been obeyed by the Hotel staff. Few of our luggage got sanitized and deported to our room via Room Service. The room was well-Sanitized and provided with all basic facilities.

Outside View From my Room

Quickly after checking in, we got refreshed and ordered food for 4 (including our assistant driver). We'd decided to take it in our room. Our order includes - Rice, Dal, Mix Veg, Chicken Biryani, Fish Masala & Green Salad. Post lunch we had made a swift entry to the reception lobby, where a Ola Car was waiting outside for us. We've hired this Car for 5Hrs for sightseeing the famous spots in Hyderabad - Charminar, Hussain Sagar Lake & Hyderabad's Bangle Market.

Charminar, Hyderabad

The purpose of keeping this in our list is to mainly get the sightseeing activity complete fast. Since, we had only one full night in our hand to see this city. So, nearby area like famous Laad/Bangle market & one of the famous chai store "Irani Chai" are hardly few steps away. This monument has pivotal role in establishing Hyderabad (The City of Nizams). 

Some History - In 1561CE under the reign of the then current ruler Mohammad Quali Qutb Sahi, The Fifth king of Qutb Sahi dynasty when he decided to extend his current capital beyond Golconda, and set the foundation of Hyderabad. "Hyderabad" that time was the new capital of Qutb Sahi dynasty. This city was very well constructed by consummate professionals, who had been invited from all the corners of the world. This monument is one of the quintessential workmanship which inspired from Persian artistic skill. There are various prevalent folklore associated with this monument, but the most commonly known facts linked with Charminar is to commemorate the bereavement of people who lost their lives due to the Plague pandemic that time. Also, many believe the purpose of erecting this monument is to show a higher degree of obeisance to Islam on completion of  the millennium year.

Me & my Mom near Charminar

We visited this place at evening, and trust me guys, it was quite a horrible experience. The whole street was full of throng & commotion. There was so bustling, that we hardly manage to stand in that vicinity. We were just wondering that how people manage to gather amid of Covid challenges. We somehow manage to evade. And decided to skip visiting Irani Chai & Bangle market. Though it was a huge miss, but considering various Challenges related to Covid & Time limitation we'd decided to quit. However, I had taken some distant picture of Charminar.

We then continue our trip to the Hussain Sagar Lake. This was hardly 10-12Km from Charminar. This lake was one of the primary source of water supply before development of other alternatives.  

Hussain Sagar Lake

It was quite an open place at least better than Charminar crowd. Mild breeze coming out of the lake was actually providing some solace to our enervating body. I had also enjoyed having ice-cream here. We spent little more time strolling around the lake and finally decided to return to the hotel. We arrived back to the hotel room somewhere at 9PM. None of us were feeling hungry, so we went into sleeping. The next day was again a new journey for us. Hence, it was quite imperative to invigorate and prepare well before starting. 

4/10/2021 Day2 - Hyderabad to Rajahmundry

Next day morning we woke up at around 07:00AM, and get ourselves ready for checkout. A service boy visited our room for picking up our whole luggage. And finally we vacate the room at 08:30AM and gathered in the dining hall. Breakfast was included in our reservation, additionally we've purchased one extra breakfast for our assistant Driver too. 

Sheratons' Breakfast Exhibit

The dining hall has all exquisite arrangements of foods for breakfast which includes - Fruits, Doughnuts, Sprouts, Juices, Boiled Eggs, Chicken Scramble, Toasted Bread, South Indian Dishes (Dosa, Idli, Medu Vada etc.), and the list goes on. Both the Aroma & arrangement creates a mouthwatering effect. We devoured our breakfast since we were already late and also bit hungry since we didn't have enough last night. Also, here I want to pay a small token of my gratitude towards Mr. Abhay from Sheraton who was one of the main chef and have taken assiduous care in serving us the breakfast. Also, he had provided us some free lunch parcel for our journey ahead. Due to his initiative, we didn't feel the necessity of having special halt for the lunch.

I had refueled our Car before touching Highway. Overall Journey from Hyderabad-to-Rajahmundry was appearing to 534Km and we continued NH-65. Nearly 30-40Km ride was on the Outer Ring road. This outer ring road is 8-Lane road. Here, I drove the Car at a speed of 100-120Km. After a while we've got exit lane for Vijayawada and got ourselves routed towards that path. The journey was continued again with a nominal speed of 80-90Km. Car fuel & our Stomach both are at a fully satiable state 😊. So, we'd decided to complete a full-fledge ride of 200Km without a break. The newly taken SUV "Tata Harrier" outperformed the expectation. So far we had witnessed various road dynamics, but frankly speaking Tata Harrier had passed all these tests with sheer comfort. Throughout the journey, not even a single instance encountered where the occupant carp about body ache or poster discomfort. There had been a constant driving of 5-6 Hrs without a break, but this car ran smoothly throughout and remain robust against the versatile road condition. 

On the Way to Vijayawada

Till Vijayawada it is a 4-Lane road, Road condition was also good. We took a tea break after completing 180Km near a road side Dhaba. Here, we had also consumed the packed lunch provided by the Sheraton Chef. It was around 01:30PM. And during our reach to Vijayawada it was 02:30PM and the climate was little cloudy & drizzling. Also, while entering Vijayawada you'll find the huge idol of Lord Hanuman from the rear end. This status is called by the name of Paritala Anjenaye and located at a very close proximity to NH-65. Vijayawada consists of lot of Ancient temples and most importantly the scenic view of the Krishna River. Vijayawada is one of the Ancient city of India. I rather recommend you to plan a stay at Vijayawada and tour this city.

Roadside Banana Vendor

While moving ahead from Vijayawada, we took a halt near road side fruit seller. Here, I saw verities of Bananas, we took a halt, especially to enjoy Red & Light Yellow Banana. Both are having a very unique taste, and it was indeed a unique experience for me. Though it was quite costly as compared to the regular banana price in Pune, but it is worth experimenting at least once. It was almost 3:30PM now and we'd covered approximately 350Km. Further journey was through rural parts of Andhra Pradesh, climate was also becoming quite cloudy and dark. India's vast dimension also got impacted by different timings, evening time in the eastern part of India is way before the western part of India. Nearly a 5:00PM we have started experiencing twilight. And by 6 it was completely dark. This was the very first time, where I was doing night driving. I was quite circumvent, and suddenly after a mile heavy downpour got started. Here, for the very first time I realized why driving in the rain is risky. Due to dense drops the distance visibility got barred. Though I had reduced my speed to 80Km but many a time during downpour I had experienced sudden jerk on my front wheel due to fast flowing water on the highway. Mishap does happen during such condition if the driver holds the steering with a loose hand. Thanks to Mr. Ram who was accompanying us during the journey and he had provided us the most valuable tips. We had decided to take an intermittent halt till downpour didn't settle down. Our Car Parking light was continuously flashing and we parked the car at a secluded location (aside highway). Soon after 20-Min we're back to the road, it was still drizzling but the visibility was fine. Here, I also like to highlight during this time there were lots of road construction happening between Vijayawada and Rajahmundry. So, we had faced lot of bypass as suggested by National Highway Authority. Finally, after a hectic drive, we entered into Rajahmundry.

Havelock Bridge from La-Hospin, Rajahmundry

This is the entry bridge built over River Godavari. The picture shown here is from a third party image, but we'd entered into this bridge at evening at around 7:30PM. I will describe some closer detail about this bridge in my further writing. Most of the life supporting rivers in the Eastern province especially Telangana & Andhra Pradesh has originated from Western Shayadri Mountain range. I can name 3 Main rivers - Godavari, Krishna & Bhima which has originated from Maharashtra and form essential river basin in Eastern India. And here in Rajahmundry the revered River Godavari is also known by the name of "DakshinGanga". Has humongous expanse before merging into the Ocean. The road bridge here is nearly 5Km long. With moderate traffic it took us 10-15Min to cross the river. Finally, we reached to our destination. La-Hospin hotel located exactly close to 1Km distance from the point where the bridge ends. This hotel is also situated on the bank of River Godavari. Here, also the room we've chosen is of 3 occupancies. Finally, after check-in we got refreshed, Ordered food for dinner along with my all-time favorite red wine. That's how our 2nd day Journey ends.  

5/10/2021 Day3 - Rajahmundry Sightseeing & Shopping

Rajahmundry is the Cultural Capital of Andhra Pradesh. The Name of this city derived from the then ruler "Raja Raja Narendra" of Chalukya dynasty. This city has witnessed many rulers ruling over it for a certain period of time. Hence, it holds the chronical which is a perfect blend of Medieval & Modern era. The design of this city is very identical to the one we have in Haridwar & Varanasi. River Godavari & Krishna are the most piety River. People all over India worship these rivers and conceive them as Mother. Though the ruler ruled here might have started their regime late, but this city is much more ancient than what history indicates. My reason of choosing the halt here, is to make myself acquainted with such a rich historical heritage of this city.

Morning View, La-Hospin

The room which I had taken in La-Hospin has been designed to provide scenic views of Havelock bridge built over River Godavari. As shown in picture, both the railway & road bridge are clearly visible. Having such a view in the Early morning made me pretty reminiscent & nostalgic. During my childhood days I had traversed through this bridge many a time; during those time we use to pay our veneration and drop some paisa and coins into the river. And I still amazed seeing people continue following the same practices, passenger in trains are still dropping coins. We went down for breakfast after some time. La-Hospin had arranged the buffet system comprised of multiple options.

Morning Buffet arrangement at La-Hospin

I haven't taken any pics and these are some images from the web, but trust me folks hotel has arranged the buffet with lots of delicious cuisines. We have tasted the authentic south Indian food here. Masala Dosa with coconut Chutney was truly Awesome. There is a lot much to cover later on this. But, for the interest of time, we've enjoyed a delicious breakfast served to us and went out for sightseeing.   

Kotilingeshwar Temple, Rajahmundry

Our 1st sightseeing spot was Kotilingeshwar Temple, this place is characterized with a 108feet Shivalinga. This Shivalinga is at a very conspicuous location. This temple is located at the bank of River Godavari. All the ritual ablution done for this heightened Shivalinga conducted through marvelous Engineering mechanism, where the hydraulic pumps sucks water from Godavari and Sprinkle it over the head of Shiva (idolized in the form of Shivalinga). This temple is the replica of the actual Umakotilingeshwar temple of Rajahmundary. Traditional folklore also claims Umakotilingeshwar temple as one of the 51 Shaktipeethas where Devi Sati's Cheek fallen. This temple is one of Ancient temple, its main center of attraction is Godavari Ghat which provides an extremely scenic view. Photography is prohibited inside the temple premise as per the norms set by the temple management comitee, but allowed in the courtyard. During Mahashivratri festival this temple and even the whole Rajahmundry is packed with Devotee and celebration conducted with fervor.   

Pushkar Ghat

While strolling around the Pushkar Ghat, we came across Godavari Goddess statue. This is sculpted using black stone and looks magnificent. "Godavari Pushkaralu" is one of the auspicious event held at this place which call many devotees all over India to take Holy bath at this location. The entire corridor is wide enough in order to accommodate the large mass of devotees during Pushkar & MahaPushkaram. Pushkar occurs after every 12-Years, whereas MahaPushkaram make its entry after every 144-Years. One can imagine the longing and craze of devotees for this holy dip. This is a must visit place for tourist. My recommendation is to visit this place during early morning and also during the evening. An idle sitting in this ghat will give an alluring peace. 

Godavari Harathi

I made myself available again on the same day during evening just to witness the River bank soothing effect of breeze & Godavari Harathi too. Trust me folks, it was one of the awesome experience. During day time temperature was quite high but at evening it got compensated with a nice cool breeze of Godavari. "Godavari Harathi" is an evening obeisance & veneration offered by devotees to Sacred River Goddess Godavari. "Godavari Harathi" programme got sanctified in Yr-2010 which was inspired from Holy Ganga Aarti in Varnashi. AP Government has constructed dedicated platform for conducting this activity. And I am just conjecturing the distant view of this ritual from the railway bridge while crossing the river, passenger should have been experiencing an ecstatic state.

One of the famous handicraft handloom of Rajahmundry is "Kanchi Pattu" Sarees. The origin of this Saree is 400 Years Old belongs to Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu. These Saree made purely from Mulberry silk. This Saree is one of the masterpieces which need extremely painstaking effort by the weaver, the artistic look plotted on the Saree needs extreme focus and prowess. That is the reason why these sarees are world famous and quite costly too.

Saree Shop, Rajahmundry

After completing the spots we went for shopping. Here, our main attraction was Kanchi Pattu Sarees. And yes, you can say that this is also one of the primary reasons of having an additional stay in Rajahmundry. We had nearly made a purchase of 30-35K/-. You will find lots of grand Saree shops located in the town. The one which we have chosen was actually suggested by the city guide. We have identified Sarees for different age group of people, since our list was quite big 😢. However, this is how we accomplished our objectives of staying in Rajahmundry. With this we returned back to our hotel "La-Gospin". It was around 14:30 and we all are feeling quite hungry by then. 

At our lunch we had ordered Authentic South Indian Thali. And it was quite surprising to see hotel serve the lunch on Banana Leaf. Banana Leaf is part of Indian Culture from very Ancient time, and having significant importance in Indian Tradition. Single South-Indian Thali consist of Rice, Rasam, Paysam, Dal, 3 types of vegetables, Fried potatoes, Chips, Sambar, Kadi, 2 Chapati. And trust me it was more than enough for 1 person. We had ordered 2 Thalis, and got it divided within 3 of us. Finally, we remain in hotel except me moving back to Pushkar Ghat at evening to enjoy the River Godavari. We enjoyed watching some movies and I did some of my office work too. During the evening we had a very light dinner, since the next day, we suppose to get started early for further peregrination. 

6/10/2021 Day4 - Rajahmundry to Berhampur (Odisha)

We woke up at very early morning at 03:30AM and got ourselves prepared to check out. By then our assistant driver Mr. Ram has called me and told about his readiness. He was completely prepared and ready to hit the road. Since, it was his turn today to drive, so he got himself fully prepared. He was sounding very confident. Mr. Ram checked out the dormitory and reached our hotel reception. My Car was fully prepared a day before by hotel cleaning staff. Finally by 04:16AM we all boarded and started our journey ahead. Navigation had been set for Vishakhapatnam which was around 190Km. Before leaving Rajahmundry we refilled the car with diesel. Our initial thought was to take a halt in-between for a breakfast and then we shall halt for lunch in Vizag. But to my Surprise, the road was so empty that we touched Vizag boarder before 8 AM. And this is where we've decided to detour our plan. And this is the main reason why I was quite hesitant in finalizing my booking in "Hemo Chandra Bhavan" Berhampur (Odisha). Also, Mr. Ram had exhibited his prowess in making the journey short & simple. No where, I found him crossing the speed beyond 90KM/Hr. But, still he had made it possible because of the correct overtaking techniques he followed on the road.

After reaching to Vizag boarder, we had changed the Google map settings for Berhampur. Google map ushered us through Anakapalli. I would recommend readers to set the Navigation or at least get versed with the navigation route before initiating the journey. Many a times when a random setting done to the map, Google optimization Algorithm diverts the map for selecting shortcuts. Sometime these shortcuts are treacherous. As, we had diverted ourselves in between, so google map ends up showing us a path through a village. Till this point we had no clue about the direction we're heading into. Finally, we reached to a point where the narrow street begins. The streets were so narrow that we need to fold the side mirror for making way for the car. It was one of the horrible experience and I strongly recommend readers to ask some people before blindly obeying the Google map, especially in a village. Here, for around 10Km of distance the road was extremely bumpy. Thanks to Mr. Ram for skillfully driving & also thanks to Harrier again for sustaining the tough condition. Finally, we crossed Vijayanagram at around 09:30AM. After a while we took our first halt for Breakfast. This time the break taken was along a roadside small Dhaba. We had ordered Onion Uttapa, Idli, Wada & Sambar along with Tea and Coffee. This Dhaba was truly very secluded, located aside of a speedy Highway. Vehicles are crossing with a bullet speed. You can even hear the fast fading whizzing sound of vehicle passing thereby. The taste of Dosa batter here was quite different from what we had in the rest part of Andhra Pradesh. It was pretty sour. On questioning the Owner about its sourness, he had explained us about the prevalent style of that region. Same was the case with Idli, Wada & Utthapa too. This Dhaba Owner also had reared few Ducks in his courtyard. They were roaming all around fearlessly. While partaking the breakfast we were contemplating on the remaining distance to cover. So, from this location our destination "Durga Niketan" Jajpur, Odisha was distancing around 500Km. And we had nearly a whole day in our hand. So, the thought came to our mind is to continue driving till Berhampur and then decide about further journey.

Entered into Odisha

Frankly speaking the circumstances are very conducive after we made our resolution. The road conditions are invariably crystal clean, Harrier was running with a speed of 100Km. And finally we entered into Odisha at around 12:30PM. This moment was one of the most memorable instant of my life. Finally, the dream comes true moment for me has arrived 👍. This was my Journey from 0-to-definite state. The dream which was implanted in my mind got culminated. Excitement was discharging from my body in the form of goosebumps. Crossing this border had elicited a complacent smile on our face. Finally, we had entered Odisha Province, Berhampur city. Soon after crossing the city crowd, we continue our ride further. The road remains friendly ahead, extremely clean and sequestered. Something which entices you to drive with solitude. 

West Bengal-Odisha Road via Berhampur

We've encountered lush green paddy field on both sides of the road. The scenery was extremely spellbinding. Though it was afternoon, outside temperature was scorching, but the roadside view was extremely tranquil to surmount the tyranny of the Sun. One best part of this road is that it has an extremely limited obstruction. You can drive with a constant speed and yet enjoy driving through. The habitant of this region are very well versed with Telegu & Odiya language. Even their cultural outlook is very much inspired from both the South-East combination.  

Chilika Lake View

Likewise, we continue our journey till Chilika. Chilika is one of the Asia's largest salt water lake. My blog may be a small platform to elaborate the expanse of Chilika. However, this place is also listed under UNESCO world heritage. I have spent quite a good time of my childhood in Chilika. Since, my father was in Indian Navy, and he got a chance to serve in this place for a period of 3Yrs (1989-1992). This is an excellent spot for people wanting to enjoy migrant birds, Aquatic life & Lagoons. This place is revered for a deity named Kalijai. Also, this place holds the presence of holy Shakti Peetha Banapur,Bhagawati. Again, as I mentioned, blog content may be inadequate to narrate the story associated with these primal monuments & anecdote, So I recommend readers to witness the in-person experience of this place. So, moving ahead from the exquisite beauty & heritage of this place, there is one more thing for which Chilika is famous for... Guess What??

Chilika is one of the world famous export hub for Sea foods. Chilika's Sea food are of export quality. It supplies, variety of world famous Fishes, Shrimp & Prawns, Crabs. Tiger prawn & Crabs are one of the most demanding food here. For us it was the right time when we had entered into Chilika, and our appetite was triggering the siren. We were well aware of one famous Dhaba "The Chilika Dhaba" which was there in existence during my childhood. But, since it was more than 31Yrs past, so we were quite unsure about the continuity of the Dhaba. However, our search has been just for any well-known Dhaba available in the area which can serve us delicious sea food. On enquiring to the local people we found that the "Chilika Dhaba" is still functional, and surprisingly traceable on Google Map too. We rushed towards the Dhaba.

Lunch @Chilika Dhaba

Here, we have ordered most demanding Tiger Prawn curry & Crab masala. These dishes are truly finger-licking. Since, we were three people (excepting my mother who is purely vegetarian), so we've ordered Single plate of all the dishes along with common staple like Rice, Chappati & Dal accompanied with Green Salad & Masala Soda. Later, we had also ordered an additional Fish curry which was spicy, but awesome in taste. We had devoured most of the meal in just 15-Min, as our appetite and taste of dishes both are complementing each other. A sip of Masala soda in between the meal was also acting as a savoured. Overall, we got fully satiable experience here, I would rate this as 5/5. Soon after our meal, before continuing further journey we thought of tasting Paan (English Name Betel Leaf), which is one of the commonly used mouth freshener sort of thing in the Eastern part of India (Especially Odisha, Bihar & WestBengal). We all had consumed Mittha Paan and conclude our lunch. 

6/10/2021 Day4 - Ride to Destination "Durga Niketan" Jajpur (Odisha)

Now, it was around 15:30PM and we had started again. This time I was holding the driver seat. Finally, we entered into Cuttack (Odisha) by 7PM. At this point Mr. Ram decided to depart, as his home is located nearby. So, we dropped him in Cuttack and proceed ahead for concluding our pending journey. Cuttack was pretty crowded, however, we drove out of the city and touched the highway. Except few patches, remaining road is in a good state. After entering into Jajpur Town, we felt great relish, Since we had made that possible. Our destination was just 8-9Km away. During driving I also realize that the Car AC started forming Fog, which was quite unexpected. Later, I learn about the difference in the temperature within the Car and outside the Car has created fog formation. However, keeping this scientific phenomenon  aside, we had continued our journey further and finally at 21:56 PM we had arrived to our Destination "Durga Niketan".

Small token of Gratitude to Mr. Ram

Mr. Ram being one of the experienced driver has accompanied us throughout. Many a times I show my obstinate determination to run the car, and Ram remained silent & supportive. Even during the frustrating drive, I have never seen him sharing piece of his mind 😆. I learned many techniques and tricks from Mr. Ram during the drive. I am very much thankful to him for all those useful insight. Also, I like his sense of Humor, he always keeps on cracking jokes and make people laugh. He is totally entertaining and have good knowledge of his field. Thanks Mr. Ram for being with us in this journey.