Blogs from Puri, Orissa, India, Asia - page 2

In a moment of perhaps sheer madness (but you have to be in it if you want to experience the weird and wonderful), I decided that I should attend the Ratha Jatra in Puri. Living in Bhubaneshwar - just 40 or so kilometers away, gave me little excuse than to go to this famous event. Ratha Jatra, the Festival of Chariots of Lord Jagannatha is celebrated every year in this temple town in Orissa, on the east coast of India. The presiding deities of the main temple, Sri Mandira, Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra, with the celestial wheel Sudarshana are taken out from the main temple precincts in an elaborate ritual procession to their respective chariots. Hindus travel to Puri for this festival from all over India to participate in the cacophony of music ... read more

Alright, I was sorta dragged into this trip by family... My folks hail from orissa. And we are the Brahmins so this visit was about my cousin having his Thread Ceremony( very auspicious religious hullabaloo made to ushe a boy into manhood, hehe ) ... read more

Merry Christmas!!! I decided to write a picture blog today for your collective Christmas present. Enjoy!... read more

This past weekend, Kim and I and a few friends headed off to Orissa. Caitlin works for a non-profit organization (NGO) that feeds malnourished children in rural India. Basically they take very poor children who are dangerously underweight for their age and feed them a highly nutritious liquid food supplement that fattens them up. She fattens kids up for about $8 each, if you would like to pitch in. Tina works for a non-profit that identifies entrepreneurs working in businesses that have lasting long-term positive effects on large groups of people. They help these entrepreneurs grow faster with funding and advice so they can affect more people faster. One of her entrepreneurs was just featured on the cover of a popular Indian business magazine. Brian works for a profit that provides video feeds to news media ... read more

This was it - North India tour over and no tour leader holding our hands anymore! We were all alone and our first challenge was to negotiate Kolkata's Howrah train station to catch the 10.35pm overnight Puri Express. We had booked our tickets online a few days ago so we just had to figure out the platforms and where we'd be on the train. I won't lie I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the station and the crowds, but no bother to Vinny. He had it all sussed in no time at all and at exactly 10.35pm we were pulling out of the station and setting up our sheets for the night! This was our first train journey that ran on time and arrived on time. We were in a 2AC cabin - 2 ... read more