Orissa gaman

Bird’s eye view   350 km today, that too almost straight as an arrow, parallel to the coastline of Orissa, should not have taken a very long time, but it took us 8 hours, including two hours of a leisurely lunch and coffee. As Billy Goat famously said to Nanny Goat: “If you can’t beat it, eat it.”  So gastronomically, today was a good one, as we shall see. Roads were excellent, as expected, though speed limits kept our average below 60 kmph. OD plate drivers, especially around Bhubaneswar, have a marked tendency of inserting their muzzles in front of my bonnet, like tickle-deprived golden retrievers.  Panna also drove today for an hour, recollecting her skills from her drag-racing days, and I got a well deserved break.  Now for a few details.  Sunrise at Dublagadi (6.00 am)  We had seen a lot of haze last evening and were apprehensive whether Ra would show us his pre-coffee face. But we need not have worried. Ten minutes after we hit the beach,...

Bird’s eye view  So excited were we at the prospect of a brand new road trip, that neither of us got a good night’s sleep, like a couple of kids anticipating the start of summer holidays. We were up and about at 5.30 am sharp. Today’s drive of 250 km went well, taking around 6 hours with the brekker and coffee breaks. We had been warned about a lingering depression on the Orissa coast, but that didn’t dampen our spirits. Nor did we see any sign of it except for the occasional cloud wiping the sweat from the sun.  Roads were good, as expected, except for the last 15 kms to the beach, which rattled us a bit, suspensionwise (no suspense though).  Leaving Kolkata (6.40 am)  We had already loaded half our luggage the previous night, so our getaway was fast and furious. Normally we leave after 7.00 am, and that half an hour gain saved us from a good bit of traffic. Soon we had turned left on NH16, and were bouncing between lumbering trucks like a bagatelle on a...