Orissa gaman

Bird’s eye view  Today, we flipped.  We flipped the sea-level for 5000 feet.  We flipped the straight highways for a mountain road.  We flipped the blistering sun for a faintly chilly drizzle.  We moved from Gopalpur to Mahendragiri hills, a distance of 130 kms, but since I deeply believe in Management by Wandering Around, we took 4.5 hours to do it, taking in a waterfall in the process. Let’s see how that happened.  Leaving Gopalpur (8.45 am)  Another lovely sunrise across the sea. The sun penetrated the haze at around 7.00 am, but there was already a beachful of people with smartphones at the ready, eager to record a few reels. We sat in our balcony chairs in a halfway house between gratitude and smug superiority, as we didn’t even have to brush our teeth in order to say 'Hi' to the sun.  Since our lodging had no food provisions, we popped down for toast and eggs, which were slightly below par. I mean, a food-stall is no ...

Bird’s eye view  Today we travelled to Gopalpur-on-sea, a mere 70 km from Barkul that we covered in 1.5 hours flat.  Now you might be wondering why we did not travel to Gopalpur yesterday itself. Because we did not want a ten-hour drive from Dublagadi, and a break would give us a breather. Maybe, but then why did we stay at Barkul, so close to Gopalpur? The answer is in the sea itself, or more specifically, the tide.  At this part of the coast, high tide is currently at 10.00 am and 10.00 pm. If we stayed at Bhubaneswar, for example, by the time we arrived here, it would probably be 1.00 pm, and the sea would have started on its low-tide march and sullenly retreated a couple of kilometres. Next morning, we would want to leave before 8.00 am, and we would miss high tide again. Nothing like a sea bath during high tide, right? As it was, we reached Gopalpur beach at 10.50 am, bang on, with the tide in full flow. Perfect!  Here are some details of the journey...