A Trip Back to Our Roots!

(Dec 1st, 2022 - Jan 18th, 2023)

As we bid farewell to Babu and Swarna (two incredible souls who took care of us during our stay), our heart was filled with nothing but gratitude and our eyes were brimming with tears. We felt sad to leave the city of Bhubaneswar. Once you get used to the bustling hustling sounds of the streets and get used to the chaotic way of everything around you, life is beautiful in India. It is only because the warmth you receive from everyone is unparallel. People pour their hearts out to love you. You feel their warmth with everything they do for you. Special thanks to our driver, Pratap, who had served us in past over 15yrs during our short or long visits to India. Another person worth mentioning is Mitali, a young girl and mother of a 7yr old boy, whom we hired for ayurvedic oil massages. Though we only used her service a few times, there was magic in her hands. Her positive energy and healing thoughts transmits through her massage to rejuvenate one’s overly tired body. Each one of them I mentioned here made us feel pampered during our stay and we are grateful to them.

Bhubaneswar to Boston takes multiple flights and multiple layovers. Whenever we go on home vacation, for some reason I forget about our home until I am homebound again. While waiting in the Zurich airport lounge I was trying to go over mentally how the upcoming days going to be. Loads of laundry, trips to the grocery, shorting piles of mostly useless mail, cooking, cleaning and so on.

I knew the weather in Boston is not going to be anywhere closer to warm. The house will be cold and need immediate attention for cleaning. More importantly, it will feel lonely after we had such a busy time in India meeting family and friends.

After a long layover when we boarded the flight, I started thinking about home sweet home. I asked myself what I miss about the home most. As soon as we reached home in Boston I knew with all clarity that one thing I was missing in this lonely home is my husband’s magic touch in making tea. No doubt Babu waited for us to ring the bell to come and make our morning tea in Bhubaneswar but in the past six weeks I was seriously missing the tea and its aroma made by my husband to start the day. With jetlag, I woke up early to enjoy tea while watching the trickling snowflakes and jogging my cherishable memories.

There were a whole lot of beautiful memories to treasure from this recent trip. We had four weddings, from traditional weddings to destination weddings, to attend during our stay. Each wedding lasted a few days of rituals with family and friends. Part of me enjoyed and part of me felt sad how the wedding events have become a lavish Bollywood show and how regional cultural elements are missing slowly. I am sure the middle class in India feels more pressure to go with the flow. Anyway, we enjoyed meeting family and friends over the festivities and while working remotely for crazy hours.

Given these wedding locations were in different parts of the country, with no direct transportation available, we used multiple modes of transportation including flight, train, and car covering long distances. Absolutely no doubt these were tiring events but fun and happy celebrations of joy at the same time.

After attending two family wedding functions we chose to stay in a rented property in Bhubaneswar to meet family, visit friends, and work remotely. Though we had no family base or prior establishment, we picked Bhubaneswar mainly because of its accessibility to the airport. Being the capital of the state of Odisha, this temple city offers many cultural and literary festivals during the winter months. Worldcup Hockey was held during our stay as an add-on benefit during this time. Also later part of our vacation we had two more friends' son’s weddings to attend in the same city.

During our stay, we did explore different palaces including the City Palace, Kumbhalgarh fort, Jain temple, Fateh Sagar lake, Tiger lake, and visited local artisans at Shilpagram in Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Udaipur is a magnificent city surrounded by the Aravali mountain range. It is also known for its exclusive miniature paintings.

We bought a few with Radha and Krishna for mementos. We also explored different tourist attractions in Odisha including Puri temple, Dhauli monument, Khandagiri, Udaygirii caves, State museum, Tribal museum, Lingaraj temple, ISKCON temple, Ram Mandir, Nandan Kanan Sanctuary and Chausathi Yogini temple, etc.

We attended the Worldcup Hockey inaugural function at Barabati stadium, in Cuttack. We did attend for one day the International Dance Festival in Rabindra Mandap and to my surprise, I got to watch that day one dance for which the concept was inspired by my poem ‘Abhishapta’, choreographed by Biswajit Das. I personally attended Bandhughar Sahitya pinda, a literature festival at Bhanjakala mandap. We spent a significant hour in the Bhubaneswar Fest indulging in tribal music and buying handicrafts. The fair was done on a grand scale showcasing many tribal dance forms in an open-air theatre and multiple stages with ongoing concerts added life to the fair. The fair also had plenty of booths for clothing and food. Odisha offers so much to explore that one needs to plan the itinerary well before traveling. We enjoyed eating to our heart’s content local delicacies including Pahala rasgullas, chhenapoda, fish, bamboo mutton and many other mouthwatering local food.

Personally, I was very happy to meet many eminent award-winning authors, poets, editors, and linguists, basically, those who care about and serve literature during this trip. Another personal achievement was meeting the team in person who made music albums to my lyrics and gave me an identity in the respective field.

As a family we thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with immediate family, spending sleepless nights chatting, playing cards, trips to temples, tea time chats, mornings with

hair oil massage drills, eating together arisha, kakara, munaan, mixture brought by my Mother-in-Law, Mausi and Mamu. Every single activity was wrapped with unconditional love and care that I was missing so dearly. One of the special days that we will never forget is 31st Dec. We treated ourselves to Ananta Basudev Mandir’s Abhada Bhoga served on banana leaves.

My husband took the lead in serving everyone including the family of Babu. Rajesh, who was part of our family by then had arranged for the prasad also joined to help serve.

Swarna was reluctant to sit on the chair with family while I was sitting on the floor but I am sure that gesture sealed her love and respect for Bhaskar. Bhaskar even fed the dogs and the cat afterward who lived on the property.

No vacation ends without emptying one’s wallet for shopping. Odisha is known for its handloom fabrics and I am glad I got to visit two weaver villages and met fashion designers who use handloom fabrics to create exclusive garments for ramp walks. I loved the books I received from authors whom I visited with their autographs and with their beautiful messages for me. Gifts from family included many traditional sweets to carry home. Shopping is fun but keep in mind a hefty bill at the airport. When we checked in at the Indigo airlines counter at Bhubaneswar airport, the lady took pity on us and waived a few thousand. Despite that, we had to pay Rs20k fee for the overweight surcharge. I wish I could drop a few kilos but how can I decide what to drop while packing? All that love and affection attached to those gifts are priceless.

We did a lot within a limited time but still, there were enough on our wish list that we hope to visit soon again. No trip to Odisha is complete without paying a visit to Lord Jagannath in Puri. Given my mother-in-law’s foot surgery and our busy schedule, I was afraid that we won’t be able to make it to Puri but I am so delighted that Lord listened to my plea and welcomed us in Puri on one of the busiest days. Our sojourn came to end on a positive note releasing my next audio for the musical ‘Bijana Batoi’ with my lyrics. We had a few hours in Delhi and we visited the Lotus temple and attended the last prayer session of the day quietly. I appreciated those few minutes to reflect, pray, and ask forgiveness before I started my journey home.

I guess a memorable trip back to our roots ended with time well spent!

Manorama Choudhury

Jan 21st, 2023