Seeking the divine blessings
For any important event we seek the divine blessings first and Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri is our first and foremost choice. The temple built in 10th century CE is an icon of supreme divinity for all Hindus and one of the Char dhams, that everyone desire to visit at least once in life time. For us, its a place to visit often to attain mental peace, to have a glimpse of the God and then eat the Mahaprasad to feel blessed. If you do not know, then the Mahaprasad usually has no essence after being cooked, but when its offered to the God, and then brought to the sale point, a delicious smell spreads. One can never be tired of visiting the temple and eating the Mahaprasad in his entire life - such is the divine power of the blessings. The boy wanted to take the divine blessings before his board exams - I felt it was a call from the Lord - to fulfill his wish.
And we always wear either new or washed dress and eat full vegan food on the day of visiting the temple - some practice that makes us feel the sacredness. He met one of his childhood friends while drinking tender coconuts on our way.
Once we reach there, we leave the car at the parking place as they do not allow the vehicle because of large crowd. But then we love the rickshaw ride - something that we enjoy only when going to the temple.
Mahaprasad is sold in Anand Bazar (Anand means Happiness, Bazar is market), a place that is probably the biggest open-air hotel in the world. Thousands of devotees come and eat together, sitting on the ground, which is considered more blessed. And Mahaprasad can be served on any auspicious occasions and people order it in advance for bulk quantities and take using transportation. For the first time, the kids experienced eating the hot serving, sitting on the ground. I got the contact of the vendor from a very closed friend who belongs to Puri and he was very happy to serve as much the kids needed - probably it was the biggest meal of their life. It was a unique experience for them, there are no photographs though as phones are not allowed inside the temple. And now they want to go again and again.
After getting out of the temple, we headed to the Golden beach, and could not resist capture the Narendra Tank, one of the largest tanks built in 15th century AD where the famous ritual of Chandana Yatra of Lord Jagannath is celebrated annually.
By the time we reached the beach, it was almost evening. The kids wanted to take bathe at the beach and the Civic authority has recently developed a stretch of Golden beach nicely (themed as Blue Flag Beach) with all the facilities for which they charge a little. Unfortunately the tickets for the bathe / changing rooms are not sold after 5 pm, so we changed the plan to not get wet completely. But who can prevent the kids to not go to the sea, when you are on the beach.
See some sense of responsibility ? The beach is one of the finest beach and the ambience was serene as we experienced the sun going down.
They charge for these chairs ( 50 for a hour), but the ones that are located at a little distance is free. And even though the facilities close by evening, you can stay longer - lot of people were coming for an evening walk. A family photo was desired so we requested someone to capture a few.
And that failed panorama photo shoot with a very young model and novice photographer - we were enjoying each of those moments.
The kids wanted to eat at a famous chinese restaurant at Puri while coming back, so we decided to leave the beach as we also had to drive back home. But then they could not resist eating tiramissue at this nice cafe on our way back from the beach.
Pinned on https://pinmapple.com/ - [//]:# (!pinmapple 19.80482 lat 85.81795 long Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri d3scr)
Golden beach or Blue Flag Beach - [//]:# (!pinmapple 19.79690 lat 85.83105 long Blue Flag Beach d3scr)
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