A visit to Chilika Lake and the Diwali Festival

About 48kms from Puri is a large lake where rivers converge in a tidal estuary with sea water. This forms the biggest brackish lagoon in Asia. Swelling from 600kms to 1100sqkms during the monsoons. On Saturday 10th November I arranged for a car to transport myself and 3 fellow volunteers to this scenic area with the hope of seeing dolphins and pink flamingoes. Ayumi  came to Puri on Friday evening by bus and we had a traditional English chicken dinner (my favourite!). Rosie was coming all the way from Ranchi just for this trip - a 15hr train journey each way! She arrived at 7.30am Saturday morning and we were there to pick her up with a breakfast of egg sandwiches, fruit juice and coffee!

Ayumi enjoying breakfast enroute to Chilika Lake

It was about a 2hr drive to Satapada where we were reliably informed was the best place to hire a boat for a trip on the lake. The information was correct and a 3 hour boat trip around the lake was RS1300/- (a lot more than in my older version of Lonely Planet but still good value at only RS325/- each - under £4)

Plenty of motor boats to hire

There were plenty of boats to hire as we had arrived before the rush and were soon cruising northward to the Dolphin conservation area.  

 

Chilling on Chilika

The boat was basic but at least it had shelter from the sun. We stopped at the sand spur which forms the Sea Mouth of the lake. The tide was going out and the current could be seen speeding through the narrow opening - almost like a rip current!

 

4 VSO Vols visit Chilika!

Not all the lake had a fast current and in a couple of places Buffalo were wading across in the shallows. 

Buffalo wading across in the shallows

I did manage to get a good video of the dolphins but I can't upload onto this site, you can however see it on my FACEBOOK page.

We arrived back in Puri before dark and after a while relaxing went out to dinner at the Wild Grass Restaurant. They were extrememly helpful and we had a lovely meal of about 8 courses: soup, nibbles of roasted vegs., chicken, fish, rice, cheese, and ice cream to finish! Again for under £4 - we highly recommend this restaurant!

Sunday morning the 4 of us went to meet Amanda at the Honey Bee Cafe on the C.T. Road. Since my last visit there it had moved to the other side of the street which so early on a Sunday was very confusing to me! They are good for breakfast because actually have bacon and sausages on the menu!

At about 1pm our driver arrived to take us the the RIACE festival in a nearby village 'Rajurpur International Arts/Craft Exchange'. This is the second anual event where artists from all over the world come and stay for 3 weeks to learn Indian Craft and also exchange ideas from their own cultures. The NGO I work for had organised a play by the Village Children's Club on 'Child Rights' relating to disability and child exploitation. We were invited as special guests to this show. As well as acting there were 2 lovely dance displays:

 Dancers at the RAICE festival 11/11/12

 





 The ages of the children ranged from 5 to 15 years and they did a superb display! By the time all the speeches and presentations were completed and our transport had finished taking the children home it was getting quite late. Rosie had a train to catch and Amanda and Ayumi a bus back to Bhubaneswar before the last one left that evening. Eventually we were on our way only to suffer a flat tyre when nearly half way home! 'All's well that ends well' and I'm please to say that everyone made it where they had to be with a sigh of relief!

During the preceding week there had been a gradual increase in bangs and explosions from fire works and fire crackers on the build up to Diwali. Much like guy Fawkes in the UK this is their fireworks day. The children, especially boys as young as 6, were playing with these explosive devices throughout the day - I didn't notice any health or safety warnings. The night of Diwali arrived and the explosions became constant with some extremely spectacular rockets and firework fountains too. Every house was lit up with candles along roof tops, window ledges and walls.

Diwali lights around a neighbouring house

A truly noisy, colourful, bright experience and a pleasure to be here for the spectacular celebrations when the whole of India literally went firework crazy everywhere!

I have 5 weeks left before my trip to Mumbai and Goa, then a week later I go home. It really is a lovely experience living in India.