ADHVAGATI

It took us a good fifteen minutes to cross the busy road to get to the muddy lot on the otherside. The patch was overgrown with weeds and strewn with urban waste . From here led a mud path to an enclosure sprouting a set of kalinga style spires. A dismal point of entry to an enchantment called MUKTESHWAR. Of the nearly 1000 temples in Odisha's Ekamra Kshetra or Bubhaneshwar, Mukteshwar seems to be the most elegant . It looks like a smaller, compact "pocket edition" of the magnificent Lingaraj temple in Bubhaneshwar. Built in 950 AD, it is profusely ornate ; the intricacy of the stone embellishments , simply stunning. Not an inch of stone left unworked. No wonder it is called the crown jewel of Classical Kalinga Art. The most eye-catching detail here is the splendid doorway, the "torana", influenced by Buddhist architecture. Of the carvings, a vast proportion portray scenes of skinny ascetics engaged in what looks like ayurvedic medicine preparation ri

October I week We arrived in PURI ( Orissa/ Odisha) in the most inclement weather. Depression in the Bay of Bengal had caused the skies over Jagannath's citadel to go grey, meloncholic and vengeful. It kept pouring buckets, turning the town into a total mess ( not that it was a showpiece of civic beauty to begin with !). Would the all merciful Krishna and His Siblings give us a chance to realise our cherished plan of meeting Lake Chilika's most famous denizens : The Irrawaddy Dolphins ? Hoping to beat the clouds, we set out very early from the beach- resort in Puri, on NH-203 A for the 50km journey . A very pleasant drive, with lovely, lush vistas of glistening emerald on both sides. But as we neared destination , the wind started howling and rain fell in thin showers. At the boat jetty, the little shacks selling snacks had lowered polythene sheets over the fronts, while the ticketing agent in the newly constructed counter, pouted discouragingly. He opined it w