Trip to Konark-Puri : December 2012

In continuation from the trip to Dhauligir, Udaygiri, Khandagiri and Nandankanan.

After lunch at Dalma Restaurant in Bhubaneshwar, we resumed our journey for Konark around 2.00 p.m. The distance between Bhubaneshwar and Konark is 65 kms. After some initial slow movement of traffic in the outskirt of Bhubaneshwar where the road widening work was going on to make Konark/Puri a four-lane road, the journey was smooth. We took a break at Pipli, a small town famous for its appliqué works. There are shops selling appliqué works on both the side of the road making it a very colourful shopping centre. It is also a road junction for bifurcation to Konark and Puri.

A Short Break at Pipli – The Applique Centre of Odisha

The important feature of Pipli town is that each and every family has been associated with applique works for centuries. We entered one of the numerous shops in Pipli selling applique items. Our idea was to know from him the origin of applique crafts in Pipli and its surrounding areas.  According to the shopkeeper, the applique craft was as old as Jagannath temple Puri as the applique craft is closely associated with Jagannath temple and the rath yatras (car festivals). I have noticed from the pictures of Jagannath Rath Yatras that all the raths are covered with sheets (more like canopies) in combination with red and yellow/black/blue cloth  over which a lot of applique works have been done.  Over a period of time, the applique works were fancied by the local as well as tourists visiting Puri and Konark. The traditional crafts that were associated with rath yatras were wall hangings, canopies and umbrellas. Now, the craft has branched out into making pillow covers, lampshades, ladies bags, small purses or even frocks for small girls. 

The display of applique works in the row of shops would give an impression from a distance that some paintings on the main fabric are involved. But in reality, it is only the patch works of fabrics depicting gods, animals, flowers etc stitched on the main fabric supplemented by some mirror works. The miniature designs and borders are done by sewing threads of various colours.  Generally, bright and contrasting colours  of fabrics are used on the base fabric. 

It is obvious that the applique works depicting three gods of Jagannath Temple - Jagannath, Balbadra and Subhadra are in great demand. At the end of our discussion with the shopkeeper, we bought a couple of wall hangings, lampshades and small bags as souvenirs from Pipli.

Applique work on a wall hanging on display at Pipli on way to Konark-Puri

Applique works on a wall hanging with elephants and flowers

Applique work on a star shaped lampshade

Ladies bag with applique works

OTDC's Yatri Niwas in Konark. Kanark Sun temple is less than 1 km from here.

Evening and Night Views of  Konark Sun Temple

Konark Sun Temple is an UNESCO heritage site. Most of the tourists visit Puri and cover Konark Sun Temple either as a day trip while returning to Bhubaneshwar or Puri. We, however, decided to stay overnight in Konark in order to have an evening and night as well as morning views of the Sun temple. We stayed in OTDC’s Yatri Niwas which, in my view, is the best staying option in Konark. We  checked-in at the Yatri Niwas around 4.00 p.m. After some rest and freshening, we walked towards the Sun Temple which is less than one km from Yatri Niwas.

Sun Temple has been built over a model of a huge chariot having intricately carved 24 wheels, drawn by seven horses carrying the Sun god. Each horse is supposed to denote the day of a week and each wheel the hours of the day. It was constructed some time during 12^th-13^th century in a east-west axis of Sun so that the first rays of the Sun falls on the temple upon sunrise over Bay of Bengal. Sun temple and Nata Mandir (dancing hall) in front of it are made of  sand stones. Since the temple is very close to the sea shores (Bay of Bengal), over a passage of time, the main sanctum sanctorum has crumbled. The roof of the Nata Mandap (dancing hall) in front of the main temple has collapsed. What remains now is only the pillars and the raised platform. The Bhog Mandap (kitchen and dinning hall) on the southern side of the complex has vanished except the base.  Many sculptures and carvings have been eroded after facing vagaries of climate over the years. However, the Jagamohana (audience hall) adjunct to the sanctum sanctorum is almost intact with exquisite carvings.  Still, whatever has remained of temple and sculptures are still awesome and worth viewing before these  also fall victims to the sea wind and climate.

The broken walls of the collapsed structure of the Sun temple have three huge  black stone sculptures  of Sun god on the south, west and north sides each representing the morning, mid-day and setting sun respectively. The erotic sculptures are on the walls of the temple and Jagmohana but I could not locate a single erotic sculpture on the walls and pillars of Nata Mandap (dancing hall).

There was a moderate crowd in the temple complex probably like us to view  Sun temple architecture in the setting sun and also under floodlights in the night. While we took a round of south-western part of the temple to see the sculptures and carvings under the setting sun, regarding the eastern face, the light was not sufficient to take pictures unless one uses flash.  Of course, I could take some close-up pictures even under the poor light condition. After the sunset, floodlights focusing the Sun temple and Nata Mandap (dance hall) were switched on. However, to get the real impact of the floodlights on the monuments, we had to wait for some more time until it was pitched dark when the monuments sparkle in golden colour.

Some pictures of Konark Sun Temple taken in the evening and night are uploaded below :  

Sun temple, Konark seen from the gate in the evening.

Sun Temple Konark - Evening shot - Relief carvings on the southern wall of Nata Mandir.

One of 24 wheels at the southern side base of Sun Temple with relief carvings

  A close up of  an evening shot of  relief carvings on the southern side of Sun temple base.

Sun Temple Konark - Evening shot - Close ups of relief carvings on the southern side of the base of the temple. On the right are an amorous couple in naag-naagin form

Sun Temple Konark - A part of the Nata Mandir in the night under floodlight.

Entrance to Sun temple through  Nata Mandir under floodlight in the night.

Sun Temple in the night under floodlight

Morning View of Konark Sun Temple

We had thought of visiting Chandrabhaga beach, 3 kms from Konark for watching sunrise but in the previous night, we decided to skip it as this would have entail some loss of time for our morning visits to Konark Sun Temple. So we got up early, completed our breakfast and reached Konark Sun Temple by 9.00 a.m. mainly to photograph south-eastern side of the temple when the sun rays fall on them in the morning. We spent about two hours in the temple complex viewing the sculptures and carvings in details which was not possible in the previous evening due to low light and thereafter the floodlights. It may be noted that the intricate nature of the carvings get lost under floodlights. By 11.00 a.m., the sun became too strong for photography as well as for us. So we returned to the comfort of Yatri Niwas.

Some pictures of the morning view of the Sun Temple complex are uploaded below:

Morning view of Sun temple, Konark from the gate

Sun Temple Konark - Morning shot - Entrance to the Nata Mandir of the temple

Sun Temple Konark - Morning shot - The remains of Nata Mandir (dancing hall) with heavily carved base and huge pillars.

The southern side of the high rise platform of Konark Sun temple. On the top of the base is the majorly ruined back side of the main Sun temple.

Sculpture of wo of seven horses of the Sun Temple chariot

Exquisite carvings on the granite stone eastern door frome of Jagamohana (audience hall) of Sun Temple

Carvings  on the bottom part of the granite door frame of the Jagamohana (audience hall) of Sun Temple

Sculptures of two war horses adore on a raised platform on the southern side of the courtyard facing Sun temple

A pair of monolithic elephants on the northern side of the courtyard of Sun Temple

Idol with damaged hands facing the northern side from the sun temple.

The broken idol of Sun god deity facing the south side

Idol of Sun God with broken hands facing western side of the wall of Sun Temple

The intricate carvings on the pedestal of the entrance of now ruined Chhayadevi temple in Konark temple complex

Outlet for sacred oblations in the form of a crocodile holding a fish, attached to Chhayadevi Temple inside Konark temple complex.

To Puri

After a quick lunch in the restaurant of Yatri Niwas, we departed for Puri around 1.00 p.m. by hiring a Maxima van @ Rs.700/- for Puri drop. The distance between Konark and Puri is 30 kms through the marine drive (coastal drive).  After about 3 kms from Konark, we stopped at Chandrabhaga beach for some time. The beach was clean and there was not much of a crowd. At some distance, I could see rows of fishing boats parked on the beach. Probably, the beach is used by fishermen as base for their fishing activities.

After spending about 30 minutes on the beach, we resumed our journey to Puri. From here, the entire journey is all along the coast. The road is excellent with dense trees lined up on both sides of the road. I could see displays of some authorised picnic spots all along the costal side. We reached Puri by 2.30 p.m. and checked in OTDC’s Pantniwas located at the Puri beach. Because of its location and the value for money, Pantniwas gets booked well in advance especially during Rath Yatra and November-February peak season.

After some rest, we strolled on the beach until dark. Even in the night, there was some crowd as the beach is well lighted.  Contrary to my expectation, the beach was clean and sea was calm. 

Chandrabhagha beach

A fisherman in his boat is about to spread his fishing net in sea off Chandrabhaga beach

Konark-Puri Marine Drive

A beach island between Sea and back water somewhere off Konark-Puri Marine Drive

View of Puri beach from Pantniwas room

Puri beach after sunset

Visit to Jagannath Temple and Puri Beach

Today was the important day of our stay in Puri as we were slated to visit Jagannath temple of the east, one of the four dhams of India located in the four directions – the other three being Badrinath in the north, Dwarka in the west, Rameshwaram in the south. While we had already visited, Badrinath, Dwarka and Rameshwaram many years back, visit to Jagannath temple eluded us despite planning to visit Bhubaneshwar many times. Visit to Jagannath temple was always a tricky issuefor me because of a large pilgrim crowd that throng the temple almost throughout the year. I had also heard about the harassment of pilgrims by pandas of the temple. Somehow, I do not like to visit any place including the temples where there is a congregation of large crowd. But having visited Puri and not visiting Jagannath Temple can be an awkward situation for me. To make sure that we over come all sort of problems both real and imaginary, I had kept one full day exclusively for Jagannath temple.

In the previous day, I had apprised the Manager of Pantniwas, Puri of our intention to visit Jagannath temple the next day and was taking his guidance in having a smooth darshan at the temple. He said that one senior panda of the temple often visit Pantniwas to take the visitors to Jagannath temple in the morning. In case he comes, he would call me to talk to him. As expected, Panda came to Pantniwas in the evening and I met him. His plan was that he would buy the special tickets for darshan which opens just before the timing for special darshan starts and send an auto rickshaw at 7.30 a.m.to pick up from Pantniwas. I agreed to his proposal. But having negative impression of pandas of Jagannath temple, I was apprehensive about  fleecing me for arranging the darshan under the guise of special darshan tickets. As I later understood from the Manager also from other employees of Pantniwas, our Panda would take dakshina (offerings) of whatever the amount we pay without any reservation on his part.

We got up early in the morning and completed our morning chores to be ready before the 7.30 a.m. As promised, two auto rickshaws came to the hotel at the appointed time to take four of us to Jagannath temple which was at the distance of about 2 kms from Pantniwas. At the temple’s main gate, our Panda was waiting for us with tickets to take inside the temple. After security check at the gate, we entered the temple complex which looked quite bigger than what one could imagine seeing it from outside. There was a big queue for darshan inside the temple complex. But according to our Panda, the queue was not as long as normally seen on most of the days. He virtually dragged us through the pilgrim crowd to the queue for special ticket darshan. I found that there were about 50 persons ahead of us.  After about 5 minutes, we were ushered inside the cave like round sanctum sanctorum of the temple. There were many deities inside the sanctorum with the deities of Jagannath, Balbhadra and Subhadra occupying the middle part. There were as many pandas inside the sanctorum as he deities, each competing with others to take the visitors to their folds. Our Panda had cautioned us not to keep much cash in hand to place at the feet of deities as some of the pandas have been known to snatch all the cash in hand of pilgrims to place at the feet of the deities knowing very well that no pilgrim would take a part of cash back once kept at the feet of the deities.  I noticed that one of the Pandas actually did the same thing as told to us by our Panda.

Despite relatively less crowd, the atmosphere in the sanctorum was a bit chaotic more because of pandas than the pilgrims. Nevertheless, it was a smooth darshan for us contrary to our expectation. We were inside the sanctorum for about 10 minutes and completed the parikrama (round) of the sanctorum which itself was a luxury as in normal days, the security staff would just push the pilgrims out immediately after darshan to avoid  overcrowding inside the sanctorum. We could not believe that our darshan of Lord Jagannath was over in less than one hour from the start from Pantniwas and by 8.30 a.m., we were out completing a round of other subsidiary temples inside the complex. Photography inside the temple is strictly prohibited.

It was such a great relief for us when our visit to Jagannath temple ended with a smooth darshan without any fleecing by temple pandas. Our Panda did not take any money from us by saying that he would visit us in the evening. We return to Pantniwas by 9.00 a.m. We took breakfast in Pantniwas’s restaurant which was included in the room tariff. After some rest, we hired two auto rickshaws to market around Jagannath temple for some window shopping. In the event, we bought a couple of Odiya sarees and bed sheets  having the typical Odisha handicraft. We were back to Pantniwas by 12 noon. During our absence, our Panda had arrange to send us a packet full of exotic Odiya sweets Malpuri with Rabdi which were very tasty.

Post lunch, we rested in the afternoon. After evening tea and some snacks, we proceeded to Puri beach, this time actually to play in the sea water. The sky was clear and the chance of watching a great sunset over Bay of Bengal was cent percent. After sunset, we were to visit a sand artist’s place on the beach itself. However, the place was closed from all the four sides as the sand artists were still working on a theme befitting the Christmas. All I could see from outside after standing on a makeshift platform was a sculpture of a Chirstian saint and Santa Clause made up of sands.

As we returned to Pantniwas, our Panda came to our room bringing with him the prasad (Lord Jagannath's offereings) for all of us. He gave discourses on some important temples in Bhubaneshwar and Puri in general and about Jagannath Puri temple in particular. After the completion of his discourses, I happily paid Rs.1001/- to him as dakshina (offering) on behalf of our two families.

Glimpses of Jagannath temple seen from a narrow lane.

Jagannath temple seen from the road side. It is said that the Arun Kambha (the pillar on the left) belonged to Sun Temple Konark but it was removed and installed here during the Maratha rule.

A long shot of Puri beach

  Sun about to set in over Bay of Bengal off Puri beach

Sand sculpture of a Christian saint on Puri beach on the eve of X'mas.

Puri beach in the night

With this, our visit to Puri was almost complete, looking forward to a day visit to Chilika Lake on the next day.

Trip to Agartala-Unakoti : December 2011

Ujjayanta Palace in Agartala seen through the gate

After the completion of our Nagaland trip, we were to proceed to Imphal by road and then to Mizoram before arriving at Agartala for my return journey as I got the cheapest hopping flight from Agartala to Mumbai via Kolkatta. The continuation of road blockades in Manipur compelled us to drop Manipur from our itinerary. This meant that we were to take a detour via Silchar to visit Mizoram. But having lost 2 days in this process, we were not having sufficient days to explore Mizoram before proceeding to Agartala. So I decided to drop Mizoram as well from my itinerary in favour of exploring Tripura in detail.  KS decided to visit Mizoram and Meghalaya after the end of our Tripura trip. So what was intended to be a transit trip to Agartala became almost like a full-fledge trip to Tripura. At the end of Tripura trip, we both were happy that our extended stay in Agartala gave us opportunity to visit some exotic places in Tripura.

Since we have dropped our visit to Mizoram, we could have directly travelled to Agartala from Lumding-Agartala Express. But being a night train, we would have missed scenic route from Lumding to Badarpur. So  we travelled  by a day train, Barak Valley Express to Silchar (  Barak Valley Express - A Scenic Train Journey ). After spending a night at Silchar,  we boarded Silchar-Agartala Passenger train for Agartala, the next day. The train was scheduled to depart at 10.45 a.m. but left at 11.45 a.m. We were told by regular passengers that this train had no fix timing and ran late almost every day. A train attendant later told me that most of the meter gauge trains in Lumding Division run late due to old coaches, non-availability of running and maintenance staff, non-availability of spare parts and the topography of the routes. We had booked in AC Chair Car as all other coaches were general compartments in  which I was not keen to travel. Being an old type of AC coach, the AC worked only when train was in motion. Not that it mattered much as the weather was pleasant.   The train reached Agartala at 10.45 p.m. as against the schedule time of 8.00 p.m. One of the passengers told us that we were lucky today as a day before, this train had reached Agartala at 1.00 a.m.! Agartala railway station with its palace like building looked great.

There were plenty of auto rickshaws available outside Agartala railway station. However, we were approached by a Omni driver who offered  to drop us at Ginger Hotel (12 kms from railway station) where we had reservation, for Rs.200/- which we gladly accepted. Probably, he was keen to return to his base in the city centre after dropping some passengers at the railway station. We checked in the Hotel by which time, its restaurant was closed. Luckily, KS had some stock of thepla ( thin dry parathas made up of  fenugreek leaves mashed in wheat and  gram flours mix) which we ate in lieu of dinner and   retired to the bed.
 

Karimganj Jn is on the Lumding/Silchar-Agartala meter gauge railway line and the railway station is close to Bangladesh border.

Agartala railway station

Day-1 : For Tripura trip, we had not planned any schedule for visiting tourist places. So after breakfast at Ginger’s restaurant (Rs.150/- for buffet breakfast), we consulted the hotel’s travel desk about planning sightseeing trips in around Agartala. Mr Biswas who was actually outsourced by Ginger Hotel to manage their travel desk, suggested to do Sipahijela Zoo- Neer Mahal-Udaipur and end with visits to a couple of temples in Agartala. After some negotiation, he agreed for Rs.1800/- ( all inclusive) for full day trip.

We started from hotel at 10.00 a.m for Sepahijala Zoo located inside the wildlife sanctruary which was 35 kms south of Agartala off NH44. The road was in excellent condition. Our intention was only to take a leisure walk in the forest of the sanctuary to see the Zoo which had clouded Leopard, spectacle monkeys among other animals. The zoo was well maintained and I was happy to see that most of the wild animals had enough moving spaces within the enclosures, some of whom had open enclosures.  The sanctuary has botanical park which we did not visit for want of time. There is a food stall at the gate of the Zoo serving tea/coffee and some snacks.

Road inside Sephaijal Wildlife Sanctuary, 25 kms from Agartala

Clouded leopard in Sephaijal Zoo.

Spectacle monkeys in Sephaijal Zoo.

Our next destination was Neer Mahal one of the most visited tourist places in Tripura. Our car dropped us at the jetty on the Rudrasagar lake in Melaghar for taking a boat to Neer Mahal which is located in the midst of the lake.  Since it was the lunch time for the boatmen of normal ferry, we had to hire a full boat for two of us for Rs.180/- including the return ferry. It took about 20 minutes to reach the Neer Mahal jetty. The Rudrasagar lake is very vast and attracts a lot of migratory birds.

Neer Mahal was constructed by  Maharaja Birbikram Kishoe Manikya Bahadur in 1930 as a summer palace on the lines of Jal Mahal in Udaipur (Rajsathan). There are two wings in the palace – the western wing is exclusively for the royal family, while the eastern wing was meant for the cultural events and also the residence for the employees and securities guards. Going by the structure of the domes, the red and white coloured palace is built on Indo-Islamic style of architecture. In the western wing, there is a well maintained garden. Presently, none of the members of the erstwhile royal family stays here. There is a proposal to convert this palace into a museum depicting the royal history of Tripura.  After spending about 40 minutes, we boarded the same boat to return to Melaghar. 

Road to Melghat for Neer Mahal

A street scene with compound walls made of bamboos and canes on way to Melghat.

Rudra Sagar lake with Neer Mahal in the background

A panorama of Neer Mahal with its reflection on Rudra Sagar lake.

The entrance gate to Neer Mahal

Inside Royal wing of Neer Mahal

View of  Security and Servants' wing from Royal wing of Neer Mahal

View of boat jetty of  Neer Mahal from Royal wing.

Boats ferrying visitors to Neer Mahal. In the background is Tripura Tourism's Sagar Mahal Tourist Lodge.

 

Our next stop was at Tripura Sundari Devi temple also known as Maa Tripureshwari which is located about 3 kms from Udaipur town and around 55 kms from Agartala.  This temple is regarded as one among 51 pithasthanas (shakhti peeths) in India. This temple was built by Maharaja Dhanya Manikya at the beginning of 16^th Century AD. The temple has been constructed in the shape of a typical Bengali hut with a conical dome on the top of the temple. In front of the temple complex across the road is a lake known as Kalyan Sagar which is full of fishes and tortoises as fishing is prohibited in the lake. By the time our return journey started, the sun has already set in. On our way back to hotel, we stopped at Laxmi Narayan temple located at the entrance of Ujjayanta Palace and Jagannath temple in Agartala. The temple is located on the banks of Dighi Lake. The striking features of this temple are the use of muslim architecture style with 3-4 storied shikaras. As the name suggests, Balibadra, Subhadra and Krishna are the main deities. The idols look like a replica of the famous Jagannath temple of Puri. Inside the temple complex  are the colourful sculptures and paintings depicting the life of Lord Krishna.



Tripurasundari (Matabari) temple, near Udaipur

Deity of Tripurasundari in the form of Goddess Durga

Kamalasagar Lake seen from Matabari temple complex.

A Kingfisher with a small fish in its beek at Kamalasagar lake.

Jagannath Temple dome seen through the gate, Agartala



Jaggannath temple deities. Lord Jaggannath is called here as Neelmadhav

Day-2 : Visit to Unakoti

We had almost given up our hope of visiting Unakoti for rock cut carvings and images as a day trip due to Gate system on NH.44 (Agartala-Shillong road). The first gate opens at 8.00 a.m. and the last gate for return journey being at 4.00 p.m. With 178+178 kms of to and fro journey to be covered on a hill road, we were cutting too fine for doing this journey as a day trip  with a handicap of gate system. Generally, car hire package for Unakoti is for two days with an overnight halt at Kumarghat or Kailashahar, the gateways to Unakoti. The gate system has been in force for the last few years as out of 178 kms of journey, about 100 kms of road journey is fraught with the risk of facing highway robbers and ultras especially from late evening to early morning. The topography on both sides of the road devoid of inhabitation with dense forest gives a perfect setting for an ambush.

Mr Biswas of Travel Desk at Ginger Hotel gave us good news when we return from the day trip around Agartala that due to some site visits at the border of Tripura and Meghalaya by the Government officials, they would be getting armed police escorts of Tripura State Rifles in which case the gate system's restrictive timings would not be applicable.  Since the Government officials have hired a car from Mr Biswas for the site visit, the car carrying us can join the escorts to make it a day trip by starting the journey early in the morning. This was indeed a good news for us. We hired Biswas’s Indica car (Rs.3600/-) for a day trip to Unakoti.

 

We got up at around 5.00 a.m. and were ready in the hotel lobby by 6.00 a.m. to proceed. Our car (Indica) was ready but the Government officials car with escorts reached  near our hotel around 6.30 a.m. when our car joined the escort. The jeep escort of 4 policemen with assault rifles drove just ahead of our cars with another jeep with the same number of policemen with assault rifles in the back. After making the petrol tank full of both the vehicles, our actual journey on NH.44 started around 7.00 a.m. The road was in good condition even though it was a zig zag road on a hilly track. There was not much of traffic as the gate had not yet opened for other vehicles. Since we had started journey without having even a cup of tea and breakfast, we stopped at a dabha after about one hour of journey for breakfast of puri-sabji and samosas.

 

The road journey is very scenic with dense forest on both sides of the road. Somewhere in the mid point of the journey, one of the tyres of our car punctured. Luckily, we were near some town having a  repair shop for tyre punctures. However, it took about one hour to complete the work as it was noticed that the spare car tyre had also punctured. Once we reached Kumarghat, the police escorts left us and went ahead on the NH.44 while we took a left turn for Unakoti. In any case we were now out of the sensitive area. We reached Unakoti around 12.30 p.m. via Kailashahar, the head quarters of North Tripura district taking about 5 hours 30 minutes as against the usual 4 hours required for travelling here.  A walk of about 200m from the road took us to the gate of Unakoti hills.

 

According to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the rock cuts and stone images belong sometime between 7^th and 9^th century AD. It is a Shaivite pilgrim centre. From the entrance, one can see a huge Shiva rock cut with a height of nearly 30 feet. Just after a few steps inside the Unakoti hills, there is one more huge Shiva rock cut out with the rock cut image of Durga on one side and another female image on the other side. Below these rock cut images is a giant rock cut bull. Rest of the minor rock cut images are in the midst of dense forest. In my view, the most outstanding rock cut image is that of Ganesh which has been carved on a rock at the lower end of the stream flowing from a place below the rock cut images of Shiva. I can visualise as to how this Ganesh images may look in rainy season when the stream would gently fall vertically as a waterfall behind which the image of Ganesh is carved. It may perhaps look like as if a kind of ‘abhishek’ is offered to Lord Ganesh.

 

I am sure, in the rainy season, Unakoti hills may look more beautiful with greenery and numerous waterfalls than other times of the year. There could also be some trekking possibilities as the entire area is a hilly terrain with dense forest. After spending about 45 minutes, we commenced our return journey at 1.15 p.m. At Kumarghat, we took a lunch break and waited for the police escort to join us. Realising that we had sufficient time to cross the last gate at 4.00 p.m., we informed Biswas who was in a car with Government officials that we were proceeding ahead and in case we are not in a position to cross the last gate at 4.00 p.m. we would wait there for the police escort. We did not face this situation as we crossed the gate well before 4.00 p.m. and reached our hotel by 6.30 p.m.

 

By the way, those tourists coming from Silchar can catch Silchar-Agartala Passenger and alight at Kumarghat railway station in the evening. After staying overnight either at Kumarghat or Kailashahar, next day, sight seeing at Unakoti can be completed before noon for onward journey to Agartala  by road thus saving a day. We realised this only after reaching Agartala

 

A short stop over almost half way to Unakoti. The police escort on the left can be seen.

Unakoti is just one km from the diversion to the left.

One of the two giant rock carved statues of Shiva seen from the entrance to Unakoti complex

One more of  Shiva sculpture with Nandi in the foreground (right) seen from a distance.



More rock carved sculptures​. One on the right is that of Shiva



These stone carved deities, including that of Lord Ganesh are at the lower end of the complex.

Day-3 : In Agartala

Today was kept as an extra day to take care of unforeseen eventuality. In the event, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we could see Agartala city in day time.  The morning started with dense fog engulfing the city. Since we had not schedule visits for the day, after breakfast, we first visited the Reliance Service Centre for KS to check out as to whether his Reliance data card would operate in other states in North-East – Mizoram and Meghalaya. The Reliance centre opened at 10.30 a.m. and the outcome of his query was disappointing as his CDMA data card would not work anywhere in north-east states. Agartala railway station was our next destination to try to make reservation for KS in an early morning train to Darma Nagar for his onward journey to Silchar and then to Aizwal in Mizoram. Again the visit was futile as the tickets were wait listed.

From railway station, we decided to revisit Ujjayanta Palace and Jagannath temple as we had seen these places in the night.  These places were worthy of day visit as we could spend about an hour or so to see the Palace as well as the temple. Ujjayanta Palace was under restoration for the last one year and entry inside the Palace was prohibhited. We returned to our hotel for lunch after which we  packed our suitcases and rested for the day as the due to smog and winter months, night sets in Agartala as early as 4.30 p.m.

Entrance to Ujjaynta Palace, Agartala

Ujjayanta Palace seen from the entrance

wooden doors of the main entrance of Ujjayanta Palace.

One of two big lakes by the side of Udayantara Palace (partly hidden by a tree on the right). Some part of Ujjayanta Palace serves as Tripura State Legislativ​e Assembly meeting place.



Tripura Tourism's Geentanjli Hotel, Agartala. The room tarrif is more or less the same as that of Ginger Hotel.

Day-4 : Agartala-Kolkatta-Mumbai

We got up early as KS was to catch 6.45 a.m. train from Agartala railway station for Darma Nagar. In the previous day, he had made an arrangement with an auto rickshaw to pick him from the hotel at 5.30 p.m. Auto driver came in time to pick him from the hotel. Luckily he got a seat in unreserved compartment. The check out time in the hotel was 12 noon but the hotel permitted me to stay up to 2.00 p.m. as my flight was scheduled to depart from Agartala for Kolkatta at 4.30 p.m. I checked out from the hotel at 1.30 p.m. and took an auto rickshaw parked outside the hotel for airport drop (Rs.100/-) which he did it within 15 minutes. Agartala airport is very small and congested. It was a good decision of mine to reach ahead of scheduled reporting time as I could check in within 5 minutes while those who came as per scheduled time had a long wait for check in. The flight left in time and reached Kolkatta at 5.25 p.m. I had enough time to catch Kolkatta-Mumbai flight which was scheduled to depart at 6.30 p.m.

 

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More pictures of Tripura trip