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| Sand Art at Bhubaneshwar Airport |
As we started to walk out of the Bhubaneshwar Airport, we saw an impressive Welcome sand art / Sculpture. As we boarded the taxi to our destination – Jagannath Puri, I took some random snaps of the country side which is quite interesting, green with crops of rice and coconut trees. Once, we are there our primary mode of transport was an Auto – Rickshaw. The kids enjoyed the ride and no need to have the seat belts, enjoying the fresh air blowing into the Auto. We travelled to few nearby places like Sakshi Gopal, Alarnath and an amazing, wonderful beach by Auto-Rickshaw.
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| Who kept this road divider here? |
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| Agriculture at Puri Outskirts |
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| Puri Outski |
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| Puri Outskirts – On our way to Alarnath |
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| Sharing the Road |
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| Pearls at the Puri Beac |
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| Precious Stones |
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| Diamonds are for Real @ Puri Beach |
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Sunset at at Puri Beach
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Had an interesting shopping encounter at the beach. I had one person came up to me offering to sell me some of the pure and rare pearls. He even showed me some tests to show that they are genuine. Took a lighter and started burning the pearls with the fire. ‘Look Sir, they are real and pure, otherwise if they are plastic, they would easily be burnt’- said the enigmatic Pearl Seller. How much are they, I asked. He said something like, 100 rupees each. I know that he is trying to cheat us but, I was curious to ask him, what else he got. Anything else you have? I asked him. And, this time he took out from a Box, some shining white stones. ‘These are real diamonds which in the shops are normally sold for few thousands of rupees. I am going to sell them only for 1000 rupees each (something like that, I can’t remember the exact price he quoted)’ he said. Again, he gave a demonstration of their worth by putting them in a cloth. Keeping them on a 2-rupee coin and hitting it with a stone. And, he opened the cloth. Lo behold, the Diamonds are intact and the poor 2-rupee coin had holes in it.
Suddenly, I remembered the words of Srila Prabhupad to a reporter.
“Yes. Of course, to search out a guru is very nice, but if you want a cheap guru, or if you want to be cheated, then you will find many cheating gurus. But if you are sincere, you will find a sincere guru. Because people want everything very cheaply, they are cheated. We ask our students to refrain from illicit sex, meat eating, gambling, and intoxication. People think that this is all very difficult—a botheration. But if someone else says, “You may do whatever nonsense you like, simply take my mantra,” then people will like him. The point is that people want to be cheated, and therefore cheaters come. No one wants to undergo any austerity. Human life is meant for austerity, but no one is prepared to undergo austerity. Consequently, cheaters come and say, “No austerity. Whatever you like, you do. Simply pay me and I’ll give you some mantra and you’ll become God in six months.”
All this is going on. If you want to be cheated like this, the cheaters will come”.
Suppose, you go to an iron shop and ask for Gold, he will give you a lump of iron and says, this is Gold. And, the person gets cheated. Firstly, you need to be sincere, ready to undergo the austerities required for spirituality, learn and get the knowledge about what is real and fake etc.
Anyway, if this person is genuine and having all the original Pearls and Diamonds, why would he be selling them like peanuts in a beach, going to person to person.
Anyway, our business transaction got disturbed by my two kids who are excitedly shouting, “Camel, Camel”. I thanked the future millionaire for his courtesy and showing all his wealth and moved on to take the kids to the Camel ride. I then confirmed the same with my Auto Driver that, all those are fake, hard plastic and Glass pieces. By the way, the beach was beautiful, stayed for a while and had great fun.Running parallel by the Marine Drive, beach at Puri is an interesting place to be. I was told that, we can visit a fishing village along the coast and also a row of food stalls, Hotels etc.
Words of Caution, “Don’t get cheated in life”.
P.S: My visit to India in Jan 2017.
