Trip to Bhubwaneswar and Nandankanan Zoological Park

There is an old proverb in saying "Where there is a will, there is a way".The same is very much applicable for this trip to Bhubwaneswar. It was a sheer coincidence that our Railway Exams took us to Odisha & I was the last person to let go of this opportunity to explore Bhubaneswar. Our exam was scheduled on 10th October, 2018 & fortunately I and my brother had our exams on the same day at the same location. Accordingly we boarded Dhauli Express on 9th October, 2018 from Howrah at 6.30 AM. It was a pleasant journey & finally we reached Bhubwaneswar at around 1 PM. We had our lunch from Jan-Ahar at the railway station. After lunch we set out in search of our exam venue which was quite far from the railway station. Accordingly, it took us one hour and fifteen minutes by bus to reach our destination which was at Patia. After locating our examination venue we went to our hotel which was pre-booked by us through OYO.

OYO hotel at Patia, Bhubwaneswar

Closeup view of our hotel

When we reached our hotel it was already 3.30 PM. We went through the formalities at the reception and went to our room for a quick nap. One thing I can surely back for OYO is that they provide state of the art facilities which one needs while staying in a hotel i.e., AC, Geyser, luxurious rooms, prompt room service etc.

View of our room...

Selfie time...

We woke up at around 7.30 PM in the evening and went out in search of dinner since dining at the hotel was a costly affair. Once outside we realised that Patia is one of the most popular locations in Bhubaneswar, where people from different parts of the city visit for marketing and hanging out. As we had our exam on the next day, we did not waste much time. We packed our dinner and returned to the hotel at around 10 PM. We quickly had our dinner and retired for the day.

Chilling out on the bed in your hotel room watching television, while wearing your own pyjamas, is sometimes the best part of a vacation......

I pretend I'm one of the royal family when I'm in a hotel and that the hotel belongs to me - it is a palace...

Next day we woke up early and ordered our breakfast which was complimentary. Our examination centre was half an hour drive from our hotel so we decided to have our lunch before setting our for the exam. As per plan we ordered from Zomato App and after having lunch we set out for the exam which was scheduled at 4 PM. The exam went pretty well for us.After the examination, while we were waiting for our Taxi we heard from the locals that a cyclonic storm 'Titli' had struck the coast of Odisha, though the weather was pretty clear at Bhubwaneswar. That day after reaching our hotel we decided to go for a walk to the nearby Big Bazaar and tried a few local cuisines. The remaining part of the night was uneventful while I and my brother chatted for long hours retrospecting on our trip so far. Next day our checkout from the hotel was scheduled at 11 AM, but our train was at 11.30 PM so we decided to utilise the remaining part of the day by visiting Nandankanan Zoological Park.

One of the biggest and oldest zoological parks of India...

Selfie time....

We had a hassle free checkout and by 11.30 AM we were on our way to Nandankanan. It was just five kilometres from our hotel. We reached there by 12 noon and paid our entry fees to enter the park. Taking a guide is mandatory inside the park as the area is so vast that one can easily get lost. One thing that was really admirable and which I had never seen before in a zoological park was that it's a "Plastic Free Zone: Carrying or use of any kind of plastic was strictly prohibited".

Story behind the name Nandankanan...

Statue of Kanan the tigress...

Once inside the park we visited the cage of different herbivorous animals like Monkeys, Deers, Nilgai (A species of deer), Barking Deer, etc. Our guide was a veteran and he clarified each and every query of ours with utmost precision apart from giving a few valuable tips here and there.
Then we visited the Carnivorous section of which Nandankanan is famous for.

Lone Asiatic Lioness....

Lone African Lioness...

Barasingha....(State animal of Odisha)

The zoological park was so huge that it took us more than 2 hours to explore every corner. Unfortunately for us the safari was closed that day because of the cyclone Titli. It was around 2:30pm in the afternoon, we had only finished our lunch and was sitting by a large lake when the weather started turning for the worst. The dark cloud patches started surrounding us. Predicting a deadly storm, we decided to call it a day.We were more than fifty kilometres away from the station, so to reach the railway station in time was of utmost priority to us.

A small museum cum seminar hall inside the park....

While we were still in the bus, light drizzling started and cold stormy winds started blowing all over. By the time we reached the station it was raining cats and dogs. Our train was at 11.30 PM and it was only 5.30 in the evening, so we had to spend a long time at the waiting hall of the station.From there we witnessed one of the most powerful storms striking a junction station like Bhubaneshwar. Heavy rain resulted in flooding the platforms as the sweepers seemed helpless in getting the situation under control. At one point of time, we were literally afraid that we might have to wait in the station for the storm to get over, that our train could have been cancelled due to the harsh weather conditions.Many trains got cancelled but fortunately for us our train was on the right time.

Neither have I seen such a devastating cyclonic storm in my life nor I have seen such a heavy downpour from such a close range. What amazed me more is how helpless we are infront of mother nature even in this modern fast paced & technologically evolved world. Although frightened, we were thrilled to the optimum level being adventure lovers. My brother and I left Odisha only with a promise to return in future. Lets see when time permits us again!

Take only memories and leave only footprints...

(Picture Courtesy: Piangshuk Mukherjee)