A year ago we wrote about a relatively unknown temple up a hill just outside Bhubaneshwar. We had no idea what were doing actually, as posts dried out with us spending more time on other stuff. As the year draws to an end I have been looking back to see how far we have come and its quite far. So I decided one morning that it was time for a revisit.
I started off at around 6:45 in the morning, the sun hidden behind the fog. A fortifying cup of tea later, I was on the road. It was cold that day, the temperature reading 17C and fog obscuring the sight on the road. Luckily this time I had a car instead of a two-wheeler so the temperature was less of an issue. However, this time I was alone. My team has scattered to the four winds around the state, busy with some important stuff. You will see some of that in an upcoming post pretty soon.
The ascent was as hard as before, cold adding to the difficulty. There was no one about and temple looked lonely. The Daya river could still be seen through the bushes but they had grown a bit since our last visit. There was not much evidence of Cyclone Fani’s devastation from up there but then again the trees had 6 months to recover. As there was nothing to do up top I simply came down again.
This time the experience of climbing up and down a hill was a little bittersweet. My friends were not climbing with me, but they are around, busy as they might be. We have actually come far this past year. I feel this coming year will be different. Much like this hike was different, tinged with experience and expectations. There will not be a post next week but we will come back the week after to welcome you to the new year. So this is from me to you, Happy New Year.
