Recognising Beauty

Her eyes shine,

With a glint of hope,

A glint of happiness,

A glint of sweetness.

She has no despair,

No hint of sorrow.

She is free from pain,

Liberated from worldly bonds.

Love is in the Air...and in the Sand! :)

Do you know about "The International Sand Art Festival" organised by Odisha Tourism every December by the golden sands of Chandrabhaga Beach in Konark, Odisha?! In case you do not know, please read my previous post in which I relive my enchanting experience of this unique festival.

On the day I visited there, amongst the exquisite thirty sand-art exhibits, I encountered a beautiful sand-art by a French Sand Artist. 

Let me tell you at the outset that I've always associated France with Romance! What with the French Kiss and all that! And Paris is the City Of Love after all!

So, I was not at all surprised to see the theme of the French artist's sand-sculpture! It was L-O-V-E all the way!

International Sand Art Festival, Chandrabhaga Beach, Konark, Odisha

The Konark Sun Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is situated about 70 km away from Odisha's sprawling and beautiful capital, 'Temple City' Bhubaneswar. Every winter, around the first week of December, Odisha Tourism organises two conjoined events of great importance in Konark, namely The International Sand Art Festival at Chandrabhaga Beach of Konark and The Konark Dance Festival with the splendid 13th Century Konark Temple as the backdrop of divine Indian classical dance performances.

I had the great fortune of attending the 2012 edition of both these events at Konark which were held from December 1st to 5th. I went on only a single day (2nd December) yet was able to fully immerse myself in the grandeur of these events such that it has remained etched in my mind ever since. This post is dedicated to reliving my International Sand Art Festival experience, and I'll present my Konark Dance Festival experience in an exclusive post, which it rightfully deserves.

I've preserved the fab invite too!

 

An invite to mesmerise the depths of your soul!

Internationally-renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik, recently awarded with Padma Shri, has been the Brand Ambassador of this major festival- a congregation of sand artists from around the world. Around 30 sand artists from Japan, France, Korea, Germany, Norway and of course India had put up their exquisite sand arts in a row that day. I was actually dumb-struck as I was seeing sand-art in front of my eyes, LIVE, for the first time in my life! A less-known fact (quoting from the invite) is that: prevalence of sand sculpture in Odisha dates back to the 14th Century. No wonder, the golden sands of Odisha's pristine 450 km coastline surely provide the perfect canvas to build the most breath-taking sand-arts in the world!

Prisoners of Your Mind

You thought you cannot move out ?

That your hopes, dreams are pinned here ?

Prisoners of your mind,

Alas! You are,

Prisoners of your own mind.

Image Source

You felt you cannot explore ?

That your words none will hear ?

Prisoners of your mind,

Alas! You are,

Prisoners of your own mind.

Biju Pattnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar

Image Source

Airports are the first receiving points for tourists travelling by air into any country, state or city. It is rightly said thus, that the state of the airports determine the 'welcome' experience for especially the foreign tourists. Whether that experience turns out to be 'welcoming' or not, forms the first impressions of the country/state/city in the minds of the visitors.

In the country of 'Atithi Devo Bhava' or 'Visitor/Guest is like God', !ncredible !ndia must pay special attention towards building top class airports connecting all states of the country, to welcome her Guests
in the best way possible. We have made great progress in this direction no doubt, especially since the last six years or so, when swanky and colossal world-class airports have come up not just in Tier-I
cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad etc. in PPP mode but also in Tier-II cities like Nagpur, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar and so on. [Report: In the last five years, AAI has developed and upgraded 58 airports, including 35 non-metroairports.]

Here I embark on a journey to tell U what makes the new terminal of Bhubaneswar Airport inaugurated on 5th March 2013 quite a charming and admirable place as well as in what sense it remains wanting- by solving which it will become truly world-class!
- Wide & separate/dedicated entry & exit roads makes travelling to and from the airport very fast and convenient.
- The Airport's exterior boasts of extremely well maintained lawns and flower-plants which fills the heart with happiness! Sure it's a ravishing sight! All flowers in full bloom too this time of the year!