The Konark Sun Temple 🛕

It was 4:30 am, we locked the doors of our house and headed towards our cab which was waiting outside. We were on the time, and I was excited as in a few hours it would be my first ever flight experience.

Around 9:30 am, after the ticket collection and security checkup, I was on my seat of Vistara's flight bounded to Bhubaneshwar. This was going to be a 2 hours flight and our captain shared the brief description of the weather of Bhubaneshwar which was going to be a pleasant one. In the next 30 minutes flight take off and I was having goosebumps. As the flight taking a sharp turn towards the East, I was experiencing myself on a twister ride of Worlds of Wonder. In a few minutes, everything went normal. And from the window, I was able to see the shinning Himalayas range. I wish one day I could climb it.

It was 3:00 pm and we were on the way to Konark from Bhubaneshwar. Although, Odisha is still known to be a warm place during March-April. But that day weather was all different. It was pleasant and the clouds were racing with us. I was on the window seat, with my earphone on-ear. I was having the track "Akhaan utte tere aa Prada sajjna, Assi time chakkde aa dadda sajjna" and enjoying the beauty of the state. Outside the window, there was a waterway parallel with our road. The waterway had palm trees on its side. And, the reflection of clouds on the waterway was like trees holding a load of clouds on themselves.

It was my first time in Odisha. Though I am more in the mountains rather than beaches. But I was able to find the same peace here. Narrow roads, traditional houses, greenery, and less traffic. All this made me feel myself in the set of "R.K. Narayan's Malgudi Days". The simplicity of this state touched me. It was around 3-4 hours in this state and I started to love it. The time was passing and I was happy to have everything perfect there.

By 4:00pm we were on our first destination, it was the Konark Sun Temple. Yeah, the temple whose pictures I used to paste on my history projects. The sun was perfectly behind the temple, providing some backlighting effect. Overall at first appearance, it was amazing.

The Konark Sun Temple

This temple is listed as one of the World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This temple is an example of the finest architecture of ancient India. The perfection and the technology, which was used to build this were on another level. All sculptures including a set of 12 wheels, horses, pillars, etc were made with such perfection that none of them could be distinguished. Since most of the part of this temple was demolished by Kala Pahar, a General of Bengal Sultanate, during the war. Do you know, a few people aware that the temple was not just a temple, instead it was a place where sex education was given. Shocked?

The temple is located on a seaside, and my guide said that there was a time when the sea could be seen from the premises of the temple. The temple was huge in size but during the war, a large part of the temple demolished. The remaining part is assigned to the archaeological department for repair and maintenance. To be on the seaside, the salty wind is definitely a big challenge to this temple, cause they cause erosion. But the temple was standing rock solid from centuries. If someone touches any stone which was used to put this structure, then they would definitely feel the charisma like I did.

My concept of the touch effect!

I believe touch and smell can be remembered forever in our subconscious mind. Imagine a rock which is a part of this huge architect. Initially, it was actually a raw rock which was craved to reform into the current form, and after many processes, it evolved into this form. No one knows how much time it took but somewhere impressions can be felt over it. So I tried to take myself in the past by sensing the texture, temperature, and other possible senses. I used to imagine if that rock is there for at least a century then how many ancestors touched it and indirectly I am sensing them. Materialistic things don't have a memory like us, but they express themselves with appearance.

The sun was started to set and the sky was turning reddish. We were there for around one and a half hours. No doubt visiting heritage places are always fascinating and memorable. We get to learn from there and they never stop to amaze us. No one can deny our ancient India was far better and educated than the present. Although my first evening of Odisha was here.