MY POEM7

Kalijai

The state Orissa is full of natural beauties and legendary stories. The natural beauty of Orissa attracts the visitors from every corner of the world. Here, there is temple city Bhubaneswar; the God of Universe, puri Jagannatha; the slanting temple at Humma and moreover the largest salt water lake of Asia, Chillika, which attracts not only the foreign visitors, but also the foreign birds from the far Siberian region to its cite. It is the lake which inspires the poets and writers to write time bound creations also. In his magnum opus Chillika, Radhanatha Roy (the eminent poet of Orissa) had written that Chillika is the beautiful ornament of Orissa and it is full of beauty.
The lake Chillika Asia’s largest and biggest inland brackish water lake stretching across three districts viz: Khurda, Puri and Ganjam and joins up the Bay of Bengal through a narrow mouth. It is spreading over an area of one thousand one hundred (1100) square kilometers. In 1987 it was declared as a sanctuary. It is a winter resort for migratory birds. The Sun rise and Sun set are the memorable experience here. Winter is the loveliest time at Chillika. It is approximately120 kilometers away from Bhubaneswar (the Capital city of Orissa). Bhubaneswar is also the nearest airport to Chillika. The nearest railway stations are at Rambha and Balugaon, both of which have train connection to cities as distant as Kolkata, Puri, Hyderabad and Chennai. From both Balugaon and Rambha buses are available to the lake.
Local transport is basically limited to three wheel rickshaws and auto rickshaws. Bicycles and carts are sole modes of private transport. The services of local boatman and OTDC (Orissa Tourism Development Corporation)’s motor boats are available for access to the islands like Kalijai. OTDC boats can be hired at Barkul and cost between Rs. 410/- (for a 7 seated boat) to Rs. 790/- (for a 34 seated boat) per hour. A special tour is operated by the OTDC between Barkul and Kalijai, which costs Rs. 40/- per head.
When one crosses Chillika by train at one point the passengers closed their hands and touch the head to give Pranam (one type of showing devotion to God) to somebody near Kalijai station. And the Pranam is for the goddess Kalijai and the station is named after her. If one peep through the window near Kalijai station one can see a half drowned hill, in a widen distance in the Chillika lake.
Kalijai is the presiding deity of Chillika Lake. There is a legend that Kalijai was a village girl, who was newly married and was being taken by boat across the lake to her husband, who lived in the Parikuda islands in the eastern shore towards the sea. A sudden storm dashed the boat against a rock and everybody except Kalijai was saved. Since then her ghost is said to be haunting the island. Some year later it is believed that the ghost gives moral support to the local people and the boatmen. People believe her as a goddess. A temple was constructed on the small hill, where it is believed that the goddess is haunting. It is a small in Chillika, half merged under the water. The temple is situated on the top of the hill and it was constructed by the ex-king of Parikuda. The goddess Kalijai is highly revered by the local people, particularly by the fishing community. The big fairs during Makar Sankranti (during the month of January) and Raja Sankranti (during the month of June) attracted many people from far and wide to its place. One more thing to be noticed here is that there is no sacrifice of animal and bird, which is common in most of the places of deities of India.

N.B. The first picture is downloaded from Jitu Bhai's album

The second one is taken by me from the train. Here it is looking like a small hill from the train.