Namaskar friends! Welcome to Visa2explore!
This is your host, Harish Bali.
We are in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Bhubaneswar is also known as the City of Temples!
We will start our journey today with a visit to Shri Lingraj Temple.
We've reached the temple. We are standing in the parking right now.
I've found out that photography or videography is prohibited inside the temple.
We will have to leave our mobile phones and camera outside.
We will now go into the temple and join you here after venerating inside.
We just came back from offering our veneration inside the temple.
When you go inside the temple, there is a huge stone at the tallest tower inside the temple complex.
The one that is 8-10 feet in diameter....
That is believed to be the embodiement of Lord Shankar.
Right in the middle of that stone, you can also see Lord Vishnu's image.
So this stone represents half of the body of Lord Shankar and half of Lord Vishnu.
Combined image of Lord Harihar!
Right now, we are standing in the backyard of the temple complex.
Since non-Hindus are not allowed entry into this temple,...
...but you can walk 200 meters from the main gate of the temple complex to this place and see the complex.
You can take a look at the whole premises from this elevated platform.
This temple was built during the reign of Somvanshi dynasty.
Later on, the Ganga rulers also made additions to this complex.
The huge central tower, which you can see in front of you,....
...its height is about 180 feet.
This complex is home to 108 big and small temples.
I liked the cleanliness in an around the temple.
Architecture, very good!
This structure has been made with sandstone & laterite!
Dry prasad (religious offering) is served at the temple.
I've got this.
So, I am going to eat some of it and take home the rest.
This prasad is made with dhaan (paddy).
This prasad can be preserved for a duration of 1 to 2 months.
Even if you have from afar, you can take back this prasad for your family members.
The temple is open for devotees from 6 am to 10 pm.
But if you want to see the sanctum sanctorum closely....
...you should visit here between 6.30 and 9.30 am or between 2 and 4 pm.
If you come later, or outside of these timings,....
...you will have to visit the inner sanctum from some distance away.
We are leaving here now.
Now, we are going to a place near Ram Temple, for breakfast.
There was a coconut water stall right in front of the temple.
Small coconut for Rs. 25 and large coconut for Rs. 30.
Am I right brother!
The weather was a bit too warm and this coconut water brought some relief.
By the way, the best time to visit Odisha is between November and February.
Today is 30th October and the weather will start cooling off gradually.
But it is warm today.
It took us about 20 minutes to reach Shri Ram Temple from Shri Lingraj Temple.
Look there, it is so crowded!
That place serves a famous breakfast dish.
Let us go there!
Among the food items served here are samosa, vada, dahi-bada,.. what is this called?
Kakra!
Upma!
Poori! Brother, with what do we eat this poori?
With dalma!
So, can I have one poori?
A poori with dalma!
And with that, give me one this...Kakra!
So, they have loaded this plate with dal completely.
With that, it is poori and  kakra!
This dalma has eggplant and potatoes in it.
And other vegetables too but here, I feel,...
...dal is a bit more in ratio to the vegetables...
...and I can see some potato pieces with skin on.
This place is so famous for its breakfast dishes....
....that if you ask anyone in Bhubaneswar to suggest a place for best breakfast....
....everybody will guide you to this spot outside the Ram Temple.
So, it is with a lot of expectations that I've come here.
Wow!
I have to admit, this is a very impressive taste!
Mind blowing!
Absolutely piping hot dal, mixed with so many vegetables, whose flavour is mixed into the gravy!
And as for the masalas (spices), almost nil, absolutely light!
Suitable for people of all age groups!
And the poori has been magnificently cooked!
In the past two days, wherever we ate, I found that dalma is different in taste everywhere.
And there is a difference in vegetables too, because different people use different vegetables
But Kaddu (pumpkin), I've seen, is added the most. You will find it in dalma everywhere.
Along with potatoes and tempering is that of sarson (mustard seeds).
And this dish, with its delicious taste, is so famous in Odisha that it needs no introduction.
He told me that Kakara is made with suji (semolina) and maida (refined flour).
Kakara is soft on the inside.
And crispy on the outside.
Along with a slightly sweet flavour, with shredded coconut inside.
Impressive!
Very tasty!
My tummy is full now!
But I really feel like having one more thing.
Let me find out what that can be!
Brother, give me one piece dahi-bada!
The bada we ate so far, it was soaked in buttermilk, but this one has been soaked in curd.
Do you add something sweet to it!
Yes!
What is in it? Sugar?
Alright!
One thing that I am noticing without even eating it here....
....that dal was coarsely ground before using to make bada.
This place has a huge variety in dahi-bada.
The dahi-bada in Cuttack was special in its own way and this one is special in a different way.
It is difficult for me to choose one from among these two.
This dahi bada has a uniqueness, which comes from the coarseness of dal.
And these guys also use suji in it.
In Cuttack, they use rice in bada.
Wow!
This is a delicious taste!
It is good that I didn't order a full plate!
By the way, eating a full plate of this would mean complete breakfast.
It is heavy!
This is a really impressive eatery.
Whatever I ate for breakfast here today, everything is a benchmark in flavour, everything was so  tasty!
Now, let us finish the breakfast. Our next destination is Dhauli Giri.
We began our Odisha journey from East Odisha.
Then we travelled to Jeypore, Koraput in South Odisha.
From there, we travelled to Sambalpur in West Odisha.
Then, we came back to East Odisha.
This whole journey, that I told you about, will be available in the coming episodes.
And I am sure that you will definitely enjoy the journey.
This episode that you are watching has been sponsored by Cambly.
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This food is so delicious!
Thank you so much for this scrumptious meal!
This meal is delectable!
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Now let us show you the rest of the Odisha episode.
The route from Ram Temple to Dhauli Giri is lovely!
Specially the last 5kms of the route!
It is greenery all around and there is very little traffic.
We've reached Dhauli giri!
You can see parking space is available here.
See here are the stairs. Let us climb these.
We all have read in the history books about Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty.
Today, we've reached a place, which was the very spot on which Ashoka's destiny took a definite turn.
At Dhauli Giri, Emperor Ashoka fought a war with the kingdom of Kalinga!
In the year 261 B.C., Emperor Ashoka launched an attack on Kalinga.
Kalinga is the modern-day Odisha!
During this war, innumerable soldiers were slain and equally innumerable soldiers were left maimed.
On one side of this war was the majestic strength of Emperor Ashoka's empire and on the other hand...
....was a brave Kalinga kingdom.
The Daya river, that you can see in the distance, it is believed to have turned red with the blood....
...that was shed during that war.
By the end of this war, Emperor Ashoka's personality underwent a complete transformation.
By the end of the war, Emperor Ashoka felt proud of his power and reach.
He believed himself to the most powerful king and was happy with his conquests.
At that time, a frail, old woman came upto him and seeing his proud self, challenged him.
Emperor Ashoka, drunk upon his conquest, agreed to the challenge, asking her to seek anything from him
The old woman said that her son was also dead among the thousands of soldiers killed in that war.
She said she wanted to see her son alive.
Ohhoo!
The old woman asked Ashoka if he could bring back her son to life?
Emperor Ashoka refused, saying he was a mere mortal, not God, to bring back dead to life.
The woman retorted, saying just like that, it was not in Ashoka's power to have thousands killed in the war.
The old woman contested that if Ashoka could not bring even a single dead back to life,...
...who gave him the authority of killing thousands for power.
Shaken up by the accusation, Ashoka declared that henceforth,.....
...he would not consolidate or expand his kingdom through war.
That would be done through spiritual  means, he said.
After the Kalinga war, he converted to Buddhism.
You must also have read about  the rock edicts of Emperor Ashoka.
We will also go to see those.
Right at this place, there is also an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.
We went into that temple and paid obeisance.
The priest told us that the Shiv-ling in the temple appeared here on its own.
At a distance of 100 meters from the temple, there is a Peace Pagoda.
This Shanti Stupa was built with Japanese collaboration in the year 1972.
The four statues of Lord Buddha, facing different directions here,....
...like this one in the sleeping position,....
...blessing position,...
...meditation mode....
Now we are going to see the rock edicts of Emperor Ashoka, about 0.5kms from here.
India has a total of 14 rock edicts.
And this is one of those.
After converting to Buddhism, Emperor Ashoka sought forgiveness of the people of Kalinga.
He got his beliefs and thoughts inscribed on these rocks.
Those inscriptions are what you see here in the form of rock edicts.
Emperor Ashoka's ideas are inscribed on different rock faces.
Some of these are - respect for animals, kindness to prisoners, tolerance towards every religion, etc.
The information in the rock edict is basically from the point of view of the administration of those times.
Like how should a King rule over his kingdom and people!
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has covered the rock edicts with steel frames for protection.
The rock-cut elephant visible above the rock edict....
...depicts the anterior portion of an elephant's body.
The facts that we read in our school textbooks...
...to see those things with our own eyes here has been a knowledgeable experience for us.
When you will come to Bhubaneswar....
So, you must travel to this place....
....spend some time here and know about Indian history in detail.
A lot of viewers commented on our channel, asking us to have lunch here at Odisha Hotel in Bhubaneswar.
We were told in the comments that the food we will get to eat here will be traditional as well as tasty!
We travelled from Dhauli Giri to Sahid Nagar.
It took us 30 minutes to reach here.
Come, let us go in.
We have reached here at the peak time of 2.30 pm in the afternoon.
At the ground floor, I can see a long waiting line of customers.
The restaurant is jam-packed inside too.
Since we requested them to get us a table quicker, anyways, they arranged one for us.
We are sitting on the first floor right now.
We've already placed our order.
We are just waiting for our food to arrive in another 5-10 minutes.
Oh wow! Amazing!
This is an amazing presentation, I saw it earlier while waiting at the ground floor too.
This huge thali containing all these dishes!
Buddy, thank for bringing our food. Now please tell us about what we are eating here!
This is Mr. Rajiv, whom I met downstairs.
Now brother, tell me what are all these dishes called?
This is our famous specialty, mutton dish, called Khasi Manso.
This is Paddy Mushroom Besar Rai.
Paddy Mushroom!
Paddy mushroom!
With mustard chips curry!
This is fish, Rohi fish!
And this is pumpkin flower covered in rice flour.
And this is mix bhajji (vegetable fritters).
And this is papad.
Dal, rice, badi chura, the last one is a typical Oriya dish.
This is Santula. Another typical Oriya veg dish!
Just by the look of it, it is,....like Sukto.....?
Yes! In Bengali, it can be called Sukto and in Oriya, we call it Santula.
It is just boiled vegetables, tempered with light spices.
And this is a healthy dish.
Ohh!
And along with that, I had asked for this, what is it called? Panch....
Panch-phutan! (five spice mix)!
Panch-phutan!
This five-spice mix is used in a range of dishes.
This has sarson (mustard), saunf (fennel), methi (fenugreek),.....
....Kala Jeera (Black cumin) and Jeera (regular cumin) in it.
So, some people do make modifications to this mix, as per their individual needs.
But these are largely the five spices used as Panch-phutan in today's food!
Wow!
The thali in which the food has been served...
...I am talking to you about these....
...These smaller thalis containing food are made of bell metal.
Looking at these thalis, I recalled the visit to Sarthebari in Assam.
During that visit, I had understood in detail about bell  metal and how it is used in making utensils.
Do watch that video if you haven't done so already. Now let us talk about this.
Now how should we begin?
Pumpkin flower! This is the second time I am eating it! The first time I ate it was in Assam.
In this pumpkin flower, this is the flower, and what is this?
This is rice batter!
Using rice batter on pumpkin flower makes it a bit rich, I mean....
Eating 3-4 pieces of these would, in a way, be a heavy snack!
I continue to remember my Assam tour.
This is because there are lot of food similarities between this region and that.
This is called aloo pithika there. What do you call it here?
Aloo bhartha!
Aloo bhartha! Great!
This has a great flavour. One is because of the mustard oil in it.
And second thing, when you will come here, you will definitely enjoy the taste of mashed potatoes.
You guys use very light spices in the food here.
Yes!
Very light spices!
Suitable for people of all age groups!
The cooking is very healthy. I liked karela (bitter gourd) but that piece of banana, it was the ultimate!
This dish is made with paddy mushroom.
I haven't eaten it ever before.
Oh God!
Ultimate flavour! The taste of mustard oil is overriding in this dish!
And the own flavour of mushroom is amazing!
You must try this paddy mushroom.
I will try to find if paddy mushroom is available near my home and will try it at home.
But I think chances are less for that to happen.
Very authentic taste!
Really authentic! See this whole garlic clove in it!
See how beautiful this is. Adding the whole clove of garlic to this dish. I liked it very much.
I liked it very much. In fact, I strongly believe that everybody must eat garlic at least once daily.
If possible, eat it whole like this, without worrying about the smell or others' reaction.
Just take care of your health!
Also, mushrooms are rich in Vitamin D. This thing is important because...
...if you cannot get up early in the morning or are busy with work, you can eat mushrooms.
This is your specialty - mutton-aloo jhol!
Jhol means curry!
Really soft!
This is the specialty of this dish is that the mutton in it is very soft and succulent.
Its colour & smell, both are really unique!
Hmmm!
You can feel its special aroma!
Now I've understood, this is the star dish of your restaurant!
That is why this is our specialty.
While coming here, when I asked our driver what we would be eating here.....
...we were discussing food choices. So our driver said that he was going to eat Khasi Manso.
So, I had an inkling about this, however I had no idea it would be this delicious!
And the meat is so tender! Wow!
Very impressive taste!
And its smell is unique while its flavours are impeccable.
Out of all that I just ate, the never-before taste is that of two dishes - one is mushroom....
I cannot stop myself from praising it and the second dish is this - Khasi Manso!
I have a feeling that I am having my combined lunch and dinner right now.
I won't be eating anything tonight.
So now it is the turn of Santula.
As he told me, this dish is made by boiling vegetables.
This has bhindi (okra)! What else?
It has bhindi, parwal, papaya, tomatoes and beans!
Alright! Great!
Usually when we eat boiled vegetables, we perceive those to be tasteless.
That is what people think.
But once you eat this preparation, you will realise the extent to which flavours can be added to boiled veggies.
I am really liking this taste!
And you were right when you said that it is somewhat similar to Sukto.
This has become tastier!
Adding this Bari chura has brought a crispiness to this food! Wow!
I feel as we progress into this journey, we are going to get more varieties in fish.
Especially when we will go to the coastal side of Odisha.
So, going forward, we will get to try a lot of varieties of fish as well.
What flavours!
This food is overall simple!
But loaded with flavours!
While enjoying each morsel of food, I've almost finished the whole meal.
In the next 5-10 minutes, we will finish our food and leave from here.
And Rajiv, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule because.....
...he is a busy man, but still, he accepted my request to spend some time with us to discuss food.
This helped us understand the meal.
I really enjoyed the food!
Thank you Sir!
Alright!
We lost the track of time while enjoying this sumptuous meal.
After that we started discussing our itinerary with someone.
That took some of our time.
The time is 5.30 pm.
It is somewhat dark.
Now we are going towards the Market Bazaar.
After spending some time there, we will call it a day!
Since we got late, we will have to drop a couple of destinations, which we had planned to visit post-lunch.
We've reached the Entry No. 1 of the market.
Let see around the market.
This area is called Unit 2, Market Building, Ashok Nagar Market.
There are more showrooms on the left side of the road.
And on the right side, instead of showrooms, there are smaller shops.
Most of the shops here are selling readymade garments.
Lots of ladies wear!
A lot of shops are also selling children wear.
One thing about this market that I liked the best is that.....
...there is no traffic inside the market.
So, there are no traffic obstructions and you can enjoy the market peacefully.
There are benches installed, where you can sit and relax in case you are tired of walking.
We will walk till the end and then come back.
When I was in Meghalaya last time....
...I could not buy anything for my wife from there.
The sarees of Odisha are quite famous.
Looking at this shop, I realized that I must purchase a saree from here.
Let us go inside the shop to find out more about the designs and see if I can zero in on anything to buy.
What is the price of this saree?
This will cost you Rs. 6000.
Rs. 6000/-.
Show me some other designs.
So these designs, known as Sambalpuri designs, what is different about these, which other sarees don't have?
See this is the temple design.
This border has been woven with silk threads.
None of it is machine-made. It is all handmade work.
This type of design is particularly found in Odisha sarees.
It is called Sambalpuri silk sarees.
How large is the Sambalpur saree industry?
It is huge!
Are there lots of workers?
There are lots of weavers.
There is saree work going on in every household.
Really!
What is the price of this saree?
It is Rs. 6500.
I see!
Show me a couple more designs.
This one is different.
These different designs are all woven in Odisha, you won't find these anywhere else.
Tell me its price!
It is for Rs. 7000.
So, the sarees that you have shown me so far are within the range of Rs. 6000-7000.
None of this is painted, it is all handwoven.
It is fully handwoven.
This market is open all 7 days of the week or is it closed on any day?
It is closed on the last Monda of the month.
What is the starting price of these sarees?
These sarees start at Rs. 4000.
So, all handloom sarees start at Rs. 4000 of cost.
Well, I am liking most of the designs shown to me.
I am going to finalize this saree.
This saree's price is Rs. 8000  but what will be the final price?
Rs. 7000.
For Rs, 7000.
So, one saree I am finalizing here and I am going to buy another one.
...when I go to Sambalpur.
Since we are going to Sambalpur....
...I will meet the weavers there and buy one saree from there as well.
Okay man, please pack this one.
There is a St. Joseph's school near Ram Temple.
We've come here.
I can see a lot of vans selling street food here.
Somebody had told me to come here between 6 and 8 pm.
He told me I would get to enjoy a variety of street food here.
First and foremost, let us take a round of this street.
Let us see, though I am not feeling hungry, but if I see something interesting, I will try it.
I have checked out all the food vans.
Maximum food vans are selling chinese or fast food.
Some vans are selling shawarma.
Momos at other vans!
I don't feel like eating anything heavy.
So, we've come to a mobile van and I have with me Mahesh, our driver.
Mahesh bhai, tell me what you will have?
If you like it, I will order the same for myself.
Okay, I will have the strawberry flavour.
Strawberry!
Brother, give me one strawberry-flavoured milkshake.
If Mahesh likes its taste, I will order for myself and if he doesn't, I won't.
Okay!
How was the lunch today?
Lunch was good!
It was, wasn't it!
Absolutely perfect!
You took us to the correct place.
How is it?
It is good Sir!
You approve it?
Yes!
Okay then!
Brother, give me one glass of milkshake.
The same one, yes.
I feel there couldn't have been a better end to the day than this.
Because I wasn't much hungry but here, one is almost compelled to eat or try something.
So, instead of eating anything, I am drinking this shake.
The taste is delicious!
Properly crushed!
Milk and vanilla ice cream!
Good taste and the best thing is that it is overloaded with ice.
Otherwise, usually people add so  much ice to it that you get sick.
Tasty!
All the stalls you see here operate between 5 and 10 pm daily.
So, this place has a lot of street food varieties that you can enjoy here in the evening.
With this, we end our Bhubaneswar journey of today.
Now, we will  meet in the next episode.
So, it is time to say goodbye to you!
So, if you come to Bhubaneswar, you can spend some time here in the Khau Gali.
In the next episode you will see.....
...we will leave Bhubaneswar early in the morning,....
...to go to Puri via Konark.
Till then bye-bye!
Thanks for your time!
