Where the Elements Held Me – Pure Reflections

A journey I wasn’t expecting, held together by wind, sun, ocean, earth, and the spaces in between. A week of movement, mistakes, silence, laughter — and rediscovering myself through the elements.

This trip was vaguely felt — like it may happen sometime—but I wasn’t expecting it now.For the past few days, I was being pulled toward the energy of the Puri Jagannath Temple.

After almost a week, I am back in “ECHO.”It doesn’t feel new. It feels more like me this time, as if all of this was a dream.

There were different mediums of travel this time—flight, train, buses, scooty, car, autos, running, walking, and sometimes just standing or sitting along the shore.

It also carried all the elements:Air in high winds and breeze,Heat in the form of sun light.Water in the ocean and rain,Earth in the ground and beaches,Space in the vast temples and long shore stretches.

Other than this: stretchiness while designing a temple, astrology while studying architecture, failures, success, punishments, dominance, circle of life, tree of life.Rules back then and rules now.Changing trends, traditions, cultures.Maintaining heritage and urbanisation.Flow of energy, laughter, cheers, trusting and protecting each other.

Sharing stories, or sitting silently and staring at the Era flower bed on the shore.Understanding the view of the ISKCON temple, visiting under-construction sites, and even the kitchen of the Mahaprasadam in Puri.Views from the bottom, views from the top—varied perspectives.Beliefs, cultures, traditions, rituals, prayers.

Different kinds of stays—from a basic hotel to resorts.Understanding how to select stays while travelling alone.Riding a scooty almost 2.8 times heavier than me.Trying to live like a local along the beach road.I visited the zoo and enjoyed the giraffe—such a cutie pie.

Watching the stranded ship on the shore.

Playing in the beach to watching the photoshoot and wondering what a horse is doing in the beach shore, eating muri mixture to raw mangoes.

Sharing stories to listening tales and making memories which are special and some unforgettable.

Watching and learning about the intricate carving to building marvellous temples without machinery and designing.

The focus of the people , the patience  for years until its completed and the teamwork it took to get that into that shape.

More importantly the sacrifices people made along the way.

Everything has a story , every person along the way has a story from Architech to priest to Auto wala.

Meeting random strangers who came and helped me and showed me the path. Some observations in the name of God.

Endless talks with locals about life, politics, tourism.Professional conversations, socialising, helping strangers.Dirty roads, well-maintained crossroads.Lowest levels of maintenance to the highest.Riding in the morning, at night, on unknown roads, in a new city, among new people—yet the rules almost felt the same.

Snuggled moments, feeling bad, feeling left out, figuring it out, redirecting multiple times, realigning to reality.

Sometimes silence. Sometimes shouting, laughing, making jokes, feeling joyful.Sometimes emptiness.

I was responsible when called upon—asked for help or asked to stay back.Made sure everyone was safe and ate on time.Yet a part of me wanted to be a kid or be irresponsible, but still ended up counterchecking everything twice.

Through all this, I ended up understanding myself more than the situations.

I understood what I like, how my body responds, and how exactly I feel comfortable.When I feel peaceful, and with what kind of people.

I did spend more money than others during this process. Sometimes I felt I should have planned earlier and better.But more importantly—I wanted to do it.

I did make mistakes and had to redirect accordingly.But at the end, I learned from them.

I had to live in the moment and still plan the next step.It felt like more work, but it’s all part of the learning curve.

I understood a little about my food habits and how my body behaves when there isn’t enough rest.Again, a learning curve.

This time, the place, people, and nature became my teachers—guiding me into becoming a better human being.

I am still learning, still redirecting, still figuring things out. And maybe that itself is the journey.