#1: [28-Feb-08]

07-Sep-2008 -- Joshipur was our next CP after we had covered Suliapada. The National Highway No 5 meets the it counterpart No 6 a little distance away from Baripada. The GPS kept pointing nearly straight direction towards Joshipur for most of the drive. We had finished Suliapada by noon, and did a straight drive to the next point. I do not know if it was a record of sorts, but we did manage to reach the next confluence at Joshipur by 3 P.M.

As soon as we had passed the small town, the navigation needle pointed eastwards, and as we edged out of the place the distance increased. We turned back and took a small road on the left and drove on straight for another 8 kilometers. It started raining, and the dark clouds soon spent themselves and the sky was clear once again, save for a few powder puff clouds. The GPS directed us to the right and we took the narrow road that went to the village of Dayaposi.

The landscape on both sides of the narrow road was dominated by endless paddy fields with small bamboo groves and jackfruit trees. We stopped and estimated the CP to be near a small building on the horizon which on inquiring we were told was the High School. The spot was about 500 metres behind the paddy fields, and as it had just rained, we were that negotiating the narrow paths amongst the fields would be treacherous. We were told to drive straight through the village and take a roundabout route which would bring us to the school building which was our objective. We took along with one of the village youths and after a twenty five bumpy and bouncy minutes we reached the Dayaposi High School.

The GPS indicated 120 metres to a spot directly behind the school building. I was the first to jump out of the Scorpio and made a fast dash towards a small field that had just been sown. Kasinath soon followed me with the Camera and tried to keep up pace with my fast trot. The CP lay in a small half acre field bordered by other paddy fields. The patch wad dry in respect to the adjoining flooded fields, which made our job much easier.

By this time we had accumulated a crowd of at least 40 curious villagers each asking the other what was going on. The general conclusion they arrived upon was that we were from the Cellular Company and were looking for a suitable spot to set up a tower. The GPS looked quite akin to a cell, and Kasinath had the naughty habit of putting it to his ear and making an imaginary conversation at the top of his voice.

The walk towards the CP was relatively easy, with me playing the Pied Piper. I walked ahead slowly announcing 10 metres, 5 meters, One meter, did it. Kasinath soon arrived and took over the GPS, leaving me with the job of explaining to the crowd what we had come for and discovered. The owner of the field soon came forth from the crowd and said that he did not want any tower or structure on his field. I assured him that nothing of this sort would happen; we were just testing our equipment. However he stood there muttering his silent grumbles, asking the villagers to leave his field as he had recently planted a soybean crop.

Towards the North there was a small hill on the horizon, and in the vicinity a big crop of rice lay fenced in. The village with its quaint red tiled huts lay to the South. Another range of small hills dotted the horizon towards the east, with the rice fields extending up till the village . The Dayaposi High School lay towards the west, just 1 100 metres from the confluence point.

After taking the necessary documentation photographs, and many with our curious onlookers. We finally packed up and made the short walk towards our Scorpio. We said our goodbyes and left behind villagers, who are probably still guessing what this strange visit was all about.

Visit details:

• Duration: 1.20 hours (until we were back on our route)
• Distance of car parking: 150 meters
• GPS height: 6.9 meters
• Description: Absolutely flat land, a dry patch amongst irrigated rice fields. Panoramic view of hills on the horizon.
• Given Name: The Fourth Confluence of Orissa
• Time and date at the CP: 03:30 PM on 07th September 2008
• GPS accuracy: 412 meters
• Temperature: 27 °C