Chandrabhaga Beach - Blue Flag Award

What is Blue Flag Award? Is it for icy mountains or beaches? Who awards the Blue Flag?

Ghumakkad recently visited a Blue Flag certified beach. In fact Asia's first blue flag certified beach in India, it is located in Odisha, 3 kms east of  world famous Konark temple. Called Chandrabhaga Beach, it is indeed a clean beach. Even the cow on the beach seems to follow the discipline as you will notice in the picture story.

What is a Blue Flag?

The iconic Blue Flag is one of the world's most recognized voluntary awards for beaches, marinas, and sustainable boating tourism operators. To qualify for the Blue Flag, stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained. Readers may refer to the Foundation for Environmental Education for more details. So far more than 5000 beaches, marinas and tourism boats have received the blue flag award across 50 countries.

We are sharing few pictures and videos taken at Chandrabhaga recently.

Our ace photographer K Gopu is seen walking past the beach. The map below shows the location of the beach in the Bay of Bengal.

The veterans and the spouses surf the net while waiting for the coach.

Here is a short video of the scenic Puri-Konark Marine Drive.

Puri and adjoining areas are dotted with numerous temples some very old and some not so old like the one in the picture below.

As we approach Chandrabhaga, our guide narrates the story of Bali-Sugreeva Yudh in the moving coach captured in the video below.

Chandrabhaga beach is neat and clean with facilities for the visitors. It also has various water sports for the adventurous. See the pictures below.

The beach had strong breeze and those who did not venture into the sea, enjoyed the view like the cow in the frame below. 

Here is a 45-sec video of the beach and the panorama.

Remember the advertisement of a chocolate brand 'Never too old for a chocolate'? Another version of the same tag line below!

One of the qualifications to get the Blue Flag for a beach is sustainability of the cleanliness, accessibility etc. Chandrabhaga has harnessed solar power for lighting not only the street lights but also the toilets and kiosks. And the solar system has been installed by a company in Hyderabad! See the picture below.

Happy Veterans posing for a group shot on a windy beach before moving on to Konark Temple.

Those who love water sports, should keep an hour or two for the beach. They will not be disappointed.

The above visit was part of the Golden Jubilee of Navy Veterans of their Commissioning into the Indian Navy (1972-2022). Other stories of the Golden Jubilee Reunion and associated travel can be browsed by clicking the links below:

Sunset Years to Sunrise - Friends Make the Difference

Meet the Navy Veterans- Intro and pandemic positivity video

Veterans' Choice at Puri Odisha

Trees by A Railway Line 

Next time you are planning a beach holiday, look for the Blue Flag. Is the beach blue flag certified?

More stories of our Reunion will follow. Thanks for browsing and stay connected.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with K Gopu/ Secunderabad/ 29th Nov 2022

#BlueFlag #CleanBeaches #Marinas #ChandrabhagaBeach #Konark #Odisha #Finesand #Surfing #NavyVeterans #Reunion #GoldenJubilee #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #solarpoweredbeachlights

Ironman In The Family

Ironman in the family? Yes! Not the iron man of Sardar Patel kind, but with similar achievements of strength, endurance and commitment.

Our son Ankush completed his first Ironman 70.3 race recently. Ghumakkad is delighted to share Ankush's story in his own words. But before that for the lay reader few questions.

What is Ironman 70.3

According to Wikipedia, "An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The "70.3" refers to the total distance in miles (113.0 km) covered in the race, consisting of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run. Swim bike run- in that order in one continuous stretch. If you complete it in less than 8.5 hours, you qualify for the Championship race for that year. 

Where is the Race Held

Ironman 70.3 race is held in almost 100 venues around the world. But in India, there is only one venue- Goa. This year's race in Goa had more than 1300 participants with 800+ as individuals and the balance as relay. In the relay segment, which is non-competitive, each segment of swim, bike and run is done by different competitors.

Coaching

Ironman competition requires coaching and dedicated practice and preparation which may take one year or more. Ankush toiled hard close to a year to build his stamina and endurance for the gruelling race. Most big cities in India have coaches for Ironman.

Entrance Fees

According to Ironman website the entry fee ranges from $613 to $974 depending upon the location. So, it is an expensive sport. But the thrill and self-belief of completing an Ironman outweighs it all.

Now, no further talking by us, let us hear it from Ankush directly. His picture story follows.

In case you are unable to browse the above embedded video link, you may click the Swim Start Video link.

In case you are unable to browse the above embedded video links, you may click the two links here: Bike Transition Video-1 and Bike Transition Video-2 .

In case you are unable to browse the above embedded video link, you may click the Bike Flyby Video here.

In case you are unable to browse the above embedded video link, you may click the Run Video here.

In case you are unable to browse the above embedded video link, you may click the Race Finish Video shot by Prabs, our daughter-in-law.

Here is a picture of the race completion display showing Ankush's time:

Anuva, our nine-year-old grand daughter also took part in a race for the kids called 'IronKids'. Sharing a picture and a video:

Anuva competed in the age group of 9-12 year-old-kids. Most kids were elder to her. Even then she came 9th out of 41 girls and 26th out of 100 boys and girls in her age group. Well done Anuva. Like father like daughter! Willing to go the extra mile in life!

Hope you all enjoyed Ankush's picture story.

We all in the family felt so proud of his achievement. God bless Ankush and may he compete in more IMs in future.

Thanks for browsing.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Ankush Bhargava/ 23rd Nov 2022

#ironman #halftriathlon #swimbikerun #70.3 #ironman70.3goa #endurance #passion #stamina #nevergiveup #keepgoing #ankushbhargava #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #ironkids #anuva

Wheel of Life

Sun temple Konark, is Odisha's icon. A World Heritage site, it attracts thousands of visitors every day. The stone wheels carved out of sand stone are the main attraction. We chose the following picture of the stone wheel taken recently for our next Caption Contest.

Give a caption to the above picture taken after sunset, and win KBG-79, the 79th edition of Kaun Banega Ghumakkad, our online caption contest.

Here is another copy of the picture minus the contest logo for better visualisation of your caption.

Now go ahead and give a caption to the above picture of Wheel of Life at Konark! Let your imagination run wild!

How to Submit a Caption

For the first-timers on KBG, you can respond using any of the six channels below:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Send email to hbindia@gmail.com 
3. Respond on the FB post
4. Comment on Instagram @ghumakkadhb 
5. Comment on Twitter @HarshBh21184761
6. Send a WA message. If you want your WA number to be added to Ghumakkad's list, send an email.

So folks, get going and give your caption pronto! If you feel like, you may submit more than one caption.

Previous Contest

KBG-78, the 78th edition of Kaun Banega Ghumakkad Caption Contest had featured a picture of a shining Buddha during the monsoon at an eco-resort in Goa. It received a huge response summarised in our story 'Goa in Monsoon'. We are sharing two of the winning captions below:

Hope we have succeeded in diverting your mind away from a world struggling to bounce back after devastating impact of Covid on global economy. After long layoff, Ghumakkad had travelled to Odisha recently and had visited the Sun Temple at Konark among other spots. We will bring you a story on 'The Glory of Konark' soon! Till then spread joy and cheer all around like our logo shown below. Thank you Ramya Sriram for such a creative logo.

Now, be your creative best and shoot your response. Most catchy captions will be the Winners of KBG-79! All the best.

Thank you all the readers for your continued support.

Stay connected, stay safe.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 20th November 2022

#Konark #SunTemple #Odisha #Wheeloflife #Konarkwheel #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #KBG #kbg79 #kaunbanegaghumakkad #onlinecontest #takeabreak #captions #creativecaptions #travelfun #learningtogether #travelphotography #worldheritagesite #sandstonecarving #marvelinstone #12yearsforconstruction #travelwalks

Veterans' Choice at Puri Odisha

What do Navy Veterans in their 70s need? A Reunion. So that they can make lot of hulla gulla together.

Which destination to choose? Whichever provides exclusivity and privacy.

Which place did they select for Golden Jubilee of the Veterans' Commissioning? A Resort near Puri in Odisha, India.

Yes, seventeen veterans and spouses chose Toshali Sands, a resort on Puri-Konark Marine Drive in Odisha for their 5N6D Reunion. Normally, we don't use this blog to promote any commercial activity, but we are making an exception. Simply because the place is environment-friendly and is well maintained. Originally, it as an orchard converted to a 35-acre green resort. Excellent food and warm staff leave an everlasting impression the guests. We are aware of many Armed Forces Veterans groups over the last 25 years who have stayed there. Let the pictures do the talking!

The lobby at the reception is very tastefully decorated. Here is a short video of the painted ceilings.

We have shared only a few pictures here. Readers can visit the website for more details.

Look out for more stories about the Reunion and sites around Puri.

Thanks for browsing.

   -   Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Ashutosh Anand/ 2nd Nov 22

#odisha #navyveterans #Renion #goldenjubilee #indiannanvy #toshalisands #puri #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh