Tears rolled down her cheeks as she offered her prayers to Lord Jagannath.

"It's amazing... I can't find the words to describe my feelings. With this visit, I have got everything I need," said Amritamayee Das aka Monica as she prayed to the divine Trinity in front of the chariots near Gundicha Temple in Puri.

Sixty-year-old Monica is from Rome, Italy. Although she had visited Odisha in 1989 just after she got married, she had never had the opportunity to witness the rath yatra. "This time, I insisted that my husband take me and my daughter to the holy town of Puri."

Monica said she came to know about the Jagannath culture after joining the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon).

"I want to know about the universe of the Lord. I want to know about atma (soul) and Paramatama (God). My inquisitiveness helped me learn about Lord Jagannath through my guru Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. But I have never seen this kind of electrifying atmosphere in my life," she said.

Monica, along with his husband and one of her daughters, Tara, an architect, reached here on July 4 and will return to Italy on July 18. "We have been told that we are not allowed to enter the main shrine. This is the only occasion when we will be able to see the Lord mingle among us. We don't want to miss a single day."

"Its painful that we are not allowed to enter the shrine. Perhaps, its God's desire."

She recalled that her husband and others were allowed to climb onto the chariots earlier.

"Perhaps the administration imposed these restrictions with some purpose. We think of it as His desire that no one should climb the chariot. We have accepted it gracefully. I have already experienced a sense of bliss by pulling the chariots on rath yatra and today on bahuda yatra."

She recalled how they had played host when Gajapati Dibya Singha Deb had visited Italy. "Now, when I watch the king sweeping the chariots, I feel everyone is a humble servant of the Lord. The Lord is there to look after you."