Odishaa!! Part - 1

A few folks in Sobha Palladian noticed that we were missing last week.

They did not see Jayanthi dusting the windows nor see me hanging out our clothes  to dry.

Nor did they notice us sipping chai in our garden and waving  to people passing to and from the main gate.

Breaking News !!  We had been to Odisha !!

And, If I were to go around and ask a few folks (who are not from the east), ‘Tell me a few things about Orisssa’ here is what I might hear.

Orissa = Jaganath Puri.        Orissa = Bhuvaneshwar. Konark

Orissa = Cyclone hits            Orissa = Biju Pattnaik

And a few more knowledgeable ones may add Rourkela Steel Plant, Sand art by Sudarsan Pattnaik., HAL factory in Koraput and ISRO rocket launch station on Chandipur-at-sea!!

And a few may also recall Olive Ridley Sea turtles, Kalinga battle and Naveen Pattnaik. 
And I will add Nandini Satpathy (a firebrand in Orissa politics and ex. CM) to this list.  A wonderful  and charming speaker of yester-years!! ( wiki : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandini_Satpathy )

And next, if I ask them what will be their next holiday destination, I am not sure if even one of them will call out Orissa. Yes, it will rank very very low in the list of aspirational holiday destinations like Europe / Southeast Asia/Far East / Dubai / OZ / Kashmir/ Shimla / OOTY / Jaipur / and so on.

Thankfully the religious and pious Hindu families will have Puri as a must see location. It is one of the holy Char Dhams for Hindus - the other three being Rameshwaram, Dwaraka & Badrinath. You visit all these 4 holy places and you are assured of a confirmed berth upstairs!!

And we went on a 5 day road trip to Orrissa – because we were clueless of how that place looked like. And none from our family had gone to that state before.

We flew down to Bhubhaneshwar and drove from there to Puri  (2 days)/ Konark / Gopalpur  (2 days) and back to Bhubhaneshwar (1 day). We could not make it to Cuttack.

And it was just amazing! One of the best experience and the most enjoyable holiday we ever had !!  Rich heritage &  culture, huge imposing temples, wonderful pristine beaches.
And above all very friendly and hospitable people !!  
Would love to go there again !!

And how many of you would know about places like Pipli and Rangarajpur and heard about the annual Bali Jatra festival during the week of Karthik Poornima??

Here is  our journey thru these places and event highlights thru my camera lens.

(pl view on a large PC or Tablet screen to experience  the real ambiance and action)

1.       PIPLI :  a small village that specializes in local art – handicraft, embroidery, applique, wood and brass artifacts. ( The income of this town is essentially dependent on the business of its handicrafts of which the applique works are the main source. wiki : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipili )

We pass thru a small stretch of road, a kilometer in length max.

And both sides of this road is lined with shops stacked with a variety of art and applique work.

A riot of colors and a dazzling display of the skills of these local artists.

Notice the Jagannath idol motif in many places!!

2.      

Raghurajpur :   Raghurajpur is a heritage crafts village, known for its master Pattachitra painters, an art form which dates back to 5 BC in the region and Gotipua dance troupes, the precursor to the Indian classical dance form of Odissi

In 2000, after a two-year research and documentation project by INTACH, starting 1998, the village was chosen to be developed as state's first heritage village and developed as a Crafts village( wiki : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghurajpur )

We get out of the car and enter a wide lane some 200 meters long.  Both sides are packed with small dinghy houses (120 of them), many with less than 10 ft frontage. A group of young men eagerly invite us to their homes. They are very proud of their art and want to demonstrate and showcase them  to us.

A middle aged woman insists that we come inside her house . And we go in.

A very small room barely 8 feet wide crammed with shelves and walls draped with paintings. Everywhere we see artifacts, toys, shelves stacked with bright objects, trinkets hanging form wires ob top.

And Sanju (the mom) and Chandan(the son) enthusiastically showcase all that they hav done. Paintings, sketches, Palm leaf engraving, wood engravings, Areca nut paintings. And they just go and on piiling the small space between us with paintings after paintings.

We are overwhelmed by their sheer enthusiasm and their earnestness to impress.

As we come out we are ambushed by Om Prakash who literally drags us to his house. A dilapidated shack with dog eared certificates, state awards & national awards  of his father lining the walls. and we see some very exquisite artwork done with Kajal (black Eye liner).

Kullu catches up with us and goes on a sob story. His house is located on the right hand side of this lane. And most visitors start with the left side and finish off all their shopping before they come to the right side. So we have to visit his home, he insists.

His house is the most pathetic looking of all the three. We perch on a narrow bench as he starts unwrapping painting after paintings explaining each painting  how it was done, the colors used and  some mythological significance of each.

And by the time we managed to extricate ourselves and reach our car we were totally exhausted. And our pockets too. We spent all our ready cash meant for emergencies!!

3.  Karthik Poornima & Bali Jatra.  12 Nov’19 was Karthik Poornima and marks the starting of the new year for folks here (not verified) . Sailors and merchants set sail for Bali and Java, Sumatra for trading  on this day.

And the sisters (and other family members) of these sailors and merchants pray to god for their successful journey and their safe return. They float boats made from banana stem bark with diyas in them.

We were woken up at 4 am with the sound of crackers and we watch the beach slowly getting crowded with people – both local and those coming from nearby towns and villagers.

Check out the action !!!

4. The Jagannath Temple Road : It is estimated that over 10 Lakh devotees came to Puri this time during the period concluding with Karthik Poornima day. From early morning 12 AM to  midnight endless streams of devotees thronged the temple. So having a darshan on this day was out of question, but nothing stopped us from experiencing this crowd and the super charged  atmosphere.

 Thees is a one mile stretch of road leading up to the famous Puri Jagannath Mandir. And it is thronging with visitors, devotees, street vendors and tons of eatables and merchandise.

And we spent a long time just being in the midst of such activity  and absorbed the ambiance, the devotion of the people and we soaked in the festive spirit here !!

 Horay - Raamo;   Ramo - Ramo;   Horay - Ramo;   Horay, - Horay !
Horay - Krishno;   Krishno - Krishno;   Horay - Krishno;   Horay - Horay !!

And this is the real spirit of India.

The young and old, men and women, boys and girls, the poor and the rich, the healthy and the sick, the wise men and the illiterate, the sadhus and the sinners.

All waiting in a Q in their bare feet, in the scorching sun, to take blessings from Lord Jagannath !!

And they are all equal in the eyes of the Lord!!

Krish..

Odishaa - Part 2 : Folk Tales from Orissa  to follow later.