Puri festival begins today

BHUBANESWAR, Dec 13, 2005 — Shreekshetra Utsav, a 12-day long festival featuring culture, handicrafts and textiles – organised by the state tourism department will be kick-started in Puri tomorrow. Talking to reporters here today on the eve of the festival, tourism minister Mr Surya Narayan Patro said that the festival was being organised to attract foreign tourists and to help people acquaint with the traditional culture and heritage of Puri.

“Main attractions of the festival are a five-day long cultural extravaganza called Shree Jayadev Odissi Sangeeta Samaroha, the Odissi Food Festival titled as “Bhojan”, Handloom Expo named as “ Khandua”, discourse on Oriya scripture – Bhagabata and sand art exhibition,” he said. Shree Jayadev Odissi Sangeeta Samaroha, which is scheduled to be held from 14 December to 18 December and the discourse on Bhagabata (from 19 to 25 December) will be a great source of information for the tourists about the typical ethnic culture of Orissa, said Mr Patra.

Noted Odissi dancers like Madhavi Mudgal and Kiran Sehgal from New Delhi and artists from Odissi Research Centre and other renowned organisations of the state will present Odissi dance. Accomplished vocalists including Rakhal Chandra Mohanty, Pranab Patnaik, Md Sikander Alam, Prafulla Kar, Ghanashyam Panda, Lakshmikanta Palit and Ramahari Das will present janana, bhajan, chhanda and champu. Gotipua and Mahari, the initial forms of Odissi, have also been included in the festival this year, the organisers informed. Statesman News Service

Seven views of Puri Chandrahas Choudhury Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Puri, in Orissa on the east coast of India, is one of India's four dhams, places thought to be marked by the presence of the gods. Historically a spiritual retreat and a place of pilgrimage, it is now also a modern-day seaside resort and tourist draw.

On my last evening in Puri I decide to visit some of the dozen or so dharamshalas, massive granitic structures mostly between three and seven decades old, that line the Bada Danda; indeed, the wide straight swathe of the Bada Danda and the symmetrical, orderly facades of the dharamshalas are the only clean lines in a scene otherwise flooded with disorder.