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Bharati: the wonder that is India is a musical extravaganza that is touring in various countries, mostly in Europe. Following is what their web page says about the show.

‘Bharati’ is a musical extravaganza, a delectable composite mix of the varied dances, music and folk traditions of India. Over the space of 90 minutes, the audience is guided through a brief but scintillating sampling of India’s rich and breath-taking diversity. Though just a glimpse, the selections hint at the hidden treasures of this vast and enchanting land; its regional, linguistic, historical and philosophical diversity; its myriad peoples, life-styles and traditions.

Due to continuous reinvention and renewal, these traditions appear to be in a state of constant flux. A taste of this infinite variety is offered in a show that is at once entertaining and intriguing. In making the selection, one of the guiding principles has been the search for elements with enduring appeal.

Music, dance and performance traditions have shaped the ‘collective consciousness’ of the Indian diaspora worldwide, and kept India alive in its collective imagination. Ingredients of popular culture have served as inspiration and link to Indian traditions and heritage. This show is at once a celebration of the vitality of these traditions and an invitation to sample and participate in their unique energy.

The namesake role of the show (Bharati) is done by Bhavna Pani from Orissa. Her introduction in their web page is as follows:

Bhavna was trained in the Odissi Classical dance school under Gurus Mahapatra and Attibudhi. Has won the All India Dance Competition and the Sringar Title (2001) by Sur Sringar Samsad. Danced at the Terrence Lewis Contemporary Dance Company and included performing in many stage productions Featured in films (Vettam, Yuvaraja, Tere Liye.) and TV Commercials.

Following are some youtube clips of the show.

Indian Express has a nice article on the history of Parlakhemundi light railway. Following are some excerpts.

Paralakhemedi Light Railway (PLR) was two feet six inches gauge railway. It was the brainchild of the erstwhile Raja of Paralakhemedi. The Kimedi country, consisting of Paralakhemedi, Paddakimedi and Chinna Kimedi, was under a single ruler till 1607. Paralakhemedi came under the British influence in 1768.

East Coast Railway came into existence in the year 1893 with the construction of the Cuttack-Khurda Road-Puri line, covering a distance of 96 kms and its subsequent link along the East Coast up to Vijayawada — junction point of Southern Maratha Railway and Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railway. As a result, a stretch of 1280 kms of East Coast Railway, covering the entire coastal stretch of Cuttack, Khurda Road, Puri, Palasa, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, was opened for traffic between 1893 to 1896. East Coast Railway brought rail line to Naupada in 1894. The Raja of Paralakhemedi decided to connect his capital with Naupada, which was only 40 kms away. With the government giving sanction in 1898, work began in full earnest. The line was opened to traffic in 1900. This railway line was built at a cost of Rs 7 lakh.

Due to a change in the policy of the British Government, the Bengal Nagpur Railway, popularly known as the B.N.R, took over the northern section of East Coast Railway from Vizianagaram to Cuttack, including the Branch Line of Puri, by 23-01-1902. Accordingly, the working of the PLR was taken over by the Bengal-Nagpur Railway in 1902. In the first few years, the PLR had incurred losses but after 1910, it started making marginal profits and after 1924-25, the profits increased. This motivated the Raja to extend the line to Gunupur in two phases in 1929 and 1931. There were now a total of ten stations between Naupada and Gunupur. Tekkali, Paddasan, Temburu, Ganguvada, Patapatnam, Paralakhemedi, Kashinagar, Lihuri, Bansidhara and Palasingi.

The management of BNR was taken over by the Government of India in October 1944. On 14-04-1952, at the time of the re-grouping of the Indian Railways it became part of the Eastern Railway. The merger of B.N.R. into Eastern Railway, however, did not last long and on 01-08-1955 it was merged with newly constituted South Eastern Railway. During the SER centenary celebrations in 1987, set of four postage stamps were released. One of the stamps featured the PL 691 locomotive.

The standard type of locomotive on PLR was the 20 ton 0-6-4 tank locomotive with small (27 inch diameter) coupled wheels and an axle load of only 4.75 tons. …

The foundation-stone was finally laid for the Naupada-Gunupur gauge conversion work at Naupada on September 27, 2002. With effect from April 1, 2003, PLR became a part of the newly formed East Coast Railway. The line was finally closed for gauge conversion on June 9, 2004.

— VIKAS SINGH, RAIL ENTHUSIAST
Courtesy National Rail Museum

• Chungri Masala
• Baripada Mudhi
• Mansa Machchar Besar
• Dahi Machha
• Poi-Kosala Saag
• Dhenkanal Ghuguni
• Santula
• Janhi Masala
• Katak Dahibara
• Manik Raita
• Pitha
• Salepuri Rasagola
• Kendrapara Rasabali
• Chenapoda
• Chhena Payesh

The above Oriya delicacies are being  currently offered at the Hotel Kalinga Ashok Bhubaneswar in their family restaurant ‘Phulbani’. Non- vegetarian thali meal is Rs 120 and vegetarian thali meal is Rs 100.

Following are excerpts from an article in Times of India.

He mesmerized us with the pensive Main Jahan Rahoon in Namaste London, captured our hearts along with Himesh Reshammiya with Aap ki Kashish in Aashiq Banaya Aapne, shot to fame by bagging the Max Stardust Award 2008 for Maula Mere in Chak De and more recently he gave us the melodiously haunting Soniyo in Raaz 2.

The voice behind these soulful renditions is Krishna Beura, an Oriya guy who is probably the first from his state to offer his voice as a male playback singer in Bollywood.

…Krishna, who specializes in Sufi songs, has sung for more than 30 Bollywood flicks and also worked in Hollywood with famous American musician Jay Oliver for a song by Sandeep Chowta. Now, he is waiting for Sanjay Gupta’s Acid Factory.

Following are excerpts from her article in DNA.

… Years later reading Suketu Mehta’s paean to Bombay, I was drawn back to the moment, for Cuttack is a 1000 years old, truly a millennium city.

The great Barbati fort whose ancient stone ramparts encircle the city in a broken embrace was built around 989 AD by the Keshari dynasty. …

Squeezed on a tongue of land between the two great rivers, Mahanadi and Kathjodi, like any city worth its salt Cuttack soon outgrew its location and acquired a unique ethos.

… Cuttack is its Sahis and Gallis, its babulok and its rickshaws, its lingo with the tangy undercurrent of irony, its Durga Puja and Bali Jatra, kite flying on the sands of Kathjodi, and mouthwatering Dahi Vada Alu Dum. Cuttack is where Subhash Bose was born, where Hari Prasad tuned his flute and Mayadhar Mansingh found his romantic muse. Its moonlight on the Mahanadi, packed houses to Annapurna theatre and 20-20 at Barbati stadium.

… A Mumbai chawl might be an equivalent of the Kataki Sahi but unlike its mammoth big sister, Cuttack knows no riots. Cuttack Chandi, the city’s patron goddess coexists with Qadam-e-Rasool, the seat of political authority of the Moslems of Orissa in centuries of harmony.

… They say that whoever has not gorged on Raghu’s Dahi Vada Aloo Dum has not yet sampled Cuttack . For these urad dal fritters in yogurt sauce with spicy gravy potatoes can tempt the taste buds to distraction. Come evening cars from around a fifty kilometer radius line up for his fare. Raghu is now the stuff of business school curricula like Mumbai’s dabbawallahs! …

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

… Aimed at coaching and training boys from 11 to 19 years, the Orissa Cricket Academy envisions acting as “an educational institution and a nursery” to “effectively tap and groom young talent for the future”.

It has already enrolled the first batch of 40 trainees selected on the basis of performance and record during the under-15, under-17 and under-19 inter-district matches. They are being provided free accommodation and food within the Barabati Stadium complex. …

The youngsters would be imparted training and coaching on modern techniques and physical fitness by qualified and experienced coach, physio trainer and video analyst. …

As part of a major infrastructure development project underway at the stadium, OCA has set up the academy at a cost of Rs 6 crore, 50 per cent of which was provided by the BCCI. National Cricket Academy director Dav Whatmore, … said: “It will act as a state-of-the-art workshop and nursery to enhance performance levels by producing well-talented cricketers with well-rounded personalities to meet the current challenges of international cricket.”

Sprawling over a 2-acre area on the southwest corner of the stadium complex the academy has 10 pitches — six natural turfs, two synthetic (one designed to help pacers and other for spinners) and two concrete. The academy, supported with hi-tech multi-gym facility. R. Srikant has been appointed chief coach with Sourajit Mohapatra, Manas Ray and Daniel Rout to assist him in bowling, batting and fielding, respectively.

The state cricket association had undertaken a major infrastructure development work is in progress at the stadium.

The Rs 56-crore project with 50 per cent funding from BCCI envisaged extension of pavilion, galleries, an indoor hall for practice sessions during inclement weather, swimming pools for players, a permanent academy and hi-tech dressing room of international standard.

(Thanks to Prof. Satya Mohanty for the pointers.)

Following are two excerpts. The first is from a report in Hindu on Puppetry.

BHUBANESWAR: New Delhi-based Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), the apex body of performing arts of the nation, in association with the Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi (OSNA) would host a four-day puppet festival in the city in September.

… Scheduled to be hosted from September 8 to 11, it would feature all the four styles – string puppetry, glove puppetry, rod puppetry and shadow puppetry, he added. “Orissa is one of the few Indian states to have all the four styles of traditional puppetry but lack of adequate patronage has made these largely marginalised over the years. The festival would be an attempt to revitalise these dying arts practices of the State,” explained Mr. Satapathy.

The Central Sangeet Natak Akademi has expressed its concern over the rich but dying puppetry tradition of Orissa, he added.

Eight troupes – each style being represented by two troupes – would be invited to participate in this four-day festival that would include interactive seminars and workshops during the day time and performances during evenings. The thrust would be on documentation of the proceedings and deliberations on innovative ways to promote these ancient forms in the contemporary society, Mr. Satapathy hinted.

The following about Pala is from another report in Hindu.

BHUBANESWAR: The dying arts tradition of pala – the 400-years-old popular folk theatre of Orissa – has found a saviour in the Prafulla Pathagara of Jagatsinghpur district, one of the prominent cultural institutions of the State.

Gramya Sahitya Bikash Samsad – an offshoot of the institution engaged in conservation and popularisation of literature and culture in rural region – hosted a four-day State-level pala competition on its premises at Odishagarh last week, inviting 18 troupes from various parts of the State.

Six troupes were short-listed for the final round that awarded three winner troupes. “Our objective is to revitalise the marginalised troupes by hosting an annual competitive pala festival,” explained Pathagara secretary Bijay Pati.

… For their pioneering contribution towards popularisation of pala, Umesh Chandra Mohapatra (Baleswar district), Niranjan Roul (Jagatsinghpur) and Bhaskar Chandra Sahoo (Cuttack) were conferred Chhanda Bibhusan, Tatvabibhusan and Lasyabibhusan titles respectively during the concluding ceremony.

Lifetime achievement award – Chhanda Martanda – was conferred on Banamali Pati of Jagatsinghpur district on the occasion.

…  A deliberation on the revival of pala was a part of the festival that was chaired by Prafulla Pathagara president Hrudananda Samantasimhara and attended by Odissi music scholar Kirtan Narayan Padhi, Odissi dance guru Naba Kishore Mishra of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, advisor to the Pathagara and Commissioner of Income Tax Prasanna Kumar Das and writer-journalist Gourahari Das who delivered the key-note address.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Gently slipping into its silver edition, Nandikar’s National Theatre Festival must receive a standing ovation for persevering annually over 25 years, providing Calcuttans the only sustained platform to see a wide spectrum of Indian theatre. Even if some invitees have proved substandard recently, even if the full houses caused by serpentine overnight queues in the past have vanished thanks to TV, the organizational achievement remains undiminished.

Almost without fail, at least one surprise every year has won us over. This time, Natya Chetana (from outside Bhubaneswar) did the trick with dramatist-director Subodh Pattanaik’s Mati in Oriya, though we might have expected it on the strength of their Katha in 2002. Among those few Indian troupes to live and work on a rural commune, Natya Chetana admirably pursues theatre for social development. Mati (both earth and mother) manages to connect all of India’s present woes, perhaps too causally, but nonetheless passionately. An American in top hat and stars-and-stripes (an unnecessarily simplistic demonization, the only flaw) sells hybrid seeds to farmers through politicians and middlemen; eventually yields suffer and the villagers are exploited, paving the way for Maoist intervention and violence. The grounds for the spread of insurrection are sympathetically delineated. The collective performs energetically (especially the main family, in the picture) and Pattanaik designs another trademark bamboo-and-cloth set, made exclusively of natural material.

The Oriya papers Sambada and Samaja have presence in the Internet. Samaja has a web-site with limited news and an e-paper site with the full paper. Sambada only has a web-site with limited news.

Following is an excerpt from a news report in the Telegraph.

Painter Jatin Das’s dream of a museum for traditional and contemporary art in his native Orissa has gone international.

Das was in Washington and New York last week outlining his plans for the J.D. Centre of Art in Bhubaneswar to his American and Indian American fans.

At an interactive evening at the Indian embassy here, hosted by India’s deputy chief of mission Raminder Singh Jassal, with slides of his life’s work, Das said the proposed centre would be the first in India to display both traditional and contemporary art in 14 permanent galleries under one roof.

The Orissa government has allotted an acre of land to the painter, who was born in Mayurbhanj. B.V. Doshi, the famous architect from Ahmedabad and associate of Le Corbusier, has designed the master plan for the ambitious centre.

The painter said he had been dreaming of the project for almost a decade and expected that it would cost Rs 50 crore to make it a reality.

“I have been funding the centre, which has a board and a small staff of six people, with money from my paintings. They are temporarily working out of a house in Bhubaneswar given by the state government,” Das told this correspondent.

But he plans to make international requests for funding and hopes Indian Americans will join in the effort.

When the centre is ready, Das will donate his entire collection of 45 years, including paintings, books and antiquities, to the new venture to be housed in one place.

Following is the news report on the discussion (almost a confrontation) with the Railway Board Chair, as reported in India Abroad. The basic premise behind our grievances against Indian Railways and our demands is simple.

• Indian railways is scheduled to make 2500-3000 crores/year from Orissa, but spends only 1000 crores/year on Orissa in terms of new lines, doubling and gauge conversion.
• Its current plan for major spending includes freight corridors, metro rails, and high speed rails, none of which touch Orissa. It plans to do gauge conversion of 12000 kms, most of which is unprofitable (this proves that Indian Railway lies when it says it only does profitable lines), very little (less than 100 km) of which is in Orissa.
• Orissa is already behind the national average in terms of rail density and way behind its neighbors such as West Bengal and Bihar. If no changes are made to the 11th plan IR allocations Orissa will further fall behind.
• Indian Railways must not take money from its profit in Orissa, and spend it else where, until it takes care of proper connectivity to Orissa’s tribal, backward and maoist infested areas. The 2500-3000 times 5 = 12,500 -15,000 crore that Indian Railways will profit from Orissa during the 11th plan must be spend in new lines in Orissa until the (i)-(v) lines below and other port and mine connectivity lines are completed during the 11th plan.
• To Mr. Jena’s retort that Mumbai earns so much in taxes and not all of it is spent in Mumbai; we reply that it is often acceptable to take from rich and give to poor; But when did it become acceptable to take from poor (Orissa) and give to rich (freight corridors etc. in other states)?

The lines in Orissa connecting to the tribal and backward areas that we demand to be finished during the 11th plan are:

• (i) Khurda Rd – Nayagarh – Balangir: Lack of connectivity was one of the reasons a recent Maoist mayhem happened in Nayagarh. It seems after recent events, including the confrontation with the Railway Board Chair and various dharanas in Bhubaneswar, IR has started responding to this demand, but not to the extent to promise its completion during the 11th plan. Note that Balangir is the B in the KBK districts that are the most backward in India.
• (ii) Lanjigarh Rd – Junagarh – Nabarangpur – Jeypore – Malkangiri – Bhadrachalam Rd in Andhra Pradesh: Only small part of this is approved. Most of it is not even surveyed. In the long run this will really bring those parts of Orissa closer to the rest of Orissa. This is the most important connection and has to be take care of at the earliest. Like the approved Vijaywada-Ranchi highway, this line will create an alternative Hyderabad – Ranchi path passing through backward and tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand. This line will connect the Kalahandi and Koraput districts, the two K’s in KBK. The recent Maoist attack and killing of the Greyhound forces in Malkangiri might have been prevented if this line existed as then the forces would have used the train rather than being seating ducks taking a boat across a lake in Malkangiri.
• (iii a) Rayagada – Gopalpur: This has been surveyed and but work on it has not started. Note that Rayagada is part of the undivided Koraput district, one of the K’s of KBK. This line could come under port connectivity and will be a viable line connecting the industries near Rayagada with the upcoming port in Gopalpur.
• (iii b) Gunupur – Theruvali: This will add to the Naupada-Gunupur line and make it an economically viable line. (IR and Mr. Jena agree about its importance.) This line will be completely inside the Raygada district, part of the undivided Koraput district, one of the K’s of KBK.
• (iv) Talcher – Bimlagarh (connectivity to the tribal district of Sundergarh): This line has been approved but is only being given a few crores each year, which is less than the inflation. This line will reduce the distance between Sundergarh district and teh coastal areas significantly. For example, it will make Rourkela only 4-5 hrs from Bhubaneswar.
• (v) Baripada/Buramara – Chakulia: This line will connect the tribal district of Mayurbhanj to tribal areas of Jharkhand. It will add to the Rupsa-Baripada-Bangiriposi line and make it an economically viable line. (IR and Mr. Jena agree about its importance.)

All these lines can be completed if Indian railways just suspends its practice of taking from poor (Orissa) and giving to the rich for only a few years (may be just 3-4 years). The following maps show the above mentioned lines.

Update: See http://picasaweb.google.com/ahimanikya/BhubaneswarFresco for hundreds of pictures.

See pictures at http://www.bhubaneswar-images.blogspot.com/ and http://indiahistoryspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/05/bhubaneswar-from-city-of-temples-to.html.

Following is from a report in exchange4media.

Orissa is set to get a new 24-hour news channel soon. Naxatra News channel, promoted by Prabhat Ranjan Mallick who has several business interests in Orissa, is scheduled to go on air from July 4. This is Mallick’s first venture in the media space. The channel, which is headquartered in Bhubaneshwar, has already got its license from the I&B Ministry.

Naxatra News will air local, national and international news, with the focus being more on local news. The channel has tied up with Associated Press Television News (APTN) for its news content. Apart from news, there would be various infotainment-based programmes as well as talk shows and panel discussions on current issues.

Naxatra plans to set up a bureau in Delhi shortly and also has plans of opening bureaus in Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore in the near future. It has tied up with Lamhas, Mumbai, for teleport purpose.

Ashok Mohapatra has been appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Naxatra News. Mohapatra has had 16 years’ experience in print media and has worked with Sambad, the leading Oriya daily.

Currently, there are two Oriya channels operating in the state – OTV and ETV. Both are general entertainment channels.

Following is an excerpt from a report in odishatoday.com.

"I have already talked with BCCI president Sharad Pawar requesting him to release funds for the infrastructure development of the Railway Cricket Stadium here in Orissa ," Railway Board Chairman and BCCI member Kalyan Coomar Jena said after inaugurating the Stadium here on Monday.

With inauguration of the Stadium, OCA and other cricket bodies could now host Ranji Trophy and other domestic cricket matches in the stadium. And after the expansion work got over, the Stadium could be a venue for the One-Day Internationals.

Railway sources said that the gallery would be made on lines of gallery that are being available in New Zealand.

"We have planned to make the Stadium as world class and facilities would be available on standards of other International venues," Jena, who is one among the policy maker of BCCI, said.

"I also discussed the matter with BCCI Treasure N Srinivasan and I hope, the country’s apex cricket body would release funds under its infrastructure development sachems, he added.

The Stadium is spread over 25 acres of land near here at Railway Workshop having a cricket ground with a boundary of 81 meters radius.

The Railway officials claimed that it would the biggest ever cricket ground in the world. The out field of the ground is planted with baramunda grass. In the first phase, Railway had released Rs 1.5 crore and in the second phase, the Ministry has sanctioned Rs 3 crore for the expansion of the Railway Stadium.

Meanwhile, OCA has announced to release a sum of Rs 1 crore in the initial phase, which will be spent on infrastructure development.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

Till recently, most families migrated to other areas to make a living. This went on till the villagers learnt how to conserve rainwater through watershed development.

Usually, the rainwater would drain off or simply dry up. Now, the community along with the Orissa government and NGOs has started watershed programmes to conserve water in wells, man-made ponds and bunds. The state government has set up a Watershed Development Mission — the first of its kind in India — to take up livelihood and community development programmes.

At the village level, watershed committees implement the programmes. The good thing is, women too have come to the forefront as agents of change. They have formed self-help groups (SHG) to supplement their income.

Malati Sabar’s is one such family in Suklimundi village, Nuapada. They used to migrate to brick kilns in Andhra Pradesh every year. Now, Malati collects mahua flowers to supplement her income while her husband, a small farmer, grows an annual paddy crop on their two-acre plot. Malati has also become a member of an SHG that retails kerosene. Recently, she took a loan from the SHG to buy a goat. "My life has changed ever since the watershed programme was introduced here," says Malati.

In western Orissa, the watershed programme is being jointly implemented by the government and Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK government under the Western Orissa Rural Livelihood Project (WORLP). "We are following a ‘watershed plus’ approach. The aim is to give people more livelihood options besides agriculture," says Sarat Behra, project director, Watershed Commission, Nuapada.Villagers say they are earning more from the same field and it’s regular income too. Moreover, they now have the option of both farm and non-farm activities in their villages. This has curtailed the seasonal distress migration.

Tunu Sabar of Larki village was one such migrant who would go to Andhra Pradesh during the lean season. "Hardly any work was available here. We couldn’t irrigate our fields or grow crops. Most of us went to Hyderabad, Bhuban-eshwar, even Surat to work in brick kilns or as labourers," he says. Life at the brick kilns was tough. Each family got Rs 5,000 as advance from the sardar along with a weekly food allowance. In the end, the sardar took his cut and the migrant was left with almost nothing. But now life’s looking up. Tunu now grows paddy, onions, vegetables, sunflowers etc, on his two-acre patch. He has built a low-cost onion storage area and his kaccha house has been replaced by a pucca one. He has a motorbike and even a telephone.

Similarly, Jamuna Sabar, a widow from Malpada village, used to work as a coolie during the lean months while her son went to Surat as a labourer. Now, they have dug a pond that helps them grow paddy and vegetables. "We plan to diversify our crops and start pisciculture too," says Jamuna.

Common cause

Watershed development is not just about livelihood but also capacity building. Awareness levels among villagers have gone up and community mobilisation is more easy. Ambahal village in Baragarh is a good example. Here, the watershed development community got together to shut the liquor shop so that the village could get aid from NGOs. "We realised we couldn’t get money unless everyone got together. So we shut the liquor shop. Now we are working to spread education, build roads, control malaria etc," says Kamilini Patnaik, chairperson, watershed development committee. Moreover, the community makes sure the development work touches the poorest first and then trickles up. The central government is now planning to replicate this success story in other states as well.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Thaiindian.

Around 850 families in Orissa’s Keonjhar District alone earn their livelihood from Badi making. Traditionally, the Badis have been prepared by grinding the Udad pulse (split black gram Dal) on a sil-stone. But to produce it for commercial purposes, today machines are used to grind the pulse for the Badi paste.

Today, the Badis prepared in Keonjhar District gaining popularity all over the country and in different parts of the world.

“We are supplying Badis to foreign countries too. The women in the old town of Keonjhar prepare these Badis. These Badis are made of Udad Dal (split black gram Dal) and various types of spices are mixed in it,” says shopkeeper Pradumna Patnaik.

Most of the Badis are marketed by Orissa Rural Marketing Services (ORMS) which also facilitates getting advance from banks to the women entreprenuers.

“Every house of Keonjhar district is preparing Badis. It is a part of their culture. For a few years, the people of Keonjhar are commercially preparing the Badis and they are also making it and it helps in their livelihood and promotional activities,” said Anant Charan Sahoo, the Chief Executive of, ORMAS in Keonjhar.

“We are also giving them training to value addition of making Badis in Keonjhar District. More than 200 groups are now engaged in Badi activities. Some parts of Keonjhar like Ghatna, Harichandanpur and Sadar block, the groups are engaged in this activity and they are even getting more money out of that Badi activity,” he added.

Many varieties Badis that are prepared by mixing Udad dal, pumpkin, almond, cauliflower and various other items and condiments. Badi added to enhance the taste of dishes.

“The Badis are very famous in Keonjhar. Badi is such a food item that tastes very good when it is fried with onion and garlic and being eaten with even overnight cooked rice. It also tastes good if it is made with vegetables. The Badis are also used in the marriages and fasts. The food doesn’t taste well without Badis. It is such a food item which can be eaten with rice even by roasting it in fire,” said Harekrishna Patnaik, a buyer.

Some of the art can be seen in the pages: [8],[9],[10],[11] and [12].

Following is what a Telegraph report says about them.

The exhibition of artists from Orissa titled Dimensions & Directions that has opened at Mon Art Gallerie is a refreshing change from the cliched works displayed over and over again at most city galleries nowadays.

To begin with, these young artists have a more heightened awareness of the political situation in the state and also of the degradation of environment as the direct fallout of some political decisions. Some of the works may seem a trifle crude but nobody can doubt their effectiveness despite that shortcoming.

In Debarchan Rout’s canvas a man on a scaffolding is painting a wall green, while ironically greenery has been erased from the terrain beneath him in the name of development. The world map has turned into a black umbrella stopping acid rain from destroying a sapling in Rajiblochan Pani’s canvas.

Traders would once set out from Bali from the Orissa coast, but now the rivers have turned dry and sand is carted away from it. Huge factories come up in background. The entire scene in this work by Sovan Kumar is painted on a piece of tarpaulin.

Birendra Pani once again focuses on the young cross-dressing dancers of Orissa, this time folk style. In Rohit Supakar’s painting, a brand new car emerges from the trunk of an anthropomorphic tree, in an obvious reference to the resistance put up by local people against forcible appropriation of farmland by the government.

In Ramakrishna Behera’s wide-angle paintings of Ladakh, the dividing line between fact and fancy melt away. It must be mentioned that however well intentioned the installation on Ridley turtles may have been it ended up looking too obvious.