Since childhood I have a fascination for rivers. Both mine and my maternal uncle’s villages where I spent most part of my childhood were surrounded by rivers. I can write volumes about my adventures and playful activities associated with rivers. The story of the river is also the story of its people. All ancient civilisations … Continue reading Kaveri connections
Tag: Odisha
From Jagannath to Juggernaut
Google's dictionary gives the meaning of the word Juggernaut as follows: When you try to find out the word origin, the first page of google search results is full of links to sites run by established dictionary publishers like Macmillan, Webster etc. Of course wikipedia also finds a place. The explanation of wikipedia is much … Continue reading From Jagannath to Juggernaut
The Missing History of Hindustan
In my first article of this series I have mentioned about the tradition of Boita Bandana and Bali Jatra that commemorate the glorious maritime adventures of Odias in South East Asia. The businessmen who engaged in such maritime trade were known as sadhabas. There is a popular folk tale in Odisha about one of sadhaba … Continue reading The Missing History of Hindustan
mera gaon mera desh
Having missed the theme reveal post as I was late in waking up to the AtoZ challenge, I hope this post would compensate for that. In almost all Indian languages, a village is called a Gramam or any of its minor variations. Same way the word palli and its minor variations (like in Kannada it … Continue reading mera gaon mera desh
we can’t do away with English but …
I had the opportunity of listening to William Dalrymple when he had come to the Times Literature Festival, Bengaluru this year to promote his latest book - The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company. From his account it appears that, unlike the Mughals, the British did not have to struggle either to … Continue reading we can’t do away with English but …
danda nacha- a religiocultural celebration since time immemorial
It is one of those few memories of my early childhood. Or it could be the first series of events of my life that I am still able to recall in bits and pieces. I am attending the famous Danda Nacha closing ceremony at a village named Gallery with my mother and my grandmother. The … Continue reading danda nacha- a religiocultural celebration since time immemorial
the land of exceptional arts
image source: https://thesrinibash.wordpress.com/2018/11/22/160/ In the month of October/ November every year, the ancient city of Cuttack is witness to the largest open fair of Asia. Known as Bali Jatra, the festival starts on the full moon of Kartik and continues for a week or so. There is another event that happens throughout Odisha on the … Continue reading the land of exceptional arts
sounds interesting
This week's Indispire prompt of Indiblogger is unique in the sense that usually you know a place is interesting or not after visiting it. You know whether food is tasty or not only after you have tasted it. But the prompt asks you to write about an interesting place you are yet to visit. An … Continue reading sounds interesting
Haldhar Nag : Ordinary Villager – Extraordinary Poet
To see a World in a Grain of SandAnd a Heaven in a Wild FlowerHold Infinity in the palm of your handAnd Eternity in an hour The above lines of William Blake could be used to describe one of the functions of poetry as well. The poet makes us see the world in a grain … Continue reading Haldhar Nag : Ordinary Villager – Extraordinary Poet
Upendra Bhanja : the emperor of Odia Poetry
April is a wake up call for laid back poets as the 'National Poetry Writing Month' virus goes global. According to some poets, poetry writing is not like erecting a building. For building construction you have a plan and then there is a time schedule based on which you work everyday whether you have inspiration … Continue reading Upendra Bhanja : the emperor of Odia Poetry
PEBBLES AND WAVES 