Saturday, December 31, 2005

Bhubaneswar is all set for Ekamra Utsav

Bhubaneswar: The temple city Bhubaneswar is all decked up to host the 10-day-long composite festival called the “Ekamra Utsav” from January 6 to 15 . Orissadiary Friday, December 30, 2005
Tourism minister, Surya Narayan Patro, said the festival which was being held for the first time in the city, would encompass a folk dance extravaganza, a flower show, an international food court, national rose convention and show, walking tours of heritage corridors, Mukteswar Dance Festival and a national handicraft and handloom expo.

Various components of this composite festival will be organised at different parts of the city, he said. The minister informed that the festival was being promoted by the state tourism department with active support from the textiles and handlooms department, development commissioner of handicrafts, Tisco and two state government undertakings — OCAC and OMC.

Elaborating on various components of the festival, he said a folk dance festival would be held every evening at Ekamra Haat from January 6 to 11 , in which folk dances of Odisha like chhau, ghoda nacha, naga nacha, paika akhada, sambalpuri, koya and ghumura dances will be staged. Similarly, a classical Odissi dance festival would be organised at the backdrop of the ancient Mukteswar Temple from January 12 to 15 . A walking tour of 1,000-year-old heritage sites in the temple city will be organised on 7 and 8 January and 14 and 15 January morning to offer the visitors an experience of walking through a different time zone.

The annual state-level flower show, being organised at Ekamra Kanan on 7 and 8 January coinciding with the Ekamra Utsav, will exhibit a wide variety of flowers in full blossom. In addition to it, an all India rose convention and show will be held from 14 to 16 January at Nalco Nagar. One of the major attractions of the composite festival will be the international food court being arranged at Ekamra Haat exhibition ground on 15 January, where a spectrum of Mexican, Thai, Italian, Lebanese, Korean and many other international cuisine will be served. Posco will also set up a stall offering South Korean delicacies while the Taj Group will bring an international chef to prepare Italian dishes.

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