The people of Mayurbhnj, the youths in particular, were in a festive mood for the New Year 2017. While the young boys of the district headquarters town of Baripada as well as those of other Mayurbhanj towns like Rairangpur, Karanjia and Udala thronged the streets of their respective areas at the stroke of the midnight on Saturday-Sunday for dancing and singing to welcome the New Year, others too had their own way of celebrating the occasion.
Even though the old people preferred to stay indoors in view of the biting cold, the young ones went for picnics early on Sunday. Picnic sites of Khiching, Ramateerth, Devkund, Bhimkund, lulung, Suleipat, Badjod, Haldia and Kaliakhal etc were crowded with picnic parties on both Sunday and Monday. The first two days of the New Year, Similipal saw a steep rise in the number of its visitors. A total of 1,031 tourists thronged the park on the New Year day itself.
The newly-wed couples of the district, on the other hand, preferred a devotional path instead of going on a picnic. They visited different temples and had Darshan of their presiding deities. They also sought blessings of their superiors.
However, the youth wing of the BJD opted for an altogether different style - better to say, a humanitarian way - to welcome the New Year. The party workers, under the leadership of State Youth BJD general secretary Debasish Mohanty distributed a large number of blankets among the poor and helpless people of Baripada on the occasion on Sunday.