During the 18th Ekamra Walks, the students of the Sai International School in the city and their teachers along with five foreigners and equal number of travellers from metro cities explored the rich Kalingan architecture.
There were more than 80 participants and so far it is the highest compared to the past 17 walks as three groups led by three guides ventured out from the Mukteswar Temple and coincided at Art Vision, the dance institute of celebrated dancer Padma Shri Ileana Citaristi and saw three beautiful recital of Odissi dance there.
“The Ekamra Walks was chosen as we are watching its success every week and thought about giving our students an opportunity to know their heritage and especially, the ancient monuments of the city,” said chairman of the school Bijay Kumar Sahoo.
Sahoo and his students were so happy with the tour and the experience of the heritage walk and the dance recital that he promised to ask his students to come to the walk regularly so that all the students of the SAI International get a basic idea of the major ancient monuments of the city.
Anwesha Panda, a student of the school said, “We are happy to explore a part of the city’s heritage and would love to know more about other prominent and lesser-known monuments in future.’’
Aman Chanduka said, “More places must come under the ambit of such tour and it must be organised in phases covering all major monuments of the city so that people can explore more and have a choice to join the monuments of their choice to explore and enjoy the trip.’’
During her explanation on the Odissi dance, Citaristi said, “The statues of the graceful statues on the temple walls were actually the basic inspiration of the origin of the classical Odissi dance. It is always better and complementing to see the dance recital after the walk so that one can understand the dance and also the temple architecture in a better way.’’
The walkers passed through Mukteswar, Parasurameswar, Sampurnajaleswar, Kotitirtheswar, Bindusagar, Ananata Vasudev, Old Dharmasala, Chitrakarini, Suka-Sari Temple, Mohini Temple, Parikrama of Bindusagar, Vaitaal Temple, Ekamra Van Medicinal Plant Garden besides the Art Vision.
Deepa Rekha, a lawyer from IT Capital Balgaluru, said, “This is my first trip to the Temple City, but it was very exciting with the heritage walk, dance recital and I am overwhelmed with the cultural richness of Odisha.”
Another participant, Romanova Maria also termed the Ekamra Walks experience as educative and enriching towards knowing Odia culture and traditions.