Painting a nice collage of sports and heritage, the Ekamra Walks welcomed mediapersons from the on-going 22nd Asian Athletics Championships-2017.
The only guided heritage walk of the city showcased the priceless monuments and heritage sites to the guests, many of whom were first timers to the City of Temples and in fact, mesmerized by the upkeep of the heritage sites dating back from 7th Century Ad to 15th Century AD, in the Old Town area of the city.
The walk started with beautiful flute melody by artist Prakash Kumar Rout as he played ‘ragas’ like Ahir Bhairav, Jait, Nat Bhairav, Vivash and Bhairav, all morning ‘ragas’ and the visitors were overwhelmed with the flute recital at the
Mukteswar Temple.
later, they visited the Parsurameswar, the Kotitirtheswar, the Ananta Vasudev, the lingaraj, and the Sari temples, besides the Bindusagar and went to the Art Vision to see a performance of Odishi dance.
Principal Secretary Tourism Arti Ahuja and Director Tourism Nitin Bhanudas Jawle joined the walkers and interacted with them and also invited suggestions from the scribes how to put Odisha tourism on the national and
international arena.
The guests, however, unanimously talked about the beautiful temple architecture, the way they are kept in the Old Town and also the hospitality from the people and they also praised the new promo video on Odisha Tourism, which was also shown during the inauguration of the AAC-2017.
Well-known voice actress and founder and creative director of ‘Diary of a Dancebee' Priya Adivarekar, who was a member of the media team, said, “The city has developed a perfect blend of ancient heritage and cultural traditions and the technological developments in a perfect symphony and I am really happy to visit the city and take part in the Ekamra Walks.
Shalini Saksena from The Pioneer said that she is happy to see so many monuments within such a small area and she also praised the Odishi recital at the Art Vision, the institute founded by renowned dancer Ileana Citaristi.
Neha Dara of Mint lounge was also happy to see the intricate stone carvings and designs on the temples of the Old Town and especially in the lingaraj Temple.
Rohit Paniker of Mail Today and Rasika Pote of 'Diary of a Dancebee' were also delighted to see the heritage structures and the ambience in the old city of Bhubaneswar, which has got 361 listed monuments
on date.