Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Gently slipping into its silver edition, Nandikar’s National Theatre Festival must receive a standing ovation for persevering annually over 25 years, providing Calcuttans the only sustained platform to see a wide spectrum of Indian theatre. Even if some invitees have proved substandard recently, even if the full houses caused by serpentine overnight queues in the past have vanished thanks to TV, the organizational achievement remains undiminished.

Almost without fail, at least one surprise every year has won us over. This time, Natya Chetana (from outside Bhubaneswar) did the trick with dramatist-director Subodh Pattanaik’s Mati in Oriya, though we might have expected it on the strength of their Katha in 2002. Among those few Indian troupes to live and work on a rural commune, Natya Chetana admirably pursues theatre for social development. Mati (both earth and mother) manages to connect all of India’s present woes, perhaps too causally, but nonetheless passionately. An American in top hat and stars-and-stripes (an unnecessarily simplistic demonization, the only flaw) sells hybrid seeds to farmers through politicians and middlemen; eventually yields suffer and the villagers are exploited, paving the way for Maoist intervention and violence. The grounds for the spread of insurrection are sympathetically delineated. The collective performs energetically (especially the main family, in the picture) and Pattanaik designs another trademark bamboo-and-cloth set, made exclusively of natural material.

This is a very interesting set of training programs and presentations in traditional performance arts such as:

• Ghanta Mardala
• Shankirtan
• Gotipua dance
• Chhau dance
• Odissi mardala
• Odissi dance
• Odissi Vocal
• Shankhi Nata
• Shabda Nrutya
• Pala
• Danda Nata
• Dhudki Nata
• Ghoda nata
• Daskathia

Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express report.

‘Kendera geeta’ is on the verge of extinction. This art form was once quite vibrant in Western Orissa districts.

Kendera geeta involves a particular group of people who sing devotional songs accompanied by a very simple-looking musical instrument. They visit door to door and seek alms to sustain themselves. Kendera has some similarity with violin.

There is a head made of dry coconut shell. A bunch of hair from horse’s tail is used as strings for the instrument.

The Naths have made kendera singing a profession and been carrying on with it as a family tradition. Naths migrated from Angul at different points of time to Nathpada of Dadar Nuapali and Parmanpur village of this district.

Interest in Kendera Geeta is gradually waning and now there is hardly any youth taking to the art form. The new generation considers carrying the crude instrument and seeking alms below their dignity. …

If this art is to be saved, it has to divorce itself from seeking alms.

New Indian Express has a report on this. Following are some excerpts.

The Centre will invite global tender through the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for the preservation of the 13th century heritage Sun temple at Konark.
…
The Centre would release Rs 13 crore for the project as well as periphery development around the Sun temple.
…
the Centre has sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the renovation and development of the State museum at Bhubaneswar. Besides, Rs 92 lakh has also been earmarked for construction of the open theatre, Kalamandal, here.
…
The ASI, NCF, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Indian Oil Foundation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for five important monuments of India - Sun temple, Konark, Kanheri caves, Mumbai, Group of temples at Khajuraho, monuments at Hampi and Warangal Fort. The IOC has contributed Rs 25 crore for the project.

The Orissa government web site currently has the following classics in oDiA script.

• Sarala Mahabharata
• oDiA Bhagabata
• Chha maana aatha gunth

The site http://www.odia.org/ also has several books and pages in oDiA script.

• Gita Gobinda: By Jayadeba
• Taapoi: Khudurukuni
• Sabitri: Savitri Brata Katha
• Paita Mantra: Jajrubediya
• Kaluribenta: Kaluri Benta Katha
• Mo patha bahi
• oDiA cheat sheet

Various Oriya poem sites:

• The site http://www.orissainfoline.com/kabita.htm has some poems by Mayadhar Mansinha.
• Oriya Poetry: Kabighara

The Hindu has a nice rememberance of poet Mayadhar Mansingh. Following is a picture from that article.

The Hindu reports that Orissa is planning a palace on wheels similar to the concept of the one in Rajasthan. It will be the 3rd such state after Rajasthan and Haryana. I’m sure that Orissa has higher potential than these two states in terms of tourism. Following is an excerpt.

In an attempt to attract more tourists to the state, Orissa tourism has mooted to introduce luxury trains for travellers following Rajashtan’s much hyped palace-on-wheels model. If implemented, Orissa would be the third state in the country after Rajashtan and Haryana to be the proud provider of this service. Sources in the Department of Tourism said talks were on with the Ministry of Railways for earliest launch of the service following which the Indian Tourism Finance Corporation has undertaken a survey to find the feasibility of the project.

The project proposal has already been endorsed to the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) that has evinced keen interest in it, the sources added.

Collaborative project

While the Ministry would provide the luxury train, the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) would look after the hospitality expenses of travellers, the proposal says. It would be a collaborative project of the IRCTC and the OTDC, it was learnt.

The travel plan would extend over a minimum period of one week and a maximum period of a fortnight.

The train would commence its journey from Kolkata and would be back to its originating point via Balasore, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Berhampur, Koraput, Sambalpur and Rourkela, it was learnt.

Nice step.

Several news reports mention that the Ministry of Tourism of India has been very impressed by the evolution of Raghurajpur village of Puri district as an arts village. There every house has become an art gallery. So impressed the ministry of tourism is with the village, it plans to replicate it in five other locations of the country. Following is an excerpt from Chennaionline.

What started as promotion of ‘pattachitra’ (painting on palm leaf) in Raghurajpur village in Puri district as part of rural tourism project five years ago culminated into transformation of the village into a vibrant centre of folk art.

In 2002, only about 6,000 tourists visited the place. In 2005, the tourist arrival figure went up to 34,000. The sale from the art and craft work went up from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 52 lakh during the same period.

Stone craft, pattachitra, palm leaf inscription, papier mache, sodhai work, mural painting, golden grass coir, screwpine leaf and wood work, filigree, applique, terra cotta and bell metal work greet visitors whose number is increasing every year.

“Every house in this village is an art gallery,” said a senior ministry official.

“The village has served us not just as a role model for generating employment through rural tourism but also as an inspiration for how to preserve folk art,” the official said.

Besides Raghurajpur, the other villages identified for setting up gurukul tradition of teaching art are Pochampalli in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh, Hodka in Kachch district in Gujarat, Pranpur in Ashok Nagar district in Madhya Pradesh and Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala.

From http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=28142

The Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel today officially announced that after the merger of Air India and Indian, the new entity will be known as ‘Air India’. While the new company will have its registered office in New Delhi, its corporate office will be in Mumbai and its office for domestic operations as well as the Strategic Business Units will be mostly based in Delhi. The Mascot of the merged airline will be the Maharaja. The new livery and logo of the merged airline were also unveiled by the Minister today.As ‘Air India’ is a globally and nationally recognized brand name, as well as the designated airline in international bilaterals - the ‘AI’ code being available only to the existing name, it has been decided that the merged entity would continue with the same name. The design components of the new logo and livery have been drawn after merging some of the current features of both Air India and Indian Airlines. The logo of the new airline is a Flying Swan with the Konark Chakra placed inside it. The Flying Swan has been morphed from Air India’s characteristic logo, ‘The Centaur’ whereas the ‘Konark Chakra’ is reminiscent of Indian’s logo. The new logo will feature prominently on the tail of the aircrafts. Individually the Konark Chakra will also feature on all the engines of the aircrafts. The choice of colours namely red for “Flying Swan” and orange for “Konark Chakra” are meant to signify vigour and advancement. Further the colours also have a strong association with two carriers thereby retaining the earlier imagery of traditional hospitality and service. While the aircraft will be ivory in colour, the base will retain the red streak of Air India. Running parallel to each other will be the Orange and Red speed lines from front door to the rear door, subtly signifying the individual identities merged into one. The brand name ‘Air India’ will run across the tail of the aircraft. The images of the new livery and logo is available at www.pib.nic.in. MC/GK

View Video Clip