Bhubaneswar: More than 60 participants including 25 kids from city-based DAV Public School, Chandrasekharpur, their eight teachers and two visitors from Belarus formed the group of heritage walkers on the 70th Ekamra Walks Old Town Circuit.
Snigdha Nayak a teacher from DAV CS Pur said “the school is going to celebrate the World Heritage Day on April 18. We have brought these kids to give them a first-hand knowledge on the monuments of our city, which is also known as the Temple City.’’
The students after reaching school will participate in an event in which they would draw, paint and writes stories and essays on what they have seen during today’s event. All students were selected from various sections of Class V.
Aneela Pattanayak, another teacher accompanying the students was delighted to be part of the heritage walk. “Our entire team including the students were happy to learn the facts and stories on the monuments and especially about the unique temple building style and architecture of the Kalingan era, which was also seen on other parts of the South East Asian island nations.’’
Swayam Sidh Sahoo, from Class V said “we enjoyed the day’s tour and especially the Odissi dance recital at Art Vision, the institute established by Guru Padma Shri Ileana Citaristi. We were also interested to know about the temple kitchen of Ananta Vasudev Temple and the medicinal plant garden at Ekamra Van on the bank of the holy lake Bindusagar.
Anwesha Patra, also from Class V said “we are proud of our heritage, but today we came to know many things about the Kalingan Architecture and style from our guide. We will tell our other friends, what we have experienced from the historic journey.’’
Samidha Mishra, a Class V student with the group was of the opinion that there should be regular tour for the school students to heritage sites, so that they can have more knowledge on the monuments across the city. I did not know that our city has got 361monuments.’’
GATEAWAY CITY
Vitali Kalinka and Jane Azarka, from Belarus joined the Ekamra Walks Old Town Circuit along with other visitors. “We are travelling around the world since a year and half and travelled about 20 countries. We are in India for the first time and also came here from Kuala Lumpur to the Temple City through an Air Asia flight. We are happy that with this new connectivity the city has become a gateway to the world from the East. It has just been three days so far in this city, but it is wonderful. ’’
Jane was so much excited after seeing the Odissi recital at Art Vision that she spoke to Upasana Mohanty, one of the disciples of Guru Ileana Citaristi and expressed her love for the dance form and how the graceful and sensuous moves and postures are made. “Given a chance, I would definitely be interested to learn the dance form,’’ she added.
With Vitali and Jane’s visit Ekamra Walks got the first visitors from Belarus. Till date the guided heritage tour of the city has attracted nationals from 29 countries so far.
Subhashree Jayasingh, another visitor said “Ekamra Walks will definitely go a long way to popularize the city as a destination across the world. We are very happy to know so many things from a single walk and students must take special interest to explore the sites.’’
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