On Friday morning, an evocative moment was witnessed at the foot of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world as Odia families residing in Dubai came along to celebrate ‘Utkal Dibasa’ in the foreign land.
Utkal Divas’ or Odisha day is observed on the 1st of April every year. On this day in 1936, the princely state of Odisha was carved out of the combined province of Bihar, Madras, and United Bengal as a separate province. It was the first state that was formed on a linguistic basis when carved out. This statehood day caused a celebration in the remembrance of the state of being recognized as a separate state and hence celebrated as the “Utkal Divas” in the state of Odisha.
On this Odisha’s 86th foundation day maintaining social distancing guidelines with facemasks on, the Odia families congregated at the foot of Burj Khalifa celebrated Odisha’s foundation day by singing Kantakabi Laxmikant Mohapatra’s Bande Utkal Janani. Later they relished Odisha’s much-loved traditional delicacies ‘Arisa Pitha’, ‘Aloo Dum’, and ‘Baraa’.
This celebration was apparently a humble gesture from the Odia people who have been residing in the UAE for almost a decade now, expressing that they missed their motherland and are yearning to visit once the COVID-19 pandemic situation normalizes.
Richa Samantray, an Odia entrepreneur who settled in UAE for the last 10-year shad volunteered to prepare the Odia delicacies for today’s special occasion and that gave her immense joy, she said.
Another Odia Priyanadrshee Panigrahi who is working with an FMCG company said that reciting ‘Bande Utkal Janani’ at the venue was a unique experience for him.
Adding to the list Rajesh Tripathy, who has been working with a large global business school expressed that the celebration was symbolic and inculcated a sense of patriotism and fraternal bonding among the fellow Odias residing in the foreign land.
(Source: The Pioneer)
