Bhubaneswar: Ekamra Walks celebrated its 150th edition this morning. With many new faces and a reunion with known ones, this edition was a true testament to the art of storytelling and how people become their cities and cities become its people.
Starting at 6:30 am in the morning, the air this Sunday was buzzing with a light energy; people coming in groups and couples and solos. At one corner, there’s a reunion of sorts, sharing anecdotes about their previous experience in Ekamra Walks, someone catches up with someone else and someone is talking to someone for the first time.
The fact that the feeling of camaraderie is a usual experience in this walk says a lot about the impact that Ekamra Walks has on the visitors.
The walk started at Mukteshwar Temple, at the end of which, a fun game of “copy the leader” was played by the walkers where each participant had to hold a pose shown by Odissi dancers and whoever held the pose the longest emerged as the winner.
The guided tour isn’t just a walk, you’re taking a walk through the heart of the city as it wakes up. Jokes are cracked, laughs shared, refreshments given, bits and pieces of lives exchanged. There are trivia questions asked about the heritage sites and answers are exchanged. The need to be right takes a backseat as walkers exchange different facts about the same sites.
The walk ends at the Art Vision Dance Academy, a dance institute by Padma Shree Iliana Citaristi, an Italian Bhubaneswar-based Odissi dancer. The performance is top notch and once again, everyone goes around, thanking and nodding; exchanging smiles and promises of a next time.
The temples of Bhubaneswar have intricate carvings of what society used to be when sculptors and tradesmen decided to paint it; of existence that is now mythical, that is now worshiped. This essence was found in this 150th edition of the Walk; an essence of humanness and connection through similar pasts and for some, new adventures
With the 150th edition of the walk and 150 minutes on the heritage mile coming to an, amazing, bittersweet close, Ekamra Walks hopes to continue this initiative for years to come.
Prasanta Patnaik