Sri Bhaskar Mahapatra #madeofgreat

Greatness.

William Shakespeare has said- "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

I say those who achieve greatness personify the #madeofgreat category. Such people enter the greatness league by being driven from within, through practice, sincerity, dedication and hard-work. Artist Sri Bhaskar Mahapatra comes in this category.

Source here: http://formsofdevotion.org/artist/bhaskar-mahapatra/

He is a simple, humble, highly talented artist from Basudeipur, Odisha. He has been practising the Pattachitra art since the last thirty years and has been a prestigious Lalit Kala Akademi Awardee.

5 Ways to Manao* your Special Someone!

Sometimes a "sorry" is not enough... Then what is? #sorry

 

Right. "Sorry" is an ubiquitous and taken-for-granted word. Unless you back it up with some heartfelt action, you have no chance to win the other's heart.

So what are my five big ideas to achieve more than the effect of 'sorry' and indeed mend every crack in the relationship?! Here they go:

SURPRISES 

 

#UtkalaDibasaQuiz : Win 2N-3D Stay at Puri, Ratnagiri & lots more!

 

 

The following #UtkalaDibasa Quiz commemorates #UtkalaDibasa 2015 - Odisha's Foundation Day. 

Source

Check out the #UtkalaDibasaQuiz Rules and Terms and Conditions HERE.

A chance to WIN Travel-Stays worth Rs 11,000, Rs 8,000 and 10 other fabulous prizes!

What is Indian Culture?

A lot is opposed as being ‘against Indian culture’. What is Indian culture? #IndianCulture

Indian culture is a wonderful amalgamation of different food, clothing, festivals, religions, languages, dances, music, theatre, puppetry, art, architecture and I can go on and on! Culture refers to both the tangible and intangible aspects of our over five-thousand-year-old civilization. 

Tangible- Food, clothing, arts, crafts, architecture etc. are tangible aspects.

Intangible- Habits, mannerisms, dances, literature, music, theatre, oral traditions handed down since centuries etc. 

In fact, sense of appreciation for our tangible aspects of culture, is also its intangible aspect!

INDIA- A CULTURAL POT-POURRI!

India with 29 states and 7 UTs is a large country. Every state is considered a mini-India being a melting pot of people from different regions, religions, castes and so on. The majority group in one region mostly influences others’ cultural practices. Largely, this cultural pot-pourri has thrived successfully through continuous adaptation and suppleness. 

Narendrapur Loka Nrutya Group from Badakusasthali, Ganjam, Odisha

I had attended the LokaNritya and LokaBadya Utsav [State-Level Folk Dancesand Music Festival] at Bhanja Kala Mandap, Bhubaneswar recently from 25-26February, 2015. The folk dances and folk music performances from Odisha done there, were just outstanding. That there is so much talent brimming in our grassroot-level villages and towns, and more importantly they are working hard to preserve the heritage passed on by ancestors, filled me with optimism and hope for preservation of our vibrant cultural arts.

Indian culture is rich, diverse, glorious, brilliant and each state has its own distinct cultural flavours. The summation of all such brilliance, makes our India - #IncredibleIndia!

Lokanritya and Lokabadya Utsav, Bhubaneswar

Rajya-Stariya Lokanritya and Lokabadya Utsav [State Level Folk Dances and Music Festival] was held on 25 and 26 February, 2015 at Bhanja Kala Mandap, Bhubaneswar. After organising the recently concluded and most wonderful events like the Luptapraya Loka Kala Utsav [Festival showcasing Dying Regional Arts] and the Sankirtan Mahotsav, kudos to Odisha Sangeet Natak Academy and Department of Culture, Govt. of Odisha for organising another brilliant festival showcasing Odisha's vibrant culture!

#Odisha Loka Nritya & Loka Badya Utsav will start soon @ BhanjaKalaMandap #Bhubaneswar.Com & join fast! #ttot #travel pic.twitter.com/zb65TMXEur
— Amrita Sabat (@rocking_amsa) February 25, 2015

 

About Lokanritya and Lokabadya Utsav:

Bhalubansi- rare musical instrument from Western Odisha, India

Bhalubansi, is an ancient wind instrument (Susira Badya) from Western Odisha. It was one among many rare and dying musical instruments played at recently concluded Luptapraya Loka Kala Utsav [Festival showcasing Dying Regional Arts]. Not just Bhalubansi, but Brahmabeena and Dhunkel were also played as part of same performance.

2de 6:30 pm BhanjaKalaMandap #Bhubaneswar 3 rare #Odisha instrumnts 2 b played: bhalubansi,dhunkel,brahmabeena! #ttot pic.twitter.com/KNu9v6On9i
— Amrita Sabat (@rocking_amsa) February 19, 2015

About Luptapraya Loka Kala Utsav:

Suta Kandhei Nacha (String Puppet Dance) of Ganjam district, Odisha

Odisha has a rich tradition of puppetry. Various forms of puppetry such as Glove (Kandhei), Rod (Kathi Kandhei) , String (Suta Kandhei) and Shadow (Ravan Chhaya) puppetry are all found in different districts of Odisha.

Source: http://ccrtindia.gov.in/puppetforms.php

Now, as promised, I'm revealing the suspense I had talked about in my previous post- that photo was of a String Puppetry Show! Here goes another click from the same:

Odia Micropoetry: Dedicated to my beautiful city of Bhubaneswar!

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ନାହିଁ କୌଣସି ସହର ଏହି ଜଗତରେ,

ମୋ ଭୁବନେଶ୍ବରଠାରୁ ସୁନ୍ଦର!

ଏହାର କଳା, ସଂସ୍କୃତି, ସଭ୍ୟତାକୁ,

କୋଟି କୋଟି ପ୍ରଣାମ ମୋର!

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ମୋ ସହର ଇଶ୍ଵରଙ୍କର ବି!

ଏଠାରେ ତାଙ୍କ ବାସଘର!

ଈଶ୍ଵରଙ୍କ ସେବାରେ ମୁଁ ରହିଲି,

ହୋଇ ଝିଅ ଭୁବନେଶ୍ବରର!

Mukteswar Temple of Bhubaneswar Source

Baby: A Movie Review

Attention: This review will be a spoiler for you! It gives out certain points on the movie plot, as it contains my analysis around those points. If you want to watch it directly, go ahead- it is a brilliant movie! 

Source

 'Baby' is a fast-paced action thriller involving a newly-formed (hence called 'Baby'), highly-trained intelligence team. Most apt release close to the Republic Day of India- January 26, as it is a story of unwavering grit, sacrifice and patriotism of our security officers and agents. 

Divine Neem Experiences

The first time I had pimples was when I was in Class IX. I felt like small volcanoes had come up on my face and they would erupt periodically with that thing I abhorred- pus. Often I would interfere and make them erupt knowingly, to get back my plain volcano-less face. But alas! This only created further trouble for the plains of my skin, as more volanoes came up. 

Source: Created in memegenerator.net

Odia Micropoetry: Dedicated to Lord Jagannath

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ତୋ ଚକା ଆଖିରେ ଆଖି ମିଳାଇ 

କହିଛି ମୋର କେତେ ଦୁଖ 

ତୁ ଯେ ଶୁଣୁ ସବୁ ଚୁପ ବସି 

କେବେ ଦେବୁ ମୋତେ ସୁଖ....?

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SANITATION AND HYGIENE BEGIN AT HOME

Over 600 million Indians defecate in the open. Lakhs of tonnes of garbage are generated each day in Indian cities, which are dumped into ever-shrinking landfills. River Ganga is revered as ‘Mother’, yet remains the most polluted river of India. Lakhs die due to toxic air and smoky chulhas each year out of respiratory ailments and suffocation. Over forty percent of Indian children under five are stunted.

So, what connects all the above gruesome facts? That Indian people as a whole, care little about the filth and degraded sanitary conditions outside of their homes. As long as the garbage is outside their homes, they do not bother. Sadly, they do not realise that all that filth will ultimately enter their own well-maintained, clean homes in the form of disease-causing germs, vectors, poor quality water and air, cutting many productive years of their own and their children’s lives.

‘Charity begins at home’. So should sanitation and hygiene habits be ingrained since childhood at home, and homes be kept clean. Yet there is a need to consider the locality, city, state, country and indeed the planet as our home. “Vasudheiva Kutumbakam”– the whole world is a family. By extension, as this family lives on Planet Earth and this is our only home, it is every human being’s responsibility to keep our living spaces clean and hygienic. Once this feeling and responsibility is heartily felt and acted upon by people, then Earth will indeed be Heaven – what with all the beneficial spill-over effects like a spiritual mind, unpolluted food and air, generation of pure thoughts and living in Harmony with Nature !

This post will first clearly demarcate reasons why sanitation and hygiene are so important for India : what are the real spin-offs in fields like health, education, productivity, innovation due to good hygiene and what are the consequences of poor hygiene. Next, it will

My Definition of 'Educated Person'

Education is not merely Stacking of Degrees but also Dressing up of one's Mind and Soul.What is Your Definition Of an Educated Person.And what is your opinion about Educated Illiterates. #Education


An educated person is one who has not just internalised study concepts learnt in educational institutions. More importantly this person must have good values embedded in him/her; be an aware local, national and world citizen; do right towards other human beings; be sensitive to Mother Earth; have a habit of solving problems and doing things pro-actively than whining; practice sustainable living and also be grounded in life than simply showing off position at work, salary or degrees.

CIVIC SENSE AND ENVIRONMENT:

In today's exhibitionist world, people love to flaunt their jobs, degrees and education. Meanwhile, it is utterly shameful that these same people have no basic civic sense such as not littering the road or saying no to plastics which clog our drains. Rather, if these same people will stay in USA or Switzerland, they will not spit or litter or urinate there, but when they stay in India- LET'S DIRTY OUR COUNTRY- WE HAVE THE FREEDOM- is their mantra! Disgusting.

Indian PM interacts with India's Future

PM Modi has done it again. This time he has reached a new target audience- lakhs of school students across India. He has inspired them. Such interactions are needed more often. Indeed, the PM has to be a leader, an inspirer so that our nation can surge ahead. Glad that we have a PM who fully realises this.

Source

Things that I especially liked in the interaction:

a) Sharing his notorious childhood activities. It was unexpected!

b) The Nagpur example: On full moon nights, how to connect with the heavenly environment? Simply switch off the streetlights and let the people enjoy the natural beauty of the romantic night!

c) Read. Read whatever and how much ever you can. Read even from the newspaper packet in which pakodas(hot crispy snacks made of gramflour) are served. [Sadly, nowdays they give in polluting polythenes only. He should have driven that message too- STOP USING THOSE POLYTHENE BAGS]

Row over UPSC CSAT

Source: India Today

An unnecessary row has broken out over CSAT. A few pointers on what I feel about it:

a) It was not introduced in 2011 in haste, rather since 2001 recommendations had been made to overhaul the system to provide level field for all backgrounds' candidates. UPSC started with overhauling Prelim in 2011, then Main in 2013. Yes what UPSC should have done is- since 2008 or so, it should have announced that from 2011 a new pattern will b introduced & given syllabus in advance- then people would have had headstart of 2 or 3 years. Then 'extra attempt' for 'sufferers' who gave attempt in 2011 could have been avoided.

b) Hindi vs Eng: Most Hindi students coming on TV say 'Eng is not problem'. Translation is problem coz software is used for this. This is unfortunate- for sch a prestigious exam couldn't UPSC ensure a team of translators to provide proper translation of big English Comprehension passages? OK now that they know, translation needs to made correct. So I don't know who advised the govt to not include easiest 8 qns of paper- some proper advise to reprint Hindi translation even for Aug 24 would have helped. Coz even now this basic thing's not been addressed.

Do the Gold!

She was practicing Table Tennis in the garage of her home. He was shooting his target to glory with his portable shooting practice kit in his hotel room- even while stealing some time away from his cousin's reception evening below. The Men's Hockey Team was sweating it out on the field, practicing hard. She was wrestling in her akhada, her sisters egging her on with better techniques to defeat the opponents. He was bettering his badminton shots at the P. Gopichand Academy under the lights. She was boxing against all odds, like there was no tomorrow, with single focus. He was weightlifting unimaginably heavy weights in a private gym, for the government never kept its promise to give him a world class gym inspite of him being a previous gold medal winner. She was vaulting with all her gymnastic grace and strength to perfect her art. He was throwing the discus again and again, struggling to better his best throw....

........And it rained that night.

Yes. It rained. It felt like their sweat was mixing with the rain water and liberating them. Giving them fresh energy. More strength to wrestle harder. To fight the Judo better. To hit every badminton shot with more force. To lift the extra 2 kgs beyond 300. To drive that hockey stick to hit more goals. To shoot to ever more perfection. To achieve the ultimate. To create history.

To do the Gold....

My Asus Superphone's Unique Super Power!

Dear Troopers into the Well of the House,

If you think you will quench the thirst of your eternal demands by trooping into the 'Well', let me tell you that you are doing the greatest disservice to our great Nation.

Source

You are putting crores and crores of hard-earning taxpayers' money deep into a dry well each time sessions are adjourned. Just like so many poor 3-and-above year old children have been falling into dry borewell open holes and die gruesome deaths, tax monies with life of their own to feed and care for millions, die immediate deaths due to your parochial behaviour.

There are so many Parliamentary devices for you to raise your demands and issues- short duration discussion, zero hour, calling attention motion, half-an-hour discussion, adjournment motion, censure motion and so on. Why don't you use them?

Rath Yatra Day: Celebrating on Twitter-II

Here my selected tweets' compilation on auspicious #RathYatraPuri day continues! Catch Part I here.

Source: @bikashindian 4m Twitter

#RathYatraPuri Lord wid siblings will hv yummy Pithas at His Aunt's place!He'll b pampered n showered wid love n affectn! He's so like us!:)

 

#RathYatraPuri Lord Jagannath is keenly watching the World wid his large round eyes..sinners will nvr go unpunished..His justice is Ultimate

#RathYatraPuri Car Festival,Chariot Festival or Rath Yatra is nw celebrated almost in every country of d wrld!True Globalised Lord is He!:D

Rath Yatra Day: Celebrating on Twitter-I

Rath Yatra is the Chariot Festival of the three presiding deities at Jagannath Temple, Puri, Odisha, India - Lord Jagannath, His elder brother Lord Balabhadra and His sister Goddess Subhadra.

My tweets on Rath Yatra Day today have been as below. I've almost tweeted 300 so far- so giving chosen ones in 2 posts! Enjoy reading them in a compiled form! We could make #RathYatraPuri trend in India and 'Jagannath' has been trending right throughout! :)

Courtesy: @devasissarangi

Jagannatha Swamy Nayana Patha Gaami...Bhava Tumey! Jay Jagannath! #RathYatraPuri It's d day when our beloved Lord goes on his annual outing!

 

#RathYatraPuri @DDNational has already started LIVE Telecast of majestic Raths and glorious Bada Danda of Puri! Hv U started tuning in yet?!

#RathYatraPuri Lord Jagannath with siblings Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra will go on outing to His Aunt's place and give Darshan 2 all!

#RathYatraPuri Lord is so much like us! He loves goin out on his majestic chariots! B4 this on #SnanaPurnima He had bath & fell ill too! 1/2