#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!

Love is in the Air...and in the Sand! :)

Do you know about "The International Sand Art Festival" organised by Odisha Tourism every December by the golden sands of Chandrabhaga Beach in Konark, Odisha?! In case you do not know, please read my previous post in which I relive my enchanting experience of this unique festival.

On the day I visited there, amongst the exquisite thirty sand-art exhibits, I encountered a beautiful sand-art by a French Sand Artist. 

Let me tell you at the outset that I've always associated France with Romance! What with the French Kiss and all that! And Paris is the City Of Love after all!

So, I was not at all surprised to see the theme of the French artist's sand-sculpture! It was L-O-V-E all the way!

International Sand Art Festival, Chandrabhaga Beach, Konark, Odisha

The Konark Sun Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is situated about 70 km away from Odisha's sprawling and beautiful capital, 'Temple City' Bhubaneswar. Every winter, around the first week of December, Odisha Tourism organises two conjoined events of great importance in Konark, namely The International Sand Art Festival at Chandrabhaga Beach of Konark and The Konark Dance Festival with the splendid 13th Century Konark Temple as the backdrop of divine Indian classical dance performances.

I had the great fortune of attending the 2012 edition of both these events at Konark which were held from December 1st to 5th. I went on only a single day (2nd December) yet was able to fully immerse myself in the grandeur of these events such that it has remained etched in my mind ever since. This post is dedicated to reliving my International Sand Art Festival experience, and I'll present my Konark Dance Festival experience in an exclusive post, which it rightfully deserves.

I've preserved the fab invite too!

 

An invite to mesmerise the depths of your soul!

Internationally-renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik, recently awarded with Padma Shri, has been the Brand Ambassador of this major festival- a congregation of sand artists from around the world. Around 30 sand artists from Japan, France, Korea, Germany, Norway and of course India had put up their exquisite sand arts in a row that day. I was actually dumb-struck as I was seeing sand-art in front of my eyes, LIVE, for the first time in my life! A less-known fact (quoting from the invite) is that: prevalence of sand sculpture in Odisha dates back to the 14th Century. No wonder, the golden sands of Odisha's pristine 450 km coastline surely provide the perfect canvas to build the most breath-taking sand-arts in the world!