New Delhi: Nuakhai festival (Harvesting Festival of western Orissa) was celebrated with enthusiasm at the Jagannath temple premises in New Delhi on 12th September 2010 organized by the National Nuakhai Celebration Committee (NNCC) in association with the Department of Culture, Government of Orissa.
Like all the previous years, participants belonging to various regions of Orissa celebrated this function with gaiety by greeting each other.
The programme started in the evening with the lighting of diyas (lamps) and offering of flowers and newly harvested rice to the deity Samaleswari with Samaleswari vandana. In the presence of a large number of dignitaries, the octogenerian Indrani Panda initiated the lighting ceremony at the backdrop of prayer chantings and sounds of drumming.
The colourful Sambalpuri folk dances programme was performed by the renowned “Kala O Kalakar” 16-member troupe led by Ranjit Sahu, Ratan Pujahari and Jaykishore Jal who came all the way from Sambalpur.
The function was attended by Sarvashri Shishir Kumar Nayak, Dr Abanish Panda, Bidhan Nayak, Dr Anup Kumar Pujari, Sundari Pujari, Sarat Chandra Nanda, Snigdha Nanda, Ashok Kumar Panda, Kanchan Panda, Dr Bhabani Shankar Dikshit, Gourakishore Das, Bulbul Das, Duryodhan Pradhan, Bijay Kumar Dash, Abani Sahu, Ipsita Behoora, Raghunath Behoora, Srushti Chandra Nayak, Dr Tribikram Pradhan, Narasingh Sahu, Anantaram Barik, Kishore Patel, Chaitanya Swami, Jayanarayan Patel, Bijay Nayak, Tapas Nayak, Santanu Mishra, S K Panda, S S Bhoi, Tushar Badpanda, Purnendu Hota, Narendra Prasad Joshi, Rita Joshi, G Kishore Babu, V S Rekha, Geeta Mandala, Ashok Mishra, Parmeswar Kusum, Susanta Tripathy, Paresh Pradhan, Laxmidhar Bebarta, Anupam Mishra, Pitambar Parichha, Arundeep Singh, Manikkam Sabapathy, Rajeshwari, Arti Rathore, Kalyan Mohanty, Sudhanshu Barpanda, Gopal Mishra, Dr Gautam Kshyatriya, Dr Ranjita Panda, Anandini Hota, Alka Kshyatriya, Dr Uma Marina Vesci, Thampi, Soumendra Padhi, Madhuchhanda Padhi, Prabhakar Meher, Satyanarayan Pradhan, Chandramukhi Pradhan, Bajranglal Agrawala, Bijayalaxmi Nayak, Deb Burman, Byomokesh Mishra, Sumita Mishra, Sonia and Meetpal.
There was a spectacular scene and excitement during the programme when Sardar Amarjeet Singh Maini was requested to come to the stage who was wearing a handwoven Sambalpuri turban and fully covered with sambalpuri designed shawl and lungi and was given a standing ovation.
He said that he was attending this Nuakhai celebration with Sambalpuri dresses and turban every year as he liked these so much.
The cultural function was anchored by Shankar Dey and Sambit Nanda and co-ordinated by Dr Anup Kumar Pujari. The artistes were felicitated for their brilliant folk dances performance.
After a vote of thanks by Dr Pujari, Mahaprasad was served.
