of Western Odisha, is celebrated by Odias across the country. Unlike in earlier times, Odias nowadays live and work in various parts of the country and abroad. Young or old, they do not forget to celebrate the festival. Some years ago, Odias used to visit their hometowns for the Nuakhai get-together. Now, they celebrate the occasion at their place of residence.
Today, do the youngsters located far from home still believe in celebrating Nuakhai? Orissa POST chatted with a few Odia youth settled in different states to get their views on the festival.
Surya Narayan Behera works with an MNC in Delhi and lives in Gurgaon with his family. Asked whether he remembers or makes time for this festival of his native land, he said, “I am from Bolangir and we have been celebrating Nuakhai in Delhi for long. For the last 16 years, ‘Juhar’, a Delhi group, has organised the celebrations for the pre-harvest and brotherhood festival every year in the capital. This year’s ‘Nuakhai Parva’ will be held September 23, 2018, a Sunday, at JLN Stadium, Delhi. Many Odias residing in Delhi/NCR, irrespective of their age, will participate enthusiastically to celebrate the festival. We will have folk dances, musical nites and recorded music shows. This year, we have invited a professional cultural troupe of 100 artistes from Odisha to perform at the event. Some renowned persons from western Odisha will be felicitated on the occasion. The Nuakhai fest brings together about 5,000 people in Delhi. It also provides a window to our culture for locals of Delhi/NCR. They are surprised to know about our tradition, including Sambalpuri drum beats. Besides, this is the time when Odias get a chance to enjoy the distinctive cuisine of western Odisha with items like Singda Bhuja, Chaul Bara, Chaka Pitha, Hendua and Patal Ghanta ‘Chut-Chuta’ among others. People also get to know about Sambalpuri fabrics.”
Odia girl Alisha Mishra, an IT professional living in Bangalore, is keen to attend the celebration back home in Odisha. She said, “Here they don’t know about Nuakhai, and it is difficult to get leave for the festival. I once attended the celebration organised by the Nuakhai Bhetghat group here and I felt like I was back in my home state.”
“In the last ten years I have managed to visit Odisha only thrice during Nuakhai,” said actor Debtosh Darjee from Mumbai. He features in the upcoming Kangana Ranaut-Rajkumar Rao starrer Mental Hai Kya. “Although I am eager to celebrate Nuakhai at my place, I hardly get time to visit. However, with the advent of video calling service, things have become easy. On Nuakhai day, when my family members begin the celebratory feast, they will call me. I will join them in savouring sweets at the same time, watching them on the mobile screen, and get the feeling that we are all celebrating together.”
Odia youngster Sanjat Mishra, who hails from Bolangir, owns a start-up in Bangalore. He said, “As per mythology, Lord Ganesha is the first God to be worshipped and all festivals come after Ganesha Chaturthi. Nuakhai falls on the day after Ganesh puja. Being a person from Western Odisha, I feel proud that we worship paddy as part of the harvest festival.”
“We, the people of Western Odisha, have been celebrating Nuakhai in Bangalore since 2001. We call it “Kutumb” (family). It’s a family away from family. We were the first to start celebrating Nuakhai outside of Odisha. We started with 15 families in a small house. For the first time in 2007, we invited artists and well-known cultural personalities from Odisha to grace the occasion to promote our art and culture,” Sanjat added.
Himanshu Guru, OP
