Bhubaneswar: With the state enjoying the hockey fever, some of the senior officials from International Hockey Federation or Federation Internationale de Hockey (FIH) also found time to join the city’s heritage walk Sunday.
Pam Stuper from US, Maureen Craig from Trinidad and Tobago and Hazel Kennedy from Zambia are the Executive Board Members of FIH and they are part of the delegation in the city for the ongoing Orissa Men’s Hockey World League at the hockey facility at the Kalinga Stadium Complex
All three FIH officials were all praise for the city’s beautiful monuments, but above all they mentioned the people, hospitality and the helping nature of the locals. Pam, who is originally from Pennsylvania, but currently stays in Connecticut, a city near New York, said, “though this is my first visit to Orissa, I am overwhelmed with hospitality and the heritage tour is also very educative.’’
Maureen and Hazel are also on their first visit to Orissa and both also enjoyed the heritage walk and listened to the tour guide patiently.
Besides FIH officials, tourists from abroad and other walkers joined the Ekamra walks and made it memorable.
Mazlan Othman, who teaches Astrophysics at National University of Malaysia, and was also among participants of the tour, said, “the old heritage of the city is so beautiful and it reminds me of the Indonesian heritage in which there is an impression of ancient Kalingan craftsmanship. As there was an ancient trade link between these two regions in the past, we need to explore more and more facts about that ancient link.’’
Art and cultural expert Kiran Vyas, who was also part of the tour, said, “the modern monuments of US and Europe are couple of hundred years old, but here we have such old structures in Bhubaneswar. We should preserve it well so that more and more visitors get to know about the and in turn make them popular across the globe.’’
Stefania Campogianni, from Brussels said, “I have visited India on several occasions before, but never been to Orissa. On my first experience, I liked the heritage tour very much. I had travelled to Rajasthan after coming from Pakistan and then on another trip from Dharamsala to Chennai crossing the entire country, but Orissa, and nowhere I had encountered such an interesting heritage tour. I loved Ekamra Walks.’’
The participants of the 51st Ekamra Walks visited Mukteswar, Parasurameswar, Kotitirtheswar, Ananta Vasudev, Lingaraj, Chitrakarini, Sari and Mohini temples and monuments and heritage sites like Bindusagar and Dharamsala. They also enjoyed Odissi recital at Art Vision, the institute run by renowned Odissi dancer Ileana Citaristi, before visiting the medicinal plant garden, Ekamra Van, on the Western bank of Bindusagar lake.
PNN
