Non-Resident-Indians (NRIs) from the Indian state of Orissa celebrated 87th Utkal Divas and 13th Utkalika Anniversary at Jubail in Saudi Arab recently.
Dressed in traditional Odiya costumes the members of the community greeted each other on the occasion. The programme began with the lighting of lamps followed by Orissa’s Anthem ‘Bande Utkal Jananee’.
Highlight of the event was dance performances of Orissa including Odishi and Sambalpuri, while some performances were based on Bollywood and Ollywood numbers.
Ajay Kumar Das, Banabihari Mohanty and Mustafa Baig were main co-coordinators of the event. Sabyasachi Satapathy, an eminent Odiya entrepreneur from Bahrain graced the event as chief guest. He threw light on the cultural heritage of Orissa and said he was very proud that the state doing good in in many areas.
Avinash Karnik, president of Maratha Mandal in Saudi Arabia, graced the occasion as Guest of Honour.
Odiya community in Saudi Arab has some other groups like ROSA and Kalingan. Children and families from these groups took part in the event.
Utkalika felicitated all participating members and exhorted them to work as flag bearers of Odisha on the global stage.
The event also witnessed release of 7th edition of Utkalika magazine, dedicated to the event.
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