Shyamhari Chakra

“Why do these men dance in the costume of women?”  Twenty-eight years ago, a school-going girl of Baripada had asked her father who had taken her out to watch the famous annual Chaitra…

Surviving in the land of Bollywood as an independent Mardal player, Odisha’s indigenous percussion instrument, for 17 years is a feat in itself. Odisha’s G Ramprasad, a leading Mumbai-based…

Bhubaneswar-based Janhabi Behera is quite familiar as a gifted Odissi dancer. Recipient of the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Prative Puraskar from Central Sangeet Natak Akademi,…

As a teenager, Narottam Das bagged Odisha State Award for the best design in terracotta in 1996. By the time he was 30, the Odisha-born artist had won a National Award for pottery design…

Cuttack-based Mamata Samantaray has been an employee of Odisha Police for over 25 years. That’s her profession. However, her passion is fine art and the skill she possesses has put her on a…

Guru Sudhakar Sahoo is 86 and still dances on stage. The oldest Odissi performer in the world today, he also regularly travels across Odisha and even far off cities like Ahmedabad and New…

Mardal, Odisha’s ancient and indigenous percussion instrument is an integral part of Odissi music and dance traditions. Ironically, it was being treated as a mere accompanying instrument for…

84-year-old Maguni Charan Kuanr of Keonjhar is a cult figure among puppeteers as the pioneer of the highly-stylised rod puppetry tradition of Odisha, locally known as Kathi-Kandhei Nacha.…

Thirteen years ago, teenager Debojyoti Dhar from Howrah in West Bengal came to Cuttack to study architecture at the Piloo Mody College of Architecture. Little did Debojyoti imagine then that…

I have been meeting and watching US-based Bharatanatyam dancer Anwesha Das for more than a decade. But never did she let out that she is the daughter of well-known IAS officer Saktikant Das,…