I was 3-year-old when I started going to Bali Jatra. Holding my father’s little finger, or being carried on his shoulder as he was 6 feet tall and I could get a great view. Sometimes, my elder brother or sister would carry me when I threw tantrums when tired.
The thought of Bali Jatra brought an “unstoppable” smile to my face. From the time we hear that it will start and our plan to visit it, till we could enjoy the toys that we buy until they break…our smiles would last!
That was magic!
Paper snakes that would jiggle and crawl, tiny metal boats that would purr with a tiny flame and move effortlessly, clay toys and piggy banks, jumping toys, aluminium kitchen sets with everything to cook like real, basically it was a no plastic era. Now we see 90% plastic toys and only some earthen piggy banks. No more paper toys. Balloons and many innovative toys are trendy now which are equally fun!
As we see today technology has taken over our emotions and relations. Our best friend is our phone! Fact, accepted! AI is the next best companion! Still, when it comes to Bali Jatra, it is as if time stops. Stand still. We walk down the memory lane, we go back in time. We enjoy the same things that we enjoyed years ago, generations after generations still love Bali Jatra. What’s this love story? It is our emotional connection. These few hours of painful walking, crazy fun, dust filled breath, bumping into each other, eating all garbage and adulterated food, electronic parks that may break anytime, finding a place to pee or loosing a kid in the crowd and finding them by announcement, buying things that we can buy anywhere, getting cozy in the musical ground and well, still thinking whether it’s time to go home at midnight!
You see this is called blind love, isn’t it? This is the love story of Odisha people with Bali Jatra. Unconditional love!
Around 86 lakh people thronged Bali Jatra in November 2023, the highest till date, while revenues crossed Rs 200 crore mark. It included 2,000 stalls, with new features like aquarium tunnel, rural life displays, and art galleries. In 2024, 2,500 stalls were set up; expanded scale and improved amenities.
The 10-day festival is an integral part of the cultural ethos of Odisha. It is the largest open air fest of Asia.
In 2022, Cuttack Bali Jatra entered the Guinness World Record after achieving the feat of making 22,000 paper boats in 35 minutes. During the festival, more than 2,100 students from 22 schools made paper boats and created a world record. It also set a record for origami with beautiful paper sculptures, underlining the ingenuity of local craftspeople. This year, the internationally-acclaimed sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik set a new world record with his traditional boat sand art, using 12,000 arecanuts, 500 coconuts, and 1,100 diyas—an achievement officially certified by the World Records Book of India.
This year the event grounds doubled in size, expanding to a sprawling 60 acres exclusively at Gadagadia Ghat for better crowd management and emergency access. A unique “Mahanadi Biota Race” drew competitive teams, racing miniature boats in the river while highlighting Odisha’s riverine and maritime heritage. This was an added attraction and a good utility of our huge Jobra Mahanadi reservoir.
The festival’s business hit a new high, with more than Rs 250 crore in trades and an estimated 60 lakh people attending, making Bali. Jatra 2025 is one of the largest and most successful editions of the event. Post Covid-19 pandemic the growth was slow but immense by 2023.
So this proves the emotional connect! Family bonding, friends time together and that too in Bali Jatra, is too emotional and longed for each year, nothing changes its attraction, Love is Blind! Bali Jatra Love!
(The views expressed in the article are those of the writer and does not neccessarily reflect opinions or perspectives of the news portal)