OdishaLIVE Bureau
On the Day-I of the World Heritage Week, the 49th Ekamra Walks, the only guided heritage tour of the city encountered interesting walkers with two friends from the Czech Republic, who are on a world tour, a walker from Romania and USA and a father-daughter duo from the city, from the Armed Forces. The walkers visited Mukteswar, Parsurameswar, Swarnajaleswar, Kotitirtheswar, Bindusagar, Ananta Vasudev, Doodhwala Dharamsala, Lingaraj, Chitrakarini, Sari temple, Mohini, Vaitaal temple and Ekamra Van, the medicinal plant garden.
While the walkers enjoyed the heritage sojourn starting from Mukteswar with its unique arch and breathtaking architecture, the surprise flute recital at the end of the walk on the bank of Bindusagar, on the steps of Ekamra Van, was an added advantage.
Heritage lover and conservation expert from Gangotrinagar area, Suryanarayan Das who came with his friend, was overwhelmed with the flute recital at the beginning of the walk. “To me and my friend, this is one of the best elements of the Ekamra Walks. We loved it. The recital at the end of the walk was also an added attraction to all of us,’’ he said.
Iona Uzum, from Romania, who came with her Delhi-based daughter, said “I have really enjoyed the entire heritage walk and on my retu
rn to my city I would definitely tell my friends that here is such a beautiful walk with so much beautiful monuments, music and people and this should be visited by all.’’
Hannah Barnes, an American artist, who has come to the city for her resident exposure at city-based Utsha Foundation, said “I am really happy to explore such a wonderful temple architecture tradition and building style and during my stay I would like to visit this week-end trip another time.’’
Vit and Karolina, two travelers from Ostrava in Czech Republic joined the Ekamra Walks and were very happy to discover the unique temple building style of the Kalingan era. Interestingly, both on a world tour, got to know about Ekamra Walks from a friend and tried to find out about the heritage walk.
We started from mid-August from our city Ostrava and so far covered nations like Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran and then arrived in India. We wanted to visit Pakistan, but could not get the visa as there is border issues there,’’ informed Vit.
Retired Army officer Col. DP Padhee from Polhariput joined the heritage walk with her young daughter Vaneeta Padhee, who is a serving Major with the Army Signals. “We are very happy to discover so many things on a day’s walk today and I hope more and more people should join the heritage walk to discover their roots. I will definitely invite my friends to come and explore the monuments,’’ said Vaneeta.
