[FrodoOfTheShire]

Recently on a Sunday, I and my wife visited Chilika lake. The lake as always is beautiful and anyone who has tasted the delicacies of prawns and crabs at Chilika Dhaba would always want to come back for more. There was no specific plan, so we just set off one Sunday morning from Bhubaneswar.

After enjoying the lake at the Barakul view point and enjoying mouth watering tiger prawns at the dhaba for lunch, we still had some time left as we didn't want to head back just yet. A quick search in Google Maps for nearby places showed the OdiArt Center on the road from Chilika Dhaba towards Balugaon. It's a museum; hence I was prepared to have a fairly dull experience, which I wouldn't have mind after that lunch. The dialogue from the Bollywood movie "Hum Tum" came to mind - "Museum bachhe, budhhe aur school teachers ke liye hota hai" ("Museum is for kids, old people and school teachers")! We belong to none of these 3 categories but off we went!





A brief description of the museum as mentioned in their website http://odiartcentre.in/ -

ODIART Centre nestling on the bank of Lake Chilika, and developed by the Society for Development of Rural Literature, a registered non-profit cultural society, showcases the traditional, folk and tribal arts of Odisha. It's developed with financial support from Ministry of Culture, Government of India and Department of Tourism and Culture, Government of Odisha.

ODIART houses Purvasha Museum for visual art; Rang Manch for theatre and other performing arts; Prafulla, the library,ODIART Documentation & Research Centre; Kalakriti, the business centre; Gurukul, the training centre for traditional and modern arts; and Santusti, a restaurant specializing in authentic Odia cuisine.

The Purvasha Museum is designed as a space for displaying the rich art heritage of Odisha. The fledgling museum currently exhibits the quintessential Odishan rural, folk and tribal paintings, sculptures and artefacts. It has sixteen galleries. It has collections that is a treat for the eyes. Rang Mach captures and displays live performance of rare folk and tribal troupes.

Some photographs at the entrance -

[FrodoOfTheShire]

The entry ticket to the museum costs Rs. 40 per person. We were also given one umbrella each to shade us from the afternoon sun, which came real handy since it was very hot!




We set off to explore the compound. The entire area has smaller buildings/museums with pathways, gardens and art installations covering the entire outdoors. The outdoor art installations are made of scrap metal and waste materials.





















Metal tree and monkeys








This is entirely made up of iron nails


These are real ducks!








Multiple pinwheels rotating in the wind -

[FrodoOfTheShire]

We went inside the Purvasha Folk and Tribal Art Museum.





The entrance and ceiling were fascinating -





Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside, hence will describe briefly what we saw. Its a big compound housing multiple rooms, each room dedicated to a specific folk or tribal art. There were displays of PattaChitra (cloth/canvas based painting using paint prepared from natural ingredients), Palm leaves painting, masks and puppets made of paper mache, Terracotta sculptures, Stone carvings, Wood statues and statues made from rice. There were also other antique items that had been collected from various regions of Odisha, we saw old circular playing cards that were used by kings and old wooden doors with beautiful carvings. Here are some photographs from the OdiArt website for representation -

Remnants of an old carved door -



Paintings on palm leaves -



Patta Chitra -



Old playing cards -



Old puppet busts used in folk/tribal dance. Notice the hole in the chest for seeing through -



Terracotta works -



Statue made of rice and thread -

[FrodoOfTheShire]

That's all folks! It was a nice afternoon spent learning something about my culture. Turned out more interesting than I had first thought. It's a peaceful tranquil place, we were the only visitors at the time and the staff were very polite and informative. I understand this not much of a travelogue, but wanted to put this up so that people visiting Chilika Lake would be aware of another nearby place to visit. I would surely be visiting this place again during the winters. Thanks for reading!

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[ARAY]

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

That's all folks! It was a nice afternoon spent learning something about my culture. Turned out more interesting than I had first thought. It's a peaceful tranquil place, we were the only visitors at the time and the staff were very polite and informative. I understand this not much of a travelogue, but wanted to put this up so that people visiting Chilika Lake would be aware of another nearby place to visit. I would surely be visiting this place again during the winters. Thanks for reading!

Thanks a lot Frodo. While doing Hyderabad - Asansol atleast twice a year, this is my usual route. Last time you updated about Jirang and we were mesmerized by the calmness and seclusion of that place. I shall surely try to cover this place when we drive this time.
I keep telling my friends ( who drive from TS or KA to WB) that OD has lots to explore. I will surely be looking forward to more hidden gems of OD from you mate. Keep traveling and sharing such excellent experiences.

[riteshritesh]

Damn, I missed this when I visited OD 15 days back. Infact, I missed the Chilika Dhaba food too. I made the mistake of staying in Swosti Chilika ( overpriced and nothing extraordinary ) and missed out on a lot of things around Chilika.