The Barpali Days

Dec 29, 2011

7:50 AM

Saurav Mishra - Want to stand tall like a Bachchan

With the kind of life we live, seldom we know who lives next door. Each one of us are hanged in life with our own troubles. But our difficulties may not be as big as what Saurav Mishra have. Read this story to discover how fortunate you are.

Saurav is a 15 years old handicap boy of Barpali. He is studying in Class 8^th of Kadlipali Ucha Prathamika Vidyalaya. As you could watch from the video, he walks every day to school with much difficulty. His school is almost half a kilometre away from his residence. Many a times he was a victim of the pranks of his school mates. But silently he tolerates every prevailing circumstances of his life. He says while most of the boys of his school are helpful, one batch mate always scolds and overpowers him. Every day he gets midday meal at school. He is forced to eat the substandard rice and dal as because, unlike many other kids he won’t be able to go home for lunch and return school in half an hour lunch break that he gets. Where as he always look forward for a Wednesday and a Saturday, because he is served one piece of boiled egg only on these two days of the week.

His father Kandharpa Mishra leads a life just to meet the ends. Though by birth he is a Bramhin, but have undertaken the vocation of a gudia. He prepares and sells singada, chaulbara, alluchop, biribada, piyaji, pukdi, gahambara and baiganbara in a pushcart at Tehsil Chowk, Barpali. Every day Kandharpa wakes at 3.30 AM in the dead of the night to prepare for the days ordeal. As he can’t afford to employ an assistant to help him, he need to mange every activity of his vocation on his own. While buying the grocery and vegetables; preparing the breakfast, washing the utensils and every other function is managed by Kandharpa all alone.

Kandharpa thinks being the father of Saurav it is his utmost duty to take care of his child’s wellbeing. He says “peta pusa nahi dosa Kahile Jagannatha dasa”which means to make a living one need to be on the path of virtue and the rest the God will be taking care. In good days Kandharpa able to make a turnover of somewhere Rs.800. The margin on this turnover could be at the outset Rs.200 a day. In the current scenario this is a meagre amount to support a family of four lives.

[Kandharpa Mishra while preparing breakfast in his push cart]

Every evening Saurav seats there on the pavement of his house while watching children play on the street. His 11 years old sister Monalisa is very possessive of her brother Saurav. She can’t tolerate when a kid make a laugh at her brother.

A consortium of Koshali professionals from Bangalore by the name Juhar Parivar led by Mr.Sameer Panda have taken the initiative to provide following cycle to make the life of Saurav easy. These days Saurav going to his school in his cycle with the support of his sister.

Saurav or Kandharpa could be contacted at +91-99-378-92937. They speak Oriya and Hindi but no English. They are not computer literate hence no email id. Where as you could post a mail to the author at kiranbima@gmail.com in case you want to buy text books or chocolates for him.

kiranbima@gmail.com

WhatsApp# +9182 493 14972

E. KIRAN MOHAN,

C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D),

Tehsil Chowk,

At\PO – BARPALI – 768 029,

Dist. Bargarh, Orissa, India.

E Kiran Mohan 5

Dec 13, 2011

Stories 11:08 AM

Ikat Tour of Barpali by a French Lady

Our impression about our culture, lifestyle and ourselves remains mundane until we get to realize the contrary, when we meet foreigners.

A professor of Priti Rao(England) had suggested Nadia a French national that she should visit Barpali if she was keen on witnessing the world’s finest craftsmanship of tie-and-dye i.e. ikat handloom fabrics. I received a mail from Nadia on November 17, 2011 conveying to me her eagerness to visit this small town of Odisha (India). Barpali is bestowed with quite a few highly accomplished living ikat artisans. On the day following, she had called me and inquired about how to reach Barpali. After some conversation about her itinerary, I assured her, “I shall take care of everything, as you are alien to this land”.

She had requested me to book the train tickets, an A\c car and the hotel accommodation at Bargarh for her. On November 27, 2011, I got off to Bhubaneswar to escort her as she was an elderly lady and travelling alone. I reached Bhubaneswar late night and went to Mayfair Convention. She was waiting for me. She greeted me with a warm welcome and showed my suite. Early next morning I was awaked by an attendee with a hot cup of tea. Early next morning we reached Bhubaneswar railway station as par the schedule time. However, on reaching the railway station and on seeing the din, hustle and bustle there, she apprehended how tough and trying would be her stay in Odisha for the next couple of days.

No sooner our train had entered the station and stopped on the platform, there was a mad rush of the commuters to get inside the bogies, particularly in the non-a/c ones. I felt relieved to note that the rush at the A/C coaches were not so restrictive. As we waited for our turn to board the train Nadia suddenly announced desperately, “I am not going to board this train. Let’s go back to the hotel. We shall ride a taxi to Bargarh. I pleaded her not to change the travel plan at that eleventh hour and to board the train. I said “Please….please…… let’s board the train. Once you get inside and settle down in your seat you would definitely feel better !” And the idea worked.

I asked her to follow me close. I pushed forward the passengers while carrying the luggage and made our way in. It was a herculean task, indeed. Thankfully we boarded the train and lumbered to our seats. I began setting our luggage underneath the seats when she suddenly let out a shrill yell. Startled, I turned at once in a great panic. She was pointing her finger towards a cockroach on the floor.

I couldn’t help stop a mild smile on my face and shooed away this ticketless traveller which, I knew, was just a stray one, out of a whole army of them in the bogie. She cautiously settled in her assigned seat by the window. Not very long thereafter the train began rolling out of the platform and her curious eyes began surveying everything outside the window that passed by. I was happy to see that she was relatively easy and comfortable now.

Our travel to our destination was of long seven hours duration. I felt smug that we had boarded the cool air-conditioned chair car which was elite by the local standards. I was happy when Nadia began conversing with me. She said, she wishes to conduct an exhibition of ikat handloom fabrics in a gallery back in Paris. I assured that, I would introduce her to some of the finest Ikat weavers that we got at Barpali.

We detrained at Bargarh railway station sometime around noon. After coming out of the station we got into a cab that was waiting to pick and drop us at a hotel. It was a brand new AC cab with swanky upholstery and lavishly loaded with all latest car accessories.

There were many hotels in the town, but they were not as aristocratic as Hotel Mayfair Convention at Bhubaneswar. However, I had booked a room for her at Ganpati Hotel. But I was apprehensive, “What if she didn’t like the room? What if it wasn’t clean enough?” A bell-boy guided us to the room. He opened the door, and ushered her into the room. To me the room looked perfect; everything had been arranged neatly as I had mentioned to the manager to take special care as it would be occupied by a lady tourist from France. But my heart sank when she said “I don’t like this room.”

We moved to Oriental Hotel. She inspected the room herself before checking in. I was relieved when she uttered, “Kiran, I shall manage for two nights, but I only trust it is not infested with rats and cockroaches. Since I shall be paying the room rent I wouldn’t like to share the room with anybody else.” I realized how unprofessional our people are in their respective businesses. My national pride went for a toss. However, I smiled back lest she would think I felt offended. Here was someone who was willing to spend, but we didn’t have the adequate resources to serve.

After a light lunch we proceeded to Bandhapali village, a small village where Priti Rao did the project work for her Ph.D. Hardly we were just three kilometers short of our destination I noticed a frown on her face. The drive was extremely bumpy despite the fact we had the latest SUV. We were travelling on a fair-weather mud track. She asked “Kiran, I have travelled extensively in Kerala and Rajasthan, but I haven’t seen such pathetic roads out there?” I smiled and jokingly replied, “You probably didn’t try camel ride in Rajasthan! These bumps you got here were similar to the jhatkas(kicks) you would get if you have travelled while mounting on top of a camel in Rajasthan.” I knew it was a poor joke, but that made her laugh out loud.

We met Bharat Meher, an ikat designer at Bandhapali, at the weaving branch of Samablpuri Bastralaya. She was quite impressed with the Ikat designs and was all praises for them. She picked a couple of dupattas. On the day that followed she visited Barpali where she was pleased to meet the world renowned Ikat weaver Bhagabana Meher. She made hefty purchases of Ikat fabrics and clothes. She suddenly realized that her Indian currencies have been exhausted. She asked Bhagaban Meher if he would accept Euros. But this weaver looked at me with an utter confusion and humbly asked, “What a Euro is, Sir ?” I tried to narrate in local language as “bideshi tanka” which literally means “Foreign Money”. Bhagabana Meher asked “heta kene bhanjami agyan” ? Which literally means, where shall I go to exchange them, Sir ? Shri Meher expressed his inability as there was no way he could get the foreign money exchanged locally.

She was much at ease and joyful from the second day onwards only after meeting this master weaver at Barpali and checking his designs. She was overwhelmed so much that she forgot all the hardships she had undertaken to explore this corner of the planet earth. For three days she survived solely on bananas for food, even though Hotel Oriental serves good cuisine. Seeing her love for bananas on the third day I went to a fruit vendor to buy some bananas for her. The banana vendor extracted a hefty Rs. 25 for a dozen from me instead of the normal price of Rs. 15 as he saw me pulling up at his stall in a luxurious Tavera (Chevrolet) car instead of my usual Hero cycle. From the way I inspected the quality of the banana the vendor had sensed that I was buying for my foreigner guest only he had seen me with earlier. The locals do not spare a chance of making some good extra bucks taking advantage of the ignorance and innocence of the foreign tourists. Not many tourists from abroad however visit this place.

She had a whirlwind trip in and out of Bargarh all through the three days that she spent here. Though she wanted to visit the all blind Bhulia Meher family of Barpali, she had to drop the idea due to her very tight schedule. However, she did forward an envelope carrying a token of her love for them. I was glad and felt very proud of our ikat artisans when Nadia said, that she was carrying with her the heritage of our ikat fabrics.

On return she asked me to accompany her till Bhubaneswar. I travelled in a SUV. Somewhere at evening we reached Trident Hotel. It’s a unit of The Oberoi Group of Hotels. She had booked online a suite for me too. Possibly, never before I enjoyed such luxury in life. At evening she hosted a sumptuous dinner for me.

Padmashree Chaturbhuja Meher : Draping the nation with his ikat fabrics

kiranbima@gmail.com

E. KIRAN MOHAN,

C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D),

Tehsil Chowk,

At\PO – BARPALI – 768 029,

Dist. Bargarh, Odishsa, India.

Cell # +918249314972

E Kiran Mohan 43

Nov 27, 2011

11:46 AM

YOU TOO COULD BE AN ANGEL

On 16^th November ’11 I was returning from Berhampur along with my mother after attending a wedding ceremony. We had to change the train at Bhubaneswar. We alighted and reached Platform # 1 and were waiting for our Tapaswini Express. While seating there, my mother talked about our relatives whom she met in the function and how fairly their sons are progressing at Bangalore by working in the MNC’s and drawing big salaries. “And where as you ........ ?”

In the meanwhile Puri-Howrah mail reached the station. There was a co-motion and mostly all the commuters were Bengalis. Me and my mother were seating on the platform somewhere in middle near the entrance gate. After a while I spotted three nuns rushing towards the engine. I able to see their helplessness, as they were carrying four heavy cloth bags in hand. They cant even afford to hire a porter. I looked at my mother and ran towards them. From behind I grabbed the bags from their hands. They were surprised but I said, run, run, run. Together we crossed almost fifteen compartments and reached the third boggy from the engine. They were breathless as much as I was. I made them get inside the train along with their luggage. Than I left the place soon as my mother was left alone on the platform.

While returning I apprehended my mother would shout at me. But she didn't utter a word. The train departed. Then two of those nuns returned as if searching for some one. When they neared us they spotted me. The eldest of the two came and told me, "today you came as an angel and helped us. Thanks Jesus. May God Bless You”. They told, they came to see off their compatriot who went to Missionary of Charity.

kiranbima@gmail.com

Cell # +918249314972

E. KIRAN MOHAN,

C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D),

Tehsil Chowk,

At\PO – BARPALI – 768 029,

Dist. Bargarh, Orissa, India.

E Kiran Mohan 5

Nov 3, 2011

9:50 AM

BARANGPALI and its QUARRYING Tribe

[a landmark near the rock quarry]

Like the neolithic age, in twenty first century as well people in Odisha work on the rocks to make a living. How infinitely lucky are those of you, who have never known what it is to work with rough rock with the bare hands, under the blazing sun, for days on end. Instead you are so fortunate to work in the air conditioned comfort of an office or home. Not all are blessed with such immense luck. Read this story and you will realize the truth of this statement.

[a rock quarry at Barangpali]

If you were to drive just two kilometres east of Barpali railway station, you will reach a village called Barangpali. Though we are now in the twenty first century, but not much has changed for certain communities of Barangpali, who make a living out of cutting and sculpting the stone. This village got a few rock deposits of mugni pathar. It is a kind of hard rock but light colour in appearance. In this village about 180 families are engaged in sculpting the rocks. They belong to the binjhal, sahnra, ganda, keunt, dhuba, gaud, telli, sundhi, kuli and kulta communities. They are landless labourers and very poor. Forced to eke out an existence, they have taken to quarrying these rocks on a daily wage basis. However, in the harvesting season they switch to agricultural jobs.

[artisans while making age old stone appliances]

Rock quarrying poses its own health hazards. As you can observe from the pictures, these workers are not provided with any safety measures. They have nothing to protect their eyes from flying splinters of rock, or a mask to prevent them from inhaling the fine dust which rises from the rock quarries when they are at work, and which could critically damage their lungs.

[the appliances they use to carve the rock]

Most of these villagers toil ceaselessly from dawn to dusk extracting rock from the quarries. Still others, manually chisel out of this mugni pathar, many useful kitchen appliances such as shil, shilpa,rudna, jata, danga and dhan kuten. Without these the rural kitchens of Orissa cannot function.

[a jata used to grind the pulses]

[a Nandy mostly installed in Shiv temples]

[a shil and a shilpa]

Though it is almost a few decades since most villages in India have received electricity, but the village women folk of Orissa are still unaware of the advantages of using time saving appliances like a mixy or the electric run grinders. Instead, in most rural homes in Orissa, the women folk are still comfortable with using traditional stone grinders, not only to grind the spices for their curries, but also to grind the pulses to a smooth and thick batter.

These stone grinders are so much an important and integral part of the rural homes of Orissa, that it is customary to gift the new bride with a shil and shilpa when she leaves for her in-laws home.

The purchase of a shil and shilpa are a one time investment. Hence the sale of these stone appliances soar just around the marriage season. Therefore, the poor stone carver has to depend solely on the wages he earns in this season, which he has to stretch for his personal expenses over the rest of the year.

With the demand for modern kitchen appliances gaining popularity over traditional kitchen appliances, there is not much future for these humble stone quarrying men and women. For the long and arduous hours of work they devote to their work, all they earn is a mere pittance. The villagers are slowly understanding the value of education and are now sending their children to school, so that they don’t have to take up this back breaking , ancestral profession. Instead they can choose jobs which will assure them a more secure and stable future.

Sadly, this age old profession, like all other traditional rural craft is a dying one. With time, a day will come when no more shil and shilpa will be made by the very experienced hands of the skilful villagers of Barangpali.

Even if you may not see any practical use for these ancient, out dated kitchen appliances, I urge you to buy one, just to keep them as a memento, and to perpetuate the memory of these matchless craftsmen, who have given their sweat, blood and tears to break rock and whose creative hands have crafted these awesome kitchen pieces.

They would inspire the next generation to value the meaning of hard work.

kiranbima@gmail.com

WhatsApp # +918249314972

E. KIRAN MOHAN

https://barpalidays.blogspot.com/p/ekiran-mohan.html

C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D),

Tehsil Chowk,

At\PO: BARPALI – 768 029,

Dist. Bargarh, Odisha, India.

E Kiran Mohan 3

Oct 20, 2011

10:44 PM

Priti Rao - Weaving a Success Story

[Ms.Priti Rao while interacting with the weavers at Bandhpali]

One cool morning of January 2009 the Asst. Director of Textiles, Bargarh called me to ask, if I could forward a little help. I said, "Kiran is on call 24X7. Yes please do let me know in case someone need B +ve blood group or if I need to forward a birth-day gift to a relative of yours". He smiled at my explanations. He said, ji ji nothing like that, but a honourable job. He told, "a Mam came down from UK, she wants to carry research work on Sambalpuri sari-weavers at Bandhpali. I think you are the only English speaking gentle-man at Barpali who could guide her". My mind started wandering, it would be a white-skinned elegant English girl from Europe. But he further clarified she is a Konkani girl from Mumbai.

No matter who ever you are, whatever your social status, but when you visit an unknown place, you are subject to fear and resentment. So I able to judge, what this girl would have in mind. Orissa a state though having the world heritage of ancient temples, a state having forests, waterfalls and with the rich mines and minerals. But of late, my state has become notorious for giving shelter to the deadly mosquitoes which breeds malaria parasites. These mosquitoes are taking more lives than the often media hyped Maoists.

Next morning I got up early to have a bath, chosen the best outfit from my cupboard, finished the prayer rituals in the most shortest possible way. By 9.30 or 10.00 AM a Tata Indica car parked on the entrance of our house. And there she got down. A young woman may be in her early thirties. She was absolute fair skin, with denim trouser and a cotton shirt, a thin white-spects, yes as if a England ki gori-mam. The only evidence of her being Indian was her black hair on head.

Fearlessly she walked in with a friendly smile, " Hello I am Priti Rao. I am doing PhD at School of Design, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. I need to do my thesis on the Sambalpuri saree weavers at Bandhpali. Could you find me a suitable accommodation at Barpali".

Here I able to show the best image of self by calling a property dealer to impress Priti Mam. He took us on ride to show three vacant houses. The first one was a single-room having door to enter but no windows. She said I need to have a well ventilated place to live-in. The second house had two rooms but got Barpali latrine, the water-shield cemented toilet. Once again a big NO. The third house found to be somewhat OK. But here the landlord asked, who will be responsible if something goes wrong with this alien.

With this my "Mission Priti" came to a stand-still. I said to her, you might have British Pounds to pay, but we don’t have the resources to serve you. She said, I shall be back in India when the summer ends, hope by than you will work out something. I told her in Hindi filmy andaz, "mei hoon na".

Days went by, on calling her cell-phone it didn’t responded. I reached to the conclusion she would be back to UK. In the mean while my Dad gifted me a laptop. I got an email ID created and started learning to send mails. After a couple of days I got back her reply. At that moment I felt being connected to the world. She wrote, “I shall be reaching India soon, have you found any suitable house”. Once again the hunt for a house started. Instead of carrying my LIC sales-kit, I started riding my bi-cycle with the burden of searching for an accommodation. Fortunately, I able to find a house at Bandhpali village itself, with all the modern amenities. Now Miss Priti asked me to send the photos of the house and its interiors. I said, on this remote part of the earth, there is not a single photo-studio. She said, “ How crazy , cant you take snaps from your cell-phone”. I said, but mam I am using a first generation mobile phone with no in-built camera. She told, "OK Kiran now the next big job is to find four boys who could assist me on my research work. I shall happily pay them, whatever minimum stipend possible".

Life is like this. No sooner one of our need is fulfilled, we set the new targets to achieve. Haphazardly, I started enquiring people, are you jobless, would you like to work, do you want a job. Everything failed. I published the bill-boards at the local computer training institutes, LCC and NICE. Unbelievable, by evening one phone call came in my cell, “is this Kiran Sir, I am Sanjib calling from Remta, wants to apply for the said job". This single call pumped my adrenaline. Second day two more candidates approached. I asked the candidates to prepare resumes. Virtually I had to dictate the spelling of a resume, as B-I-O-D-A-T-A.

In a short-span of three days I became a talk-of-the-town, among the college going youngsters. Everyday two or three students came to forward the resumes. I started feeling as if I have floated a company of my own and going to engage a few employees. I gathered as many as 12 resumes.

Finally the count-down began. I received Ms.Priti Rao at Barpali Railway Station on 28th August 2009 morning. I escorted her to the new found abode of her at Bandhapali village. She was surprised to find an accommodation more than expected at a backward village like Bandhpali. It’s a rural place with mud roads, where the power supply is regulated entire year and with no drainage system.

SMS from Priti Rao, 28/08/09, 21:59 hrs

" HI KIRAN. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING. TODAY, I FEEL VERY HAPPY AND POSITIVE ABOUT MY RESEARCH. GOD BLESS YOU. GOOD NIGHT."

On 29th August morning by 11.00 AM the interviews started in my office complex. In a whole there were 14 candidates who appeared for the interviews. Someone was nervous, the other speechless, the third one was restless. Entire life I was on the hot-seat, to appear for a job interview, while I was working at Delhi. But for the first time I am on the host-seat, comforting the candidates who were nervous. What I discovered this day is, finding an able candidate is much more difficult than finding a suitable job. Finally mam recruited a few to engage on the job of collecting the data of the saree weavers at Bandhpali.

On the fourth day Priti mam came to our home to convey thanks. She politely handed over a gift pack to me, which I accepted with a little hesitation. I said, if I accept any gift than my sincerity will be discounted. When I opened the pack , there was a sleek Samsung cell-phone with the features of still and video camera.

Lo my new cell-phone is ringing again. My lord, it is Priti mam, let me attend her,

" Yes Mam, how could I serve you ................."

And here is the outcome of the efforts of Ms.Priti Rao in a video form :

http://vimeo.com/27129270

kiranbima@gmail.com

E.KIRAN MOHAN

C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D.)

Tehsil Chowk,

At\PO - BARPALI - 768 029

Dist. Bargarh, Orissa, India

Cell # 91-99-371-20565

E Kiran Mohan 4

Oct 2, 2011

8:06 AM

Blind Meher's Family - Living life in a world of Darkness

Here at Barpali lives a family where all the siblings are blind by birth. It is a bhulia meher family, a community whose prime vocation is weaving of cotton based cloths. They are three brothers by the name Chaitanya Meher (63), Fakira Meher (60), Rabindra Meher (57) and sister Subhabati Meher (54). They had one more blind sister by the name Sukanti Meher (the eldest) but she passed away a decade ago. Blindness is not a genetic disorder. Unlike these siblings, their parents were physically fit, and neither their children are blind.

Over here people believe, it was a curse on the family. Three of these brothers are married, while the sister Subhabati is a spinster who stays along with her three brothers, under one shelter which was provided by their late father. Once in a month they come out of their hatch to reach NAC Office to collect the handicap pension. Each of them get Rs.200 /- (roughly 4 US $). One of their children escorts them to the NAC Office.

There is no other handicap which could be categorised worse than the blindness itself. It destabilises the domestic atmosphere of the entire family. As a consequence, in many families a blind person is kicked out to the streets to make a living on his own by begging. But, this Meher family did not opt to surrender themselves to the prevailing circumstances. Deprived of the vision, they failed to undertake the vocation of their community i.e. weaving of Sambalpuri handloom sarees. Instead, they opted to do the secondary job of their trade. It is to open the knots of the bandha or ikat. Not many opt to do this job, as it is a labour intensive cottage industry.

[Sishupal Meher a young kid of the family studying in Class 8th]

Their children go to the streets to collect the dyed knotted bunch of threads from the weavers. All four of them seat calmly at home and open these knots entire day. Mostly each of these bunches of threads carry 40 knots at different places. They are paid a meagre Rs 3 (Rupees Three) only to open the knots on a bunch of threads. At most, each of them is able to open ten bunches of threads a day. So, each of them make around Rs 30 for the whole day’s work, which works out to be less than one $ a day !! Top of it, they do not even get this job on a regular basis. Things can’t get more worse than this.

“To be blind is not miserable; but not to be able to bear the blindness, that is miserable”

- John Milton

Though this family is under-privileged, but till date they have not been issued with a BPL (Below Poverty Line) card. In the State of Odisha, a BPL Card holder is eligible to get 30 kg of rice every month at Rs 2 per kg. But most of the time this quota of rice is being wrongly channelled to the open market by the authorities, thus, forcing the poor people to buy the same rice at Rs 15 per kg in the open market.

However the irony is that, around 80 percent of Barpali population is not aware about the existence of this family (including this writer, until recently) as they leads a secluded life at home with their prevailing circumstances.

Now you judge who is actually blind !!

kiranbima@gmail.com

E. KIRAN MOHAN,

C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D),

Tehsil Chowk,

At\PO – BARPALI – 768 029,

Dist. Bargarh, Orissa, India.

Cell # 91 99 371 20565

E Kiran Mohan 2

Sep 25, 2011

11:56 AM

A PICTORIAL VIEW OF BARPALI (ODISHA), INDIA

06/01/2024

[Amrita Sabat an aficionado of ikat Handloom fabrics from Bhubaneswar expressed her wish to explore Barpali cluster. Developer of this blog E Kiran Mohan escorted her to different weavers at Barpali]

01/04/2022

[Two buyers came down from Sambalpur to buy ikat Handloom sarees. Developer of this blog E Kiran Mohan introduced them with master weaver Dayalu Meher]

28/02/2022

[Two Handloom buyers from Ahmedabad, Gujarat contacted developer of this blog E Kiran Mohan. Who introduced them to ikat Handloom weaver Swarnalata Meher of Barpali]

08/12/2020

[A vendor selling winter wear at Barpali]

10/12/2014

[Artist Bijay Biswal could be seen here alongwith his paintings during an art exibition conducted by Kala Bhumi at Barpali]

14/11/2014

[Dr.Patricia Peyrat of France could be seen interacting with Writer E.Kiran Mohan at Gopaipali village. She came down from France on reading this blog to help Jharna Meher of Gopaipali]

14/11/2014

[Dr.Patricia Peyrat (blue t-shirt), Cecile (Centre) and Marc Peyrat (red t-shirt) the three French nationals could be seen with Jharna Meher
and her mother. They donated one sewing machine and two goats to this poor family on reading this blog]

05/10/2014

[Saroj Rout the artist who belongs to Barpali conducted his first ever
solo art exhibition at Kalyan Mandap of Barpali. ]

[The entrance gate made with the timber at a cottage in the Dakbangla Pada, Barpali.
It hedge the mongrels and cattle from entering the house.]

[This is how the dry straws of paddy after its being harvested
are being stacked on a open field at village Nileswar near Barpali]

[Dr.E.R.Rao (MD,Pediatrics) of Barpali
while attending a patient in his clinic]

[Ghasiram Rana : a cement sculptor of Barpali while at work
on his workshop near Tehsil Chowk]

Photo courtesy : Sujata Dehury

[a hand sculpted wooden door likely to be 100+ years old

at Kansari Pada, Barpali]

26/01/2014

[Brata Upanayana of Kuldeep Mund, Barpali]

27/11/2013

[Seen over here Smt.E.Rohini of Barpali doing Jhuti called Rangoli
in Hindi for a Thursday during the Hindu calender month of Margasira]

28/09/2013

[Anne Herms a student of Anthropology from Germany at Barpali in conversation
with E.Kiran Mohan this writer about the life of Bhulia Community]

14/06/2013

[Arup Chakrabarty (second right) of Kolkatta came to take the blessings of Kapileswar Baba during the Sital Sasthi Jatra of Barpali.
He was directed in a dream to go Himadri Nagar to recover from liver transplant. He searched in the web for Himadri Nagar and reached this blog and contacted this blogger. Arup works with a MNC. Earlier he was in London for few years]

11/02/2013

[Dinesh Joshi and Candace Joshi the two ikat buyers who came to Barpali
from Los Angels, USA meerly through this blog]

25/01/2013

[Nimisaranya - an old lady while plastering her cottage with the earth]

08/01/2013

[an old lady basking on the sun at Chammarpada on a winter noon.
Also seen Gobbar Chenna the dry cow dung used as a fuel for cooking]

08/01/2013

[Anagha a textile designer and a student of Sir J.J.School of Art, Mumbai on an ikat tour of Barpali ,
She came to Barpali through this blog. She is posing along with her husband (centre) and this bloger E.Kiran Mohan]

09/12/2012

[Alpa Mistri an ikat tourist who came down from England to Barpali through this blog]

[a villager selling Nag Phena made with raw paddy straws offered Puja during Margasir Gurubar]

[The Railway Station of Barpali which got just two platforms with a low frequency of trains]

[Dr.Manindra Kumar Meher the professor of Odia at Sambalpur University
and the great grandson of swabhba kabi Ganagadhar Meher on his study table]

[Bailjhuri Friday Market - the worlds largest open air hadloom market near Bargarh]

20/09/12

[Rajbati of Barpali the residence of the past Jamindar]

[The inside view of Durga Mandir of Barpali at Madhya Para]

[Mandhata Meher the budding sand artist of Barpali]

a photo contributed by our reporter Rinku Sahu 01/08/12

[Jal Abhisek otherwise called Jalsei of Lord Shiva at Sidheswar Mandir]

09/05/12

[a baidya selling herbal medicines on the street]

16/04/2012

[a kumbhar carrying the matkas to sell on the street on a summer noon]

04/03/2012

[Brata Upanayana of Ritesh, Ludkibeda village]

14/03/2012

[Mrs.Anjana Desai a tourist from Mumbai drawn to Barpali solely by
barpalidays.blogspot.in while posing with ikat weaver Lalit Meher]

04/03/2012

[The green paddy fields on the way to Ludkibeda village]

09/03/2012

[Children on the street, the day of Holi 2012]

[Santoshini Mata a wanderer of Alekh Mahima cult]

[the school children of Upper Primary School in Gandhi Nagar]

[It is how barati people are transported in a truck breaking the safety norms]

[two carpenters while making a bullock-cart]

[two cows while resting under a shadow on the wayside]

[the Durga Mandap at Tehsil Chowk, Barpali]

[a dog feeding its puppies]

[a typical pushcart of bhuja mixture known as jhalmudi in West Bengal]

[an elderly getting his pan prepared at a betel shop]

[an old couple while buying the famed Sambalpuri sarees]

[Sana Sahu a lone old-woman having no family and job]

[Children dancing to the tune of loud music on the day of Nuakhai]

[Durga Puja 2011 at Tehsil Chowk, Barpali]

[a dirt filled Bijepur Road in a rainy day ]

[a tribal woman selling dant kathi the sticks chewed as tooth brush]

[two youngsters while bathing at a hand-pump surrounded with unhigenic sanitation]

[a cycle mechanic at work under the tamarind tree at Gandhi Chowk ]

[a group of women relaxing early hours on Shiv temple premises]

[a picturesque scene of Kusta Bandh (pond)]

kiranbima@gmail.com

E. KIRAN MOHAN

Tahsil Chowk

At\PO - BARPALI - 768 029

Dist. Bargarh

Orissa, India

Cell # 91 - 99 371 20565

E Kiran Mohan 7

The Barpali Days

Breaking

Dec 29, 2011

Saurav Mishra - Want to stand tall like a Bachchan

Dec 13, 2011

Ikat Tour of Barpali by a French Lady

Padmashree Chaturbhuja Meher : Draping the nation with his ikat fabrics

Nov 27, 2011

YOU TOO COULD BE AN ANGEL

Nov 3, 2011

BARANGPALI and its QUARRYING Tribe

Oct 20, 2011

Priti Rao - Weaving a Success Story

Oct 2, 2011

Blind Meher's Family - Living life in a world of Darkness

Sep 25, 2011

A PICTORIAL VIEW OF BARPALI (ODISHA), INDIA

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E.Kiran Mohan

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