The Barpali Days

This blog is the Facebook of Barpali which picturise its "life" and "culture". It was a "palli" or a village a century back where the all time great Oriya poet swabhaba kabi Gangadhar Meher had taken birth. Now this bustling little town is renowned world-over for the weaving of Sambalpuri ikat handloom fabrics. Agriculture is its prime economy. And when you happen to visit this little town don't miss to taste Chaul bara.

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Apr 28, 2018

1:37 PM

Seshadev Kisan: A giant leap from Balasingha(Odisha) to Germany


Whensoever there rains it is the same droplets of water which falls from the sky either in the clean water of a pond and on the other hand it falls in the dirty sewerage. Likewise everyone is not fortunate enough to be born as Akash the son of India’s richest businessman Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani who globally ranks as the 19th richest man by Forbes magazine. But of what use the wealth that Mukesh Ambani has accumulated over the life time when he failed to do the right upbringing of his offspring. His son Akash Ambani under the influence of alcohol rampantly drove their Aston Martin and allegedly killed two poor persons while they were  sleeping on the pavement of a street in Mumbai.



On the other hand unfortunate was Seshadev Kisan to be born to a poor peasant family of Balasingha village of Sambalpur district, Odisha. When Sesha was barely a baby of one year old his mother passed away due to chronic illness. The neighbours and family members suggested his father to get remarry so as the step mother could be able to take care of Sesha. But his father denied to such proposal as he did not wanted his son to be a victim of ill-treatment which mostly any stepchild gets. He played the duel role of father and a mother.

When Sesha was a baby since there were no other elders at home his father use to take Sesha along with him to farming or grazing cows in the meadows. As Sesha grow up he learnt how to cook rice, and to do all other chores of home be it the dusting or sweeping the floor at home or washing the dirty clothes or utensils.



Sesha did not had the privilege to attend the play school called Anganwadi. But when he turned six years old Sesha went to attend the government run primary school not to acquire knowledge, but the only motive was to get the free mid day meal of rice and daal which is provided free of cost to the school children. In the school the only bone of contention for  Sesha was his ignorance of Oriya language as he is a Schedule Tribe and their spoken language is Kisan. The boy unable to catch-up with the course curriculum that was taught in the school. Because of it he has been beaten up many times in the classes. But Sesha was a boy of strong determination, he started learning the Oriya language. While his father used to go for firming, Sesha used to cook food and takes that food in a bowl called Khuri to the farmland. Despite  facing several constraints Sesha keep on attending primery school and came up with flying colors. He had been five time school topper in Balasingha Sevasrama School. Sesha was awarded with Best Student Award in 2005 by “Kisinda Womens Regional Union”. That year itself he got selected in Navodaya entrance exam. He was the only student from entire Naktideul block to take admission at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Sambalpur. He attended the school for 7 yrs from Class Six to Class 12th free of cost.
 

In 2006, his father had a vein blockage, as a consequence he was physically weak and unable to work. From then onward Sesha didn’t ask any money to his father for attending school or to buy study books or pens. During school vacations whenever Sesha was returning home he use to go along with his friends to   do labour work as there was no other option  to earn money.  Sesha was giving that little of his hard earned money to his father so as he can manage his expanses. He continued his study and passed CBSE 10th board exam in 2010 by securing a phenomenal 92% and choose Science stream. 


In 2010-11 while he was pursuing 11th Standard at Navodaya School he was suppose to refer the guide books for preparing for entrance exams. But Sesha did not had the money to buy such expensive books some of whom were priced at Rs.1,500/-. So this boy use to borrow the guide books from his friends and to read them in the night hours. But there is strict discipline to be observed by the students of Novodaya hostellers. By 10.00PM in the night tube light of every hostel room suppose to be switched off. Twice the watchman came and shouted at Sesha to switch off the light and catch the sleep. So the only alternative that Sesha was left with was to buy candles and to read the guide books in the low luminosity till late night in his hostel room and return the guide books at morning.  



In 2012, while he was pursuing 12th Standard one of his teacher of Navoday deposited his National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) exam fee of Rs.500/- as Sesha had no money to appear the exam. And Sesha able to  crack the exam. But on the other hand he had a doom days to face. His father who was struggling with illness  for months altogether succumbed to death. Sesha became an orphan. Because of the given circumstances of his life he could not attend the counselling for admission at NISER.

It was the darkest part of his life. Under given circumstances most of the youngsters opt to suicide.  But this Adivasi(Schedule Tribe) boy was made of a different genre. Instead of worrying about the future and looking at the long distance that he had to travel all alone in life, this boy just looked at each single day to survive.

(Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik while felicitating  Seshadev Kisan)
[Fellicitation by Dharmendra Pradhan Cabinet Minister of  Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship]

Sesha enrolled for a year at Regional Institute of  Education, Bhubanswar and altogether bounce back in life. And as a miracle cracked the NEST exam for the second time. Finally he got admission in National Institute of Science, Education and Research (NISER). It’s an autonomous Institute runs under Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. During 2013, while he was studying at NISER, people started asking to return back the money that he had borrowed for his father’s treatment. To generate money he gave private tuitions to school children at evening hours. That apart he cut off his expenses by cooking food in his hostel room, instead of partaking in the canteen. He able to return back the borrowed money. But teachers did not know that he is such a brilliant boy. After joining the Organo Metallic Catalysis Lab, within a short span of time he submitted few of his research papers to  an American journal by the name ACS Catalysis which they did publish. Then he thought of doing research in his chosen subject. On applying to a couple Universities of Europe online he qualified to take admission at The George August University Of Gottingen, Germany. Sesha will join as a Research Associate by getting a monthly stipend of 2,158 Euros which would be nearly Two Lack of Rupees per month.



[The George August University Of Gottingen, Germany]




kiranbima@gmail.com
Cell # 918249314972

E KIRAN MOHAN(Writer)
C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao(MD)
Main Road, Barpali-768029
Dist-Bargarh, Orissa, India
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Mar 9, 2018

2:00 AM

Adorjan illes : Circumnavigating the World in a bicycle


Every morning birds leave their nests to gather the grains, but each of them returns to their nest before the sunset. Whereas we the human beings bestowed with the wisdom that makes us travel an extra mile as compare to any other creatures on this earth. In the past two thousand years the world has witnessed many great expeditions. In the year 326 BC Alexander the Great travelled all the way from Greece to the Far East Asia to conquer India. Likewise in the middle ages (1024AD) Mahmud of Ghazni, Afghanisthan invaded India to loot the treasures of Somnath temple of Gujrat. But it was a Portuguese by the name Magellan who was the first person to circumnavigate our planet earth in the year 1480. The basic objective of human beings to explore the world is to amass wealth and treasures. Yet there are exceptions to this age old human tendency. Thirty six years old Adorjan illes of Hungary all set to explore the world in his bicycle not in search of treasures, but to win over the challenges. He set to conquer the world without carrying any arms or ammunitions. Adorjan wanted to win over the physical limits that our human body is biologically programmed with.

Adorjan was born at Tata city in Hungary. By profession he is an IT network engineer and was working with a telecom company in Hungary for over seven years. He was leading a decent life and made enough savings. One of his friend by the name Szabo Adam who has made a Eurotrip of 10,000kms in a bicycle inspired him to undertake the world trip instead. Adorjan took a break from his lucrative job at an age when any other young man would tend to earn money so as to settle in life by getting married to a pretty woman. He wanted to get rid of the conventional 10.00AM to 5.00PM weekdays job. His parents objected to his plans. They feared their son might be killed either on the way in a road accident or might be kidnapped by the extremists in the religious sensitive zones of Middle East. Otherwise he might be eaten alive by the beasts in the remote forests of Africa. Adorjan liquidated the little assets that he was possessing. Apart from the furniture and unused wardrobes, he sold one of his price possessions i.e. a piano. He is fond of music and used to play it once a while to tranquilize his mind.

On 13th June 2015 he came out of the comfort zone 
of his life. He along with his friend Szabo Adam set to travel the world in their bicycles. While riding his KTM Life Lontano bicycle that has got a steel frame with a gearbox both friends headed for Serbia. The question is how he supported himself for these long one thousand days when he is not earning any money while travelling the world. 

Adorjan started his journey with 10,000 US $. As such there is no cost of fuel as he is pulling the cycle manually. At night hours he digs the tent at the remote places to sleep. The only expenses that is involved is buying food on the way. He set the limit of just 5$ to 6$ a day(roughly INR450). He says how strange we the human beings are. We may not be compatible with our siblings at home or the neighbour living next door or the colleagues with whom we are working at office, but while travelling he has been received warmly by the strangers across the globe. At many places especially villages and small settlements people offered him fresh food to eat and even shelter to rest for a night. 

One of the most difficult situation that he encountered was in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan. He had to pump his adrenalin at an altitude of 3000 to 4000 meter above the sea level. During the day hour the temperature was -2 degrees to -4 degrees Celsius. Whereas at night it drops further to -10 degree Celsius. It took him as much as three weeks to pass through this dangerous terrain.


Through the ancient silk route at Wagha Border of Punjab they entered India. They virtually encountered no difficulty in the immigration counter. The officials were warm and kind to process their documents. Adorjan found Punjab to be a vibrant and colourful region. People were warm and attentive. From Amritsar he went to New Delhi. While at Delhi he spent one night sleeping in a Gurudwara. By the morning he awake his shoes were stolen. With this event he was disheartened for the high opinion that he had about India. When he informed the temple authority the local Sikh community raised money in solidarity to buy a pair of shoes for him. From new Delhi they headed south wards.

On 14th February 2016 while they were riding their cycles in Odisha on the state highway

ycles in l near Tingipali of Bargarh district two young men of Barpali by the name Subanta Dash and Ritesh Dash intercepted them. They took the duo and introduced with Nandlal Sahu of Puspak Hotel. Nandlal Sahu called the former MLA of Bijepur Constituency Late Subal Sahu and arranged their stay for a night at Inspection Bunglow (IB) as a state guest. At night Nandlal Sahu even sent complementary dinner to these two foreign guests. He is a vegetarian and enjoyed the Indian food very much. They had a peaceful rest for the night. Next day morning after interacting with people at Barpali they headed towards Chatisgarh.

While travelling through the un-tracked paths they found India absolutely vibrant and culturally rich. When he was cycling through the rain forests of Athirappilly water falls in Kerala there was a big gap between two settlements. He had to pedal another ten kilometers in order to reach the next village and to be safe in the night. He was pumping his adrenaline with absolutely full power. It was a hilly terrain and he pedaled while standing. He yelled “YES ! Oh yes, I can do this and gonna do it”.  And suddenly out of the blue a vehicle surpassed through him. But it halted 100 meter ahead of him. The driver got out of the car and waved him to stop. When Adorjan stopped, with wide eyes open the stranger said “In life I never seen such a Super Human like you”. And that gentleman gave him pineapple slices to eat.


Every second while he breaths he keep on interacting
with each cell, tissue and organ of his body. He believes his body is a biochemical supercomputer and always listening attentively to his mind and soul. Adorjan is capable to undertake the challenges much more than what any other human being could imagine. While cycling, he usually thinks his  body is made of the elements of air, water and light. And his life flows through it. In india he learned Yoga. He practised deep breathing sequences. He started doing Surya Namaskar (salutation of Sun) every morning as well. He realised the nurturing effects of Sun to his body and the soul. 

From India they went to Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia. At Kuala Lumpur Adorjan decided to travel alone so as to have a greater freedom. Both friends parted. From Indonesia he wanted to reach further south i.e. Australia which itself is a continent surrounded by South Pacific Ocean. Let how aplomb he is physically, but his cycle won’t be able to float in the ocean. He did the arithmetic and found ship is expensive and time consuming to reach the other shore. So he caught a flight and landed at  Perth which is on the west coast of Australia. 

From Perth he cycled to Melbourne. It was in Australia where he faced life threatening circumstances. He had to pass through Nullabour Plain. It’s a 1200 km long deserted area with no trees to take shelter. It took him long twenty days to cycle across this topography. The wind blew hard at the rate of 60kms per hour. It was virtually difficult for him to find a suitable place in that dessert where he could pitch his tent. From Melbourne he caught a train for Sydney. Over there he has undergone Vipasana retreat the ancient meditation system of India. From Sydney he caught a flight for Christchurch in New Zealand. And from New Zealand he went to Fiji. 

By the time Adorjan reached the shores of Japan in a ship his money was exhausted. He printed large size photos of the places and people of Europe and Asia that he clicked with his DSLR camera. He started selling the photos on the streets in the Japanese cities. It helped him to manage his expenses as Japan is an expensive country to live. He found Japan to be a super cool and clean country and its people are warm and magical. 

In Japan while riding his cycle it skidded and he fell on the ground. He went to a hospital. After undergoing a MRI scan the doctors said his hand needs a surgery. They wanted to drill the pieces of the bones and graft the bone together with a screw. But instead of undergoing through the painful surgery Adorjan resorted to his conscience. This fellow intensely meditated for two long months to appease the Universe to heal his arm. After two months this stubborn and stoic fellow went back to the same hospital. When the MRI was done the doctors were stunned to check the reports. The doctors were puzzled how could such broken bones could be grafted without ever drilling. There was no evidence of any bone rupture left in his hand.

From Japan he took a flight to United States of America. He found America to be a magical land. It’s a vast country. Unlike Asians its people are not cunning. Americans think big so they do everything big. After travelling alone for one year he got united with his friend again at California.   

Until now he is cycling for 1,400+ days. In these four and half years’ time he ride his cycle for almost 37,000+ kms. In quantitative terms this length would be  92 percent of the circumference of our planet earth. He has travelled as many as 25 countries. They are Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji Islands, USA and now travelling in Mexico. 

He got a huge surprise when his host Teotihuacan presented   ancient Aztec spiritual dance. This tribal music and dance of Ajtec lifted the spirit of Adorjan. He experienced the  sense of belonging with nature.

[Ajtek dance Mexico]


On circumnavigating near about 100 percent of our planet earth he has discovered in different continents, countries and regions people are wearing different wardrobes, we are speaking different languages, eating different foods, where as the aim of life is to be happy and contended with whatever we are. Often he found happiness in the faces of children instead of the adults or the old age, because their needs and desires are insignificant.

He successfully completed the expedition in the summer of 2019 after 1,473 days on the road, cycling around 46,000 kms through 39 countries.

E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main RoadAt/PO : Barpali-768029

Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India
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Feb 4, 2018

11:19 PM

Lana Matich Privitera : Affordable art for your living rooms


Lana Matich Privitera is a Fellow Member of the American Artist Professional League and a Signature Member of the North East Watercolor Society. Mrs. Privitera has been an art instructor for over 15 years and currently teaching at the Wallkill River School of Art in Montgomery, New York. She is also an active member of several other local Art Associations and regularly exhibits in Art Galleries in the Hudson Valley area.
[Live demo of art by Lana at Northeast Watercolor Society, USA]
Lana was born at Zaragoza a picturesque city in Spain. She and her three siblings were well groomed by the strict discipline of her Spanish mother, but   a Croatian father. Her original first name in Spanish is Maria Luz. Luz means Light and as a coincidence the effects of light played a prominent role in her work when she turnout to be an artist. She says light, with its infinite variations of hue, temperature and intensity, is able to alter the mood of the objects and landscape around us. She further says, but you can’t outline the prominence of light, in the absence of darkness. But the real challenge lays on highlighting radiance of light on a well lit background. 

[The Rainbow Cups]
As a girl of three years old Lana use to scribble on the walls of her bedroom with colour crayons. For such inarticulate graffiti’s many a times she got shouting from her parents. Looking at the inclination of that tiny tot towards art, her father bought drawing sheets and water colour tubes. By the time that little girl turned to be ten years old she started drawing elaborate scenes full of detail. She was proficient at drawing human figures. By the time she passed out of high school, she has over 50 commissioned charcoal portraits and hundreds of sketches under her belt. But when a local Art School didn’t meet her expectations, Lana sets Art in the back burner and switched her career. She dreamt to be a Fashion Designer.

As a young woman with many interests, she went on chasing after few other dreams as well. Be it travelling or learning foreign languages. And that’s how in the year 1990’s she reached the promising land i.e. United States of America and finally settled over there.

It was the year 1995 when Lana developed interest in doing art with water colours. She participated in the local and regional art competitions with her urban landscapes. By the year 2002 she participated in the national level art exhibitions and started selling her art works. She not only gathered admirers of her art, but started receiving many felicitations and awards as well.



When she was blessed with motherhood, she took a break to nurture her baby. But something else was written in the destiny. The blessing of motherhood was followed by health issues. She encountered with poor vision. It put her art career in exile for almost long ten years. It was the year 2013 Lana returned to paintings. But by then Internet played a big role in every sphere of life. Instead of conventional art magazines Lana explored art in the internet. On exploring the new techniques of doing art, her career took off to the higher spheres.
Iron box

As a mother, wife, businesswoman, artist and teacher Lana got multi roles to play in life. She struggles hard to find time to paint as much as she could. She prefers to paint when she knows she has several free hours of uninterrupted peace. She usually sets aside a whole week for painting. Her modus operandi of working is different. Most of the artists undertake only one assignment at a time. They keep working on it, until they finish it. But Lana is made of a different genre. At one go she starts several paintings all at the same time. But later as per the whims of her mind she picks only one specific piece of work and keeps working on it, until reaching the perfection.


She attributes her success in art to God saying He was kind enough to fulfill all the basic needs of her life.  Even though she got a small studio, yet she could afford to buy all the inventories which are often pretty expensive and any other aspiring artists unable to afford to buy them.

Silk
She chose watercolors as her medium because of the ethereal and luminous effects that it gives and for the inherent difficulties that involved to do art with it. She says the challenge of creating hyper-realistic paintings in such a difficult medium is quite an exhilarating experience. One of her master piece titled “Silk” is worth a watch. This piece of fabric which she painted is an antique Chinese wall cloth that her brother brought for her from a trip to China. She placed a Delftware vase over it which complemented it perfectly. She had bought that little vase in a church Sale for just a couple of dollars.

 This world has seen many great artists be it Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Caravaggio or be it Rembrandt. But their art works are no more relevant to the socio economic scenario that we live in the Twenty First Century. Whereas the art of Lana are so enigmatic and heart warming that they elevate our souls to the  higher spheres.

kiranbima@gmail.com
Mobile # +918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan (The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India
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Barpali, Orissa, India New York, NY, USA

Jan 24, 2018

9:16 PM

Life Line, Barpali : A Drop of Nectar


Life Line is a voluntary organization of Barpali which is on the pursuit of doing welfare for the society. It was setup in the year 2000 by the students of Barpali College. On the very first camp under the stewardship of Pradyumna Kumar Tripathy this organization collected 22 files of blood that has been donated by the students. For the past 18 years Life Line is the sole coordinator of arranging blood to the injured and the sick in the Barpali block of Bargarh district. With their persuasion and initiative a Blood Storage Facility has been set up by the Government of Odisha at Barpali CHC in the year 2015. 


Pradyumna was greatly influenced by the selfless service that has been rendered by Shri Durga Padhi of the voluntary blood donation organization called Tyaga, which has made a revolution in the neglected western Odisha. In the year 2013 Pradyumna motivated people of 200 villages across Bargarh district and lead more than 500 people and headed for the mega blood donation camp organized at MCL, Burla. In that red revolution campaign former Chief Minister Hemanand Biswal attended as the Chief Guest and felicitated this organization. So far Life Line has conducted blood donation camps at countless villages of Bargarh district. They are Kantapali, Sarandapali, Kumbhari, Remta, Tulandi, Agalpur, Khemesara, Barguda, Bagbadi, Satalama, Tingipali, Kadalipali and Burla itself. It was Life Line which has arranged an ambulance at Barpali when Dial 108 service was unheard and not yet introduced. That ambulance was sponsored by Tyaga. 

Apart from the above mentioned red revolution, Lifeline has under taken the projects of green revolution as well. They have done plantation drive during the monsoons at various villages. Last year one farmers meet was organized under the banner “Chasi ra Sukh Dukh” to make cultivators of paddy update with the changing times. Many farmers over here resort to suicidal deaths as they unable to cope with the crop loss or rising debts. During the winter of 2015 in one of the major road accidents of Odisha at Gailo Ghati 27 people of Remta village expired while every other survivor was critically injured. The volunteers of Life Line rushed to bring back the dead bodies and handed over to the poor family members of the deceased.

  

​And the man behind the Life Line, Barpali is a visionary who always led his team from the forefront. Until now Pradyumna himself has donated blood 55 times both at the camps as well directly to the recipients in various hospitals across Inida.

kiranbima@gmail.com

Mobile # +918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India
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Jan 6, 2018

12:00 PM

Mahendra Kumar Darjee : The sole TV journo for art and culture of Western Odisha


Mahendra Kumar Darjee is the sole TV journalist who brought the art, culture and history of western Odisha to the limelight. He made score of short documentaries on different subjects of Western Odisha for the Barnali programme which was broadcasted in Etv Oriya. His documentaries were well accepted by the society, because they were backed up by in depth research. He is a man of details and made documentaries on the mesmerizing art, culture and monuments of western Odisha. He has explored the ancient history of western Odisha and its iconic royal dynasty. 



Over the decade he has made documentaries on the subjects like Nuakhai, Dalkhai, Rogibatta, Humabauli dance, Paschim Odishar Alankar, Budhiaie Jatra, Patkhandha jatra, Kharligarh(Kharbelgarh), Bihanbudi jatra, Kemkeda Sabarpalli, Bonda hills of malkangiri, Sabda Nrutiya, Pua juintia, Nanda Utsav, Bourapita, Barpali bandha kala, Choukhatia bhunjia tribe of Nuapada, Dongaria kandha of Niyamgiri, Jugar jatra of Kuchipali, Ram Leela, Goudbadi, Sua nach, Kalanga danda, Kundabera, Barabhai length river and so on. He has even documented places of tourist importance of Western Odishabe it Harishankar, Nrushinghanath or Patra dam.

He is promoting the much neglected heritage, culture, art, ornaments, antique currencies and monuments of this neglected area. Balangir district is famous for its histoic heritage sites like Ranipur Jharial, Gumagarh at Tusra and so on. He made video documentaries of Chausathi Jogini temple. It was a tantra pitha of medieval period known for many of temples. It is famous for the Indralat temple made of bricks situated at Ranipur. Apart from western Odisha's heritage he produced the episodes for Crime Files that was telecastted by ETV Oriya. He made several crime files and delivered  justice to the bereaved family members of victims. His crime reporting was not only accepted by the society, but was appraised by the Odisha Police itself.

His contribution to the society is beyond the services of a journalist. Some twenty years back he got to know about an isolated village Chinched which is surrounded by Junani Jore a tribune of Tel river. Over there a bloody fight was going on for nearly 40 years. Without caring for his life he entered that area and persuaded rival people to setup a Gram Pachayat. Since then peace has been restored. In the year 2000 when the villagers celebrated Independence Day they invited this journo and made him do the flag hasting of Tiranga instead of inviting the Block Development Officer. This is how this journo set as an example to become a social reformer through the vocation that he opted in this life.

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WhatsApp📱 +918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road
Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha
India

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Barpali, Orissa, India Barapali Town, Odisha 768029, India