'Dance Like A Man'

Odisha is often celebrated for its rich and living cultural legacy—from the exquisite Pattachitra paintings and the vibrant appliqué craft of Pipli, to the timeless elegance of Sambalpuri saris, the legendary artistry of Kelucharan Mohapatra, and the enduring grace of the Gotipua dance tradition.  

Gotipua is a traditional dance form historically linked to the famous Puri Jagannath Temple as it developed around it. The dance tradition is believed to have emerged between the 16th and 18th centuries, when the older temple dance tradition performed by female dancers declined. (Wikipedia helped us with this nugget of information)

To continue the ritual and the performance traditions connected with temple culture, young boys were trained to dance and perform in female costume. These boys were called “Goti pua”. Goti meaning “single” and pua meaning “boy”.

The very idea --young boys being trained to embody a tradition built on delicate expression and feminine grace challenged everything we thought our editorial advisor knew about how classical dance is learned, performed and even imagined!

When we first heard about Gotipua we smiled politely—and quietly doubted it--young boys, dressed and trained to perform with such softness and lyrical grace? It sounded almost too extraordinary to be true!

And then we watched a performance! The moment the music began and the young boys stepped onto the stage, disbelief gave way to wonder. The dancers’ movements flowed like silk in the air, every gesture shaped with care, every glance alive with emotion. Strength hid behind tenderness, discipline shimmered beneath ease, and what we had imagined as novelty revealed itself as pure artistry.

We had come curious.

We stayed spellbound.

Sharing few pictures and videos of a live Gotipua performance in Puri, Odisha recently.

Readers may browse the video below to get a real feel of Gotipua performance. Their acrobatics-like sequences can be seen in the YouTube video below.

Another video below shows the entry of the dancers posing as Lord Krishna's chariot.

Next video shows the Invocation, prayers for the Gods to bless the dancers and the world around them.

We thank Kashi and Madhu Mitra for arranging an exclusive performance of Gotipua for our BITS Batch Reunion in Puri recently. It was so inspiring to see the boys pursuing their school studies as well as learn this unique dance form at the Gurukul in Raghurajpur village. In fact their Gurus (teacher-cum-mentor) also accompanied the boys to the venue. He could be seen with the live music team on the left in one of the pictures above.

The teacher later revealed that out of the six, only one dancer was a girl. Although Gotipua has been traditionally learnt and performed by boys dressed as girls, the Gurukul at Raghurajpur broke from the tradition and has trained girls (if they are physically fit) to perform alongside the boys. Talk of gender equality in India! This is the finest example we can think of. Can you guess which Gotipua dancer is the only girl in the picture below?

Bet you couldn't guess it right! She is the 5th dancer from the left standing in the front row. Beaten? Zoom the picture and focus on the feet of the dancers. All of them are wearing ghunghroos whereas only one dancer is wearing a silver payal in addition! 

We all thanked the Gotipua team and gave them a standing ovation.

Thanks are also due to Padma Ramesh for her research and editorial support. She had earlier written a guest story on Iceland which can be browsed here.

Other Indian Dance Forms

Readers may browse our earlier story on Indian dance forms. The picture story which was created to commemorate the World Dance Day, shows various dance forms across the states of India. It also has few PQs-- picturesque quotes superimposed on pictures shot by Ghumakkad -- like the one reproduced below. "Dance is the hidden language of the soul", said Martha Graham famously.

Dances of India and Overseas - experience the dance forms across India as well as the UAE and East Africa.

Feel free to add to the above story.

Closing with a picture of Ghumakkad with the Gotipua dancers. It was an unforgettable performance indeed.

Whether you are a dancer or not, we hope you got our message 'Dance like a Man'!

Thanks for browsing. Do leave a comment, few words will do. It will encourage us.

Stay connected.

   -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad and Puri/ 15th March 2026

Postscript 17th March: Many readers had requested for the contact details of the Gotipua Gurukul. Their business card is appended below:

#gotipua #odisi #indiandanceforms #odisha #puri #jagannathdham #traditionaldanceforms #gurukul #raghurajpur #danclikeaman #boysdressedasgirls #abhinaya #grace #reunion #bits1968batch #pilani #bitsians #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh

 

Magical Sunrise at Puri

From the Sun Temple at Konark, we now move to the magical sun rise at Puri Beach in Odisha. Watching the sun rise from a clean, unpolluted and exclusive beach has its own charm. The forest department of Odisha controls the 3 to 5-kms deep and more than 20-kms long stretch of forest along Puri beach. Visitors to the Balukhand-Konark Wildlife Sanctuary are allowed entry in a controlled manner between 8.30 am to 5 pm. Courtesy Toshali Sands (the resort where we were staying), we obtained special permission for early morning entry. A forest guard accompanied us through the forest till the beach head.

We have captured the sunrise in various stages and hues. Apart from the glory of the sun and the surf, tiny crabs also caught our eye. Our story includes few pictures from an afternoon visit to the same beach, courtesy K Gopu, fellow Navy Veteran. Let the pictures and the videos tell the story.

Wave after wave! Watching the sea waves ashore is very soothing. It can be interpreted in many ways. Each wave washes part of the shore. Like wiping off your worries and problems in life! Enjoy a short video below.

Here is how the Veterans felt after the mesmerising sunrise! See the short video

The agility of the tiny crabs is seen to be believed. See the short video clip below.

East coast of India is home to red coloured sand bubbler crabs. Fascinating to watch, they forage for food in the sand. The following stories by Ghumakkad have appeared on the top in Google search for last several years:

Red Crabs of Surya Lanka

Sand Bubbler Crabs and Sand Galaxies 

Surya Lanka Where You Encounter the Sand Galaxies

Sunrise and sunset are the favourite subjects of every photographer. Apart form the sea coast, there are several spots for spectacular views of a sunrise or a sunset. Few of these are:

Tiger Hill, Darjeeling- from where you see the first rays of the Sun illuminate the highest point on earth i.e. Mount Everest

Sunset Point, Mount Abu, Rajasthan

Sunset Point, Hampi, Karnataka. You may browse our earlier story 'Charm of a Sunset' to enjoy the sunset at Hampi.

Some of our other stories featuring sunrise as well as moon rise are listed below. Just click to browse the picture story.

Why do People Shoot the Sun? - Even a nine-year old got up at 4.45 AM to shoot!

Moon's Magic at Sea - Moon rise is as spectacular

The above visit to Puri beach was part of the Golden Jubilee of Navy Veterans of their Commissioning into the Indian Navy (1972-2022). All the stories of the Golden Jubilee Reunion and associated travel can be browsed by clicking the links below:

Magical Sunrise at Puri Beach - The panorama, the waves, the surf and tiny crabs- the story has it all.

Konark Sun Temple - Stories in Stone

Chandrabhaga Beach- The Blue Flag Certified Beach

Sunset Years to Sunrise - Friends Make the Difference

Meet the Navy Veterans- Intro and pandemic positivity video

Veterans' Choice at Puri Odisha - where to stay

Trees by A Railway Line - Learning from the Trees

We close with Gautam Buddha's famous quote superimposed on a picture of the sunrise.

More stories of our Reunion will follow. Thanks for browsing and stay connected.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with K Gopu/ Secunderabad/ 13th Dec 2022

#puri #Sunrise #beach #Odisha #NavyVeterans #Reunion #GoldenJubilee #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #litterfreebeach #forestonthebeach #risingsun #sandbubblercrabs #eastcoastofindia #moonrise #tinycrabs 

Konark Sun Temple

Sun is the giver of life on earth. It is worshipped by many cultures. Konark Sun Temple is one of the many sun temples located around the world in Peru, Egypt, Japan and China. In India apart from Konark, we have sun temples in Modhera (Gujarat), Suryanarayana temple (AP), Surya Pahar temple (Assam), Martand sun temple (Kashmir) and many more in Bihar, MP and other states.

Brief History of Konark

According to Wikipedia, "It is a 13th-century CE (year 1250) Sun temple at Konark about 35 kms northeast of Puri city on the coastline in Odisha, India. The temple is attributed to king Narasimhadeva-I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. Dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, what remains of the temple complex has the appearance of a 100-foot high chariot with immense wheels and horses, all carved from Khondalite stone. Once over 200 feet high, much of the temple is now in ruins. The structures and elements that have survived are famed for their intricate artwork, iconography, and themes, including erotic kama and mithuna scenes."

Chariot Wheels

The temple is shaped like a giant chariot having 24 wheels carved out of Khondalite stone. Each wheel is 12-feet in diameter with eight spokes. Elaborately carved, the wheel is an icon of Odisha. All the 24 wheels represent two sets of 12 each symbolising different months of the lunar calendar. Khondalite stone found in the Eastern Ghats weathers fast. But it was still used for the sculptures and carvings in the temple. The chariot was driven by a set of B. Remains of the horses can be seen in our pictures.

Ghumakkad visited the Sun temple at Konark recently. We reached the temple with fading sunlight which poses a challenge for photographing any monument. Nonetheless, sharing few pictures of the UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Contest

The following picture of the stone chariot wheel was selected for KBG-79, the 79th edition of Kaun Banega Ghumakkad online caption contest. The contest received more than 50 captions which are listed below. We thank all the participants for their creative captions.

No.	Name	Caption for KBG-79 Contest
1	Zafar Naseem	Ultimate in craftsmanship for detail and symmetry
2	Yogesh	Keep moving.
3	VV Ramani	Sankethik adbhut
4	Vuppala B Umakanth	Kaal Chakra
5	Vinod Dhanuka	Life: Combination of Shine & Darkness
6	Vinod Chaddha	Samay ka chakra!
7	Vijay Uppal	Wheel of our heritage and destiny.
8	Veeky Baths	The poetry on stone!
9	Sunisha C	Dark and light in the circle of life
10	Shyamala Chatyulu	Wheel of Life with all angles
11	Sanjay Patnaik	Superb!
12	Rohini Tiwari	Timeless poetry in stone!
13	Ritu Bhargava	Value of time
14	Ritu Bhargava	Dharam chakra
15	Ritu Bhargava	Gati ki mahamaya
16	Rashmi Bhargava	The wheel of life takes one up or down by turn
17	Ramdas B Dhavare	The Whole Universe has 'Spherical shaped bodies' but it seems the 'Life on Earth is a Full Circle'.
18	Ramanand Baliga	Eternity
19	Rakesh Bajaj	Life is like a wheel sooner or later it comes back where it started.
20	Rajendra Singh	Wheel of karma, rolls on endlessly.
21	Radhika Sareen	समय चक्र
22	PRR Rao	The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease.
23	Prem Raj Chadha	Beautiful!
24	Prashant Jadenavar	Neither I carry the weight of the Past Nor I Assume the Weight of the future! Just One step forward at a time!
25	Poonam Bhargava	The wheel turns evenly for all
26	Poonam Bhargava	An important invention by Man
27	Peter de Padua	Wheels within wheels
28	Nidhi Bhargava	जीवन चक्र में कभी धूप कभी छांव है जो रहे स्थितप्रज्ञ हर पल,वही सच्चा इंसान है
29	NC Sarangi	Cycle of Time
30	MV Vasudevan	Wheel, the First innovation of homosapiens, a technology marvel, then, is yet to be driven out by AI, innovated by mankind.
31	MN Muralidharan	(Life) Goes on!
32	Manju Khetan	Awesome!
33	Manik Rao	Cadence Cast in Stone.
34	LS Bhargava	A real life cycle of Ups & downs and happiness & sadness
35	Jyoti Dixit	The wheel of life turns gradually to show us pictures of our journey of life. Captain ship ahoy.
36	J Ramamoorty	Jeevan chakra
37	Gopu K	Happy days
38	GR Sreenivasan	The wheel of life takes one up and down  perpetually, ultimately we should learn to enjoy the journey.
39	Deepak Jena	The road to success is always under construction.
40	Deepak Jena	The time of wheels in life, that seems to be the worst, always turn out for the best!
41	CD Sawant	Life is like a roller coaster. You can either scream with fear or enjoy the ride. Choice is yours.
42	C Raghuram	Chakra(view) - the circle of life is permanent
43	BR Natarajan	We all are Abhimanyus in this Kal Chakra Vyuh.
44	Bharat Ladha	उजाले हो या अंधेरे। कभी न रुके कालचक्र के फेरे।
45	Avinash Tiwari	Kaal (Sudarshan) Chakra
46	Anonymous-3	Eternal
47	Jaishankar	सूर्य देवता जीवन दाता, चौबीस चक्रों वाले रथ पर आता भोर सवेरे आसमान में निकला बना दिया समा को उजला कालचक्र का निर्माता धरती मां के प्राण विधाता।
48	Anonymous-1	Sun God fame ...Konark Chariot Wheel cum Sun Dial
49	Amrit Yegnanarayan	Eternal
50	Amandeep Kaur	Not everything needs to go places to leave impact.
51	Amandeep Kaur	Non-movable yet attractive!
52	Ajai Bhumri	Wheel of life, beautifully carved by almighty. Man is to have an eye to see and enjoy.

The Winners

Our Jury has selected the following four winning captions for their creativity, brevity and/or instant appeal. Congratulations to all the winners.

Yogesh is a doctor who loves travelling and photography. A former Colonel in the Army Medical Corps, he volunteers as a medical officer at an Officer's Institute in Secunderabad. His short caption 'Keep moving' appealed to our Jury instantly. He has won the KBG contest earlier also.

Rashmi Bhargava has been a regular contributor to KBG contests. Winner of an earlier contest KBG-41, her caption 'The wheel of life takes one up or down by turn' conveys the reality of life. A post graduate from Rajasthan University, Rashmi has a creative mind.

Poonam Bhargava has been a teacher with compassion for fellow human beings and animals alike. An alumnus of Lady Irwin College, New Delhi, she loves Nature. She has won several KBG contests in the past. Her caption 'The wheel turns evenly for all' conveys Nature's equanimity.

CD Sawant has been a regular participant in KBG contests. His caption 'Life is like a roller coaster. You can either scream with fear or enjoy the ride. Choice is yours.' has a deeper message for all of us. Enjoy the ride and stay positive. A former General, Shekhar as he is known to his friends, loves to travel and interact with people.

Congratulations to all the winners of KBG-79.

The above visit to Konark was part of the Golden Jubilee of Navy Veterans of their Commissioning into the Indian Navy (1972-2022). Other stories of the Golden Jubilee Reunion and associated travel can be browsed by clicking the links below:

Konark Sun Temple - Stories in Stone

Chandrabhaga Beach- The Blue Flag Certified Beach

Sunset Years to Sunrise - Friends Make the Difference

Meet the Navy Veterans- Intro and pandemic positivity video

Veterans' Choice at Puri Odisha - where to stay

Trees by A Railway Line - Learning from the Trees

We end with a quote from the Nobel Laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore who wrote, "Here the language of stone surpasses the language of human."

More stories of our Reunion will follow. Thanks for browsing and stay connected.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Ashutosh Anand/ Secunderabad/ 9th Dec 2022

#Konark #SunTemple #13thCentury #SoundandLightShow #Konark #Odisha #Chariot #Stonewheels #NavyVeterans #Reunion #GoldenJubilee #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #restoration #worldheritagesite #sandstone #carving #destructionbyinvaders #religioustolerance #rabindranathtagore #languageofstone