Odia Samaj Abu Dhabi (OSA) celebrated “Utkal Diwas” with great pomp and show amidst a joyful, enthusiastic, joyful and emotional atmosphere. This annual cultural festival titled “Utkarsha-2026” was held at the beautiful, picturesque and well-decorated “Pixel” auditorium located on the shores of the Arabian Sea in Abu Dhabi. The entire auditorium complex took on the form of a small Odisha with this long-awaited grand gathering as its center. There was a wonderful enthusiasm and excitement among the members of the Odia Samaj, their families, relatives and well-wishers. The event, organized under the chairmanship of Shri Saugat Nayak, Chairman of “Odia Samaj Abu Dhabi”, saw a large presence of more than five hundred Odia diaspora from various parts of the United Arab Emirates.
The chief guest of the program was the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Dr. Deepak Mittal, and the chief guest appreciated the efforts of the Odia community to keep the Odia language, culture and tradition alive in foreign lands. The guest of honor was Odisha Assembly member, Mrs. Sophia Firdos, and she spoke about the history of Utkal Day and the glorious tradition of Odisha. The guest of honor was Shri Debashish Patnaik, who appreciated the great organization of the Odia community. The advisor of the Odia community, Shri Pradeep Kumar Rath, spoke about the golden history, art and culture of Odisha and Utkal and thanked everyone in the meeting.
In the presence of the members of the advisory board, Dr. Himanshu Das and Shri Kartik Singh, the workers of the Odia community, Siddhartha Das, Sukarna Behera, Jitendra Mishra, Susanta Mohapatra, Chinmay Nayak, Sambit Kumar Mohanty, T. Keshav Rao was successfully organized with the active support and contribution of the chief. Along with this, the unique support of Sumit Kumar Panda, Sudhra Samal, Shipra Das, Asmita Patel, Subodh Kumar Sahu, Pradeep Kumar Sahu, Biswaranjan Jena and Dilip Kumar Nayak made the program more successful and attractive.
The assembly was started after the lighting of the lamp by the invited guests. On this occasion, the eighth edition of the souvenir of the Odia society “Prabha Utkarsh” was launched.
Various glimpses of Odia culture were displayed very attractively along with the theatrical, literary and cultural programs. The internal artists of the Odia society enchanted the audience with their beautiful performances of dance, music and literary talents. The famous vocalist of Odisha, Sasha, performed the songs of Shekhar and Dhutlerekha Padhi. The audience was moved by the music. The stage was hosted by Odisha’s well-known presenter Sanjiv Kumar and Sambalpur comedian Yogesh Jojo who entertained the audience with his humorous presentations. An attractive fashion show was organized under the leadership of Swati Das and Sudhra Samal in collaboration with Deepika Gaud, a renowned fashion designer from Odisha.
On this occasion, all the Odias living abroad were very happy to taste the traditional Odia food. Chairman Shri Saugat Nayak announced that many such cultural gatherings and programs will be organized in the coming days.
