bhubaneswar days after odisha celebrated utkal divas on april 1 nonresident odias nros living in the us uk and dubai observed odisha statehood day over subsequent weekends dressed in their traditional best they savoured odia cuisine and witnessed odissi dance and theatrein the us the odisha society of new england organised an event at a high school auditorium in massachusetts the highlight was the dalma and pitha competitions the show stealer was the enduri pitha that odias make on prathamastami the festival was judged by scientist and author laxmi paridaif this was the start then a gourmet platter waited for all odias present it included pakhala the odia soul food accompanied by rohu fish fry aloo bharta baigan bharta sagga mixed fry ending with the chhenapoda for lunch and samosa nimki khaja pana and masala tea for snacks dinner showcased odias liking for kasa mangsho chingudi besara and aloo potola rasa among others we taught the cooks at a restaurant owned by odias and they made the delicacies said akshaya mohanty a founding member of societyto add a dose of glamour to the celebrations the nros walked the ramp in odissi handloom sarees suits jackets and kurtas we had specially placed an order with the weavers of nuapatna in cuttack district to send us the material and sarees said akshaya mohanty a founding member of the societythe celebrations that went on for almost 10 hours were rounded off with three plays in odia presented by 27 to 28 odia artists from new jersey connecticut and massachusetts even though we have been living in the us for years now we are deeply attached to our state and culture said devdutt behera one of the actorsin the uk the celebrations were organised at ilford london by the odia cultural association of london ocal and odisha society of the united kingdom osuk it was attended by mayor of redbridge thavathuray jeyaranjan along with nros from london kent reading croydon manchester ireland and scotland three odia entrepreneurs anil das partha panda and niladri das were felicitated for their contribution to the odia communitydressed up in traditional attire they danced to the tunes of odia songs odissi was performed by a troupe from kolkata while singer asit tripathy belted out famous odia songs some took part in cricket matches while there were special games for children and women said sumant mansingh president of osuk all of them together savoured an odia platter of aloopotala tarkari badi cura alookalara bhaja mangsho jhola machha besara ghuguni aloo chop and khiri the odias living in the uae celebrated utkal divas at the indian consulate in dubai on april 16 it was attended by indias consul general dr aman puri who thanked chief minister naveen patnaik for the bhubaneswardubai direct flight scheduled to start from may 15 the highlight of the event was the fashion show for which the women practised for the last two months said amiya mishra president of odisha samaj uae singer biswajit mohapatra