Members celebrate OSUK’s annual convention

Bhubaneswar: Odias living across UK thronged Maidenhead, London, recently for the 46th annual convention of Odisha Society of UK (OSUK). "Through this convention, we tell people living in the UK about Odia culture and often invite local representatives," said OSUK president Biswajit Pradhan.The convention provides a forum for Odias to showcase their talents. The programmes started by paying obeisance to Lord Jagannath and Maa Samaleswari. The two-day event included a performance by actor Kuna Tripathy, who took the audience on a journey of Odia cinema, its traditions and culture, and the glorious history of Odisha from the time of king Kharavela.Stand-up comedy was performed by Papu Pom Pom, while Tulika Tripathy and Prem Sahu performed Odissi and Subhashree Sahoo and team presented Sambalpuri folk dance.To keep OSUK families engaged, there were sports and antakshari competitions. There was a delectable Odia spread that included mutton, ‘badi chura', ‘aloo chop', ‘ghuguni', ‘macha besara', rasogolla and more. The OSUK annual journal, ‘Nabagunjara', was released on the occasion."Many have left us for the heavenly abode, and many of us may not be here for the forthcoming OSUKs, but it's our dream to leave behind a legacy of combined and united OSUK for future generations to keep the Odia culture and traditions alive in the western world," said Dr Nishebita Das, a founder member of OSUK.On the occasion, two health seminars on menopause and prostrate issues, organised by Odia doctors living in the UK, were also organised. Former MP Virender Sharma, Maidenhead mayor Mandy Brar, councillor Gurch Singh, Ajay Thakur from the High Commission of India, renowned sculptor Adwaita Garnayak and OSUK general secretary Sukanta Sahu attended the convention.