A Day at Kalabhoomi - an unique repository of Odisha's rich legacy of handicrafts and hand-looms

Appreciations and frequent recommendations from friends and acquaintances about the new museum in the city, Kalabhoomi, the Odisha Handicraft and Handlooms Museum made me plan a visit to the place with my six year old son Omm on a Saturday. However, as it happened, the museum was closed for second Saturday when two of us friends with kids arrived at the aesthetically built laterite stone made entrance gate. We came back distraught, but may be that was how it was destined to be for good. Over the next couple of days there was Kalabhoomi in discussions all around me, mostly for a colleague who had planned a sketch walk at the place while my son's favourite storytellers Bakul Foundation planned a craft conversations ala storytelling session over the next weekends.


As it panned out, the weekend morning started with watching Jurasic World at the theatres. Finished with hour date with the dinosaurs, it was a family tour of all three of us at the super special museum Kalabhoomi. The aesthetically designed entrance with the trinity of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhdra placed alongside the museum plaque welcomes us into a different world of sorts. 

Making our way through beautiful display of pottery and terracotta works we arrived at the craft conversations, straight onto the super engaging craft stories narrated by archaeologist cum heritage researcher Jitu Mishra. Taking the listeners through the journey of terracota as a craft and various versions of Tulsi Chaura, the story of terracota horses and reference to terracota warriors at a Museum in Xian, China, Jitu enchantingly weaved everyone into the craft stories, ably supported by digital pictures of the sculptures, crafts and craftsmen displayed on slide show. This was followed by joyful storytelling of the famed 1922 short story of Rabindranath Tagore 'New Doll' by the crafty storyteller of the city, Sujit Mohapatra, the founder of Bakul Foundation, who made the story come alive for kids and all others by involving everyone in the process through his witty questions and oneliners. . 

Once the storytelling sessions got over, we set out on exploring the sprawling museum on our own with good help form the suave gallery managers who have been trained very well on the crafts or subjects showcased in their respective display galleries. The vividity and sheer variety of crafts on display at Kalabhoomi was truly astounding. From different weaves of handlooms to demonstrating entire process of weaving, full length handloom sarees sequentially placed in a high roof gallery, the visit to Kalabhoomi mesmerizes each and every visitor as he / she enters a finely curated gallery. From terracotta to stone sculptures, wood craft to solapith and paddy straw craft, every piece at Kalabhoomi is truly a master piece. 

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