Naveen gesture

From Bhubaneswar to Puri, chief minister Naveen Patnaik was everywhere — albiet on posters. He welcomed devotees and wished them a happy bahuda yatra. Though Naveen was in Puri for rath yatra, the posters made up for his absence during the Trinity’s return journey. 

Marik’s worry

Once bitten twice shy, DGP Sanjeev Marik took every step to ensure proper security arrangements at the Gundicha temple. While inspecting and instructing officials to manage the crowd, he was often looking up a chart to check whether the rituals were on time.   
Tiny daitapati

Krishna Das Mohapatra, 5, was the centre of attraction. The kid was helping his father Manoj Das Mohapatra perform rituals. As other servitor kids, he has been brought to the serve the Lord from a tender age. The tiny-tot was also busy distributing tulsi leaves to the devotees. 

Risky climb

A few visitors had climbed the Daitapati Nijog building to watch the chariots roll. In times of rain, too many people on the under-construction building was fraught with risks. This caught DGP Sanjeev Marik’s attention and he sent senior cops to empty the place.

Drum beats

A group of young boys had come all the way from Faridabad in Haryana to sell drums of various shapes and size. The beats of the drums echoed in the air as they synced with ghantua players and created a musical ambience. 

Banati girl

Sumitra Pradhan, a 17-year-old girl whose airborne twirls amazed onlookers, joined the men brigade of banati artistes this year. Banati is a native traditional martial art-cum-sport of the state. Sumitra performed dana banati where the flags hoisted atop the Jagannath temple would be tied to the end of a rope and spun in the air.