GupShup - Dr Dola Pradhan talks about Utkal Diwas

April 7, 2026·27 min·2 clips

What is Utkal Diwas, and why is it celebrated on April 1st as Odisha's foundation day?

1. Radio Rimjhim Gup Shup features host Nutan Thakur interviewing Dola Pradhan and Sujata Goel of the Odisha Association ahead of their Utkal Diwas event on April 12 at Sullivan Hall, Surrey. 2. Dr. Dola Pradhan is the current President of the local Odisha Association; Sujata Goel is the immediate past President who organized events including the Mirchi Masala food festival during her term. 3. The purpose of the episode is to explain Utkal Diwas to listeners unfamiliar with it and invite the wider South Asian diaspora community to the celebration. 4. Utkal Diwas commemorates April 1, 1936, when Odisha became the first state in India to be formed on the basis of linguistic identity — the Odia language — separating from the Bihar-and-Odisha province that had existed since 1912. 5. The name Utkal comes from two interpretations: Uttara Kalinga (northern Kalinga) or a state of the finest arts (Utkashrakala); Kalinga refers to the kingdom that fought Ashoka in the Kalinga War. 6. Parts of Odisha were previously split across the Bengal Presidency and Madras Presidency before the Bihar-and-Odisha province was carved out in 1912; the full linguistic separation happened in 1936. 7. The British mispronunciation of Odia is cited as the origin of the earlier spelling Orissa; the name was formally changed to Odisha and the language to Odia in 2011. 8. Sujata notes that freedom fighters Gopabandhu Das, Madhusudan Das, Maharaja Ramachandra Bhanjadeo, and Fakir Mohan Senapati organized as the Utkala Samilani around 1912 and spent roughly 30 years lobbying the British to separate Odisha on linguistic lines. 9. Dr. Pradhan confirms 2026 is the 90th anniversary of Odisha Foundation Day, and both guests say the 100th anniversary in 2036 will be a major inter-community celebration. 10. The April 12 program at Sullivan Hall (152 and 64 community centre) runs from 5 p.m. to 9-10 p.m. and includes a meet-and-greet with snacks, a 1 hour 40 minute cultural program, and dinner. 11. The cultural program will open with the Odisha state anthem Vande Utkal Janani, followed by Ganesh Vandana, Jagannath Vandana, children performing piano, singing, and dance, and a tableau called Festivals of Odisha. 12. The Festivals of Odisha tableau depicts 13 Odia festivals — including Makar Sankranti as a harvest festival, Ratha Yatra, Rajya Parba (a female-led festival where women dress up and celebrate), and Kumar Purnami (moon and Lakshmi worship) — through Sambalpuri folk dances and Odissi classical forms. 13. Odisha is known for having 13 festivals in 12 months, meaning at least one month has two major festivals. 14. This year Dr. Pradhan registered the Association as a formal non-profit for the first time, and is expanding the event to invite presidents of other South Asian community associations — Bihar-Jharkhand, Marathi, and Gujarati — to witness the program and build inter-community relationships. 15. Rath Yatra is described as Odisha's biggest festival: Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra are placed on public street chariots so that people unable to enter the temple can receive darshan. 16. The Vancouver Rath Yatra is scheduled for July 19 at Lakshmi Narayan Temple and will feature 56 varieties of bhog prasad distributed free to all devotees; there is no ticket or entry charge. 17. Host Nutan shares the folk story behind the broom-sweeping tradition: the king traveling to his aunt's house, citizens cleaning the street in advance of his arrival — a story that gave her goosebumps and transformed the ritual from rote practice to meaningful connection. 18. The episode is warm and multilingual, shifting between English, Hindi, and Odia expressions, and has the intimacy of a community radio show aimed specifically at South Asian diaspora listeners. 19. Odia diaspora listeners and those curious about Indian state formation history will find the episode substantive and welcoming. 20. Listeners with no background in South Asian regional culture or no connection to the Metro Vancouver diaspora community will find limited practical relevance.

As heard by us

A warm local portrait of Odisha history, festival, and dance.

PlayNext frames this community-radio segment as a compact look at how Odisha marks Utkal Diwas through language, festival, and public ritual. It keeps the history clear: Odisha became a separate state in 1936, and that fact sits beside Makar Shankranti, Rajya Parva, Kumar…

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Press play if you want Odisha history told in a friendly community-radio conversation with local pride.

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