Today we had the honour to visit Bibhu Maharana sir's house, it was such a privilege watch him paint and teach us the intricacies, techniques and authentic colour creations of Pattachitra. He fed us lunch and told us many stories. When I asked him, when people copy his work, does he feel bad? He smiled and said my work is to create, I don't think beyond that. I don't think if I will earn money, I don't think if my work is better or worse than others, I definitely don't think what if someone copies my work. I create, that's how God made us, to create. Not to compete or compare. This workshop was organised by Gilherio, Bhubaneswar. I will request all Odisha based artists, and beyond to take this workshop once. Not to learn art, but to learn the humility and knowledge a person requires to be an artist. ❤️

I was on a work related trip with my colleague to Bhubaneswar and we had an extra afternoon to ourselves. We decided to explore the rich heritage of Bhubaneswar and came across the Pattachitra workshop organised by Gilehrio. None of us had a prior background in painting, yet it was the one of the most rewarding experience. Sweta (well we could not have got a better guide) picked us up in the morning and it was roughly 90-minute drive to this village, which is famous for its heritage in arts, primarily Pattachitra. Enroute, we stopped in between for breakfast and tried some local delicacies. Sweta was very knowledgeable and friendly and shared with us wonderful insights about Odisha, it's magnificent history and great culture. After arriving in Raghurajpur, we were welcomed into a very warm and hospitable house a local artist. We spent most part of the morning and early afternoon at the terrace working on our paintings (Pattachitra). The Masterji (our instructor at the workshop) was a true master at his art and thankfully was very patient with us as we tried our hands with the brushes and colours for the first time ;-) It was just amazing to look at his finesse and every now and then he would teach us a trick or two to keep improving our work. All this while we had some really good interactions as we immersed ourselves in the history and the calmness of the place. After the workshop, we were rewarded with home made lunch served in the true authentic Oriya style. It was a perfect way to sum up our short trip to Odisha. Thanks to Sweta, Surya and Gilehrio for this wonderful concept and some great impressions of the place.

Every temple in BBSR has a story to tell.. If you can hear it... Sit with stones in the temples... give them your ears.. And they will start sharing there stories... You can feel Shiv in every temple here ... Amazing place to spend time.

Would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this for people wanting to go beyond just ticking places off a list of must visit places ..!! It turned out to be one of those amazing experiences that STAY WITH YOU long after.. thanks to the captivating narrative spun by the guides. Their seemingly simple stories of the temples were loaded with history, mythology, architecture and culture. From the likes of understanding the types of temple architecture to knowing the significance of a carving that kept appearing across temples... it gave us so much to chew on. It could have easily been a tour where we could have just visited the major temples and admired the surreal art set in stone, a few facts thrown in here and there. But this tour took it to another level with the RELEVANCE and PERSPECTIVE they brought :) Kudos team Gilehrio!! :D

When a couple of my friends visited Odisha earlier this October, I was clueless as to how to go about showing Odisha to them while making their time worth it. And that's how I landed with Gilehrio. The folks at Gilehrio planned for us a workshop at the home of a world renowned artist. If there's one word I would use to describe the experience, it would be GENUINE. There was nothing commercial about it. On the second day, they took us out on a unique temple trail of Bhubaneswar bringing out stories from the past, stories etched in stone. There weren't mere facts, but stories from history, interpretations of how life was back then. Taking the trail felt like walking in a Bhubaneswar from thousand years back. I'm waiting for what other Odisha-exploring trails do the folks at Gilehrio come up with. Fascinating and totally worth it!