Lesser known facts about 20 March Pakhala Divasa

BY Mrudu malay Mohapatra

OdiaLive congratulates the entire team of the Facebook group Odisha mo Odisha who participated in the discussion in the year 2011 and announced 20th March as Pakhala Divas.

Lesser known facts about 20 March Pakhala Divasa: Welcoming Summer in mid-March, people of Odisha replace their lunch plate with a bowl of Pakhala/Water rice. Pakhala is the favorite of every Odia and it’s also the symbol of recognition of every Odia, in Odisha or abroad. A person can never erase his/her love for his motherland likewise an Odia can never forget Pakhala, irrespective of social classes.

Here are a few interesting facts you would love to know about Universal Pakhala Day / Pakhala Divasa: –

Before few years i.e in 2011, there was a discussion about Pakhala on a Facebook group by Odia people named ‘Odisha mo Odisha’. The group decided to celebrate Universal Pakhala Day to welcome Summer.

Pakhala is the favorite dish of every Odia and holds a special place in every Odia’s heart, so it is every Odia’s responsibility to promote this special and unique dish.The whole thing started with a Facebook post and now Odia people across the world celebrate this day as Pakhala Day or Universal Pakhala Divas.

Then a question must be arising Why 20th March? The answer to it is, as the whole discussion was done on 20th March, it is decided to celebrate the special occasion on that day.The Celebration got recognized in a very short span of time and now you can witness people sharing posts, wallpapers, and selfies with Pakhala on different social media platforms.

This is how 20th March became popular as Pakhala Day and now social media get flooded with posts and shares about this auspicious day.

People even posted about what they like to have with mouth-watering Pakhala during summer. There was a long list of dishes which includes Fish fry, Dry Fish (Sukua) fry, Badhi Chura, Bara & Piaji, Samosa & Aluchup, mixture, Dahibara Aludam (especially by people of Cuttack), etc.