DHENKANAL: Dressed as devotional bards or ‘Chakulia Pandas’, Bigyan Mohanty has been strolling through the villages under Baladiabandh Gram Panchayat here to sing tales of the pandemic to the rural folk in dialects they speak.
The saffron-clad social worker, who is a native of Paikadahikore village, starts his journey to spread awareness about Covid 19 around 6am daily.
Like a Chakulia Panda, he holds an earthen pot and hangs a ‘gamucha’ from his shoulder.
Instead of a palm-leaf ‘Chhatri’, he carries an umbrella to protect himself from the summer heat.
But, unlike the Pandas, he doesn’t look for alms. While covering around 7km on foot every day, his only motto is to disseminate authentic information among poverty-stricken villagers, who don’t have access to mass media. In a week’s time, he has claimed to have reached each household in eight villages. Mohanty, who holds a diploma in mechanical engineering, often composes scripts and content for various social organisations in the village on a plethora of local issues.
“I have been reading about the pandemic in newspapers. I have spent hours surfing through the internet to learn about the various safety protocols issued by the governments and World Health Organisation,” he said. Thus, lyrics of the song he sings door-to-door speak about the origin of the pandemic and its effect on the district. Set to the tunes of traditional hymns sung by the Chakuli Pandas, his song also endorses social distancing. Inspired by his act, social organisations in the village contributed towards corona relief funds.