This London eatery turned Rath Yatra into a feast for the homeless

An ordinary evening at a restaurant in Bexley, London, turned into a Rath Yatra feast on Thursday, as three Odisha-born entrepreneurs served free traditional meals to devotees and homeless people from the borough. More than 200 guests were fed over the course of the event.

Subhakanta Das and Sasmita Pattnaik spent hours preparing the menu — ‘arna, kanika, mitha dali, saga muga, besara, pachedi’ and ‘khiri’ — so that the food matched what devotees would find at home in Odisha during the festival.

Organiser Arun Kar said the group wanted to mark the occasion in a way that reached beyond the local Odia community. ‘Not everyone can travel to Odisha and pull the chariots in Puri. But every one of us can serve humanity. Feeding people with love, without discrimination, is one of the greatest forms of devotion,’ he said.

Decorated idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra sat at the centre of the restaurant, and fellow entrepreneur Partha Panda organised a cultural programme featuring an Odissi performance by Soniya Patnaik and semi-classical dances set to Jagannath bhajans by Sabita Pradhan and Upasana Padhi.

IT consultant Vijay Meher, who attended, said the night reminded him of celebrating the festival back home. ‘Although we are far away from Odisha, today I felt as if I was celebrating Rath Yatra in Puri,’ he said.

The Mayor of Bexley, Lisa Moore, her consort Justin Moore, and cabinet members Brian Bishop and Rags Sandhu were also present. Moore later thanked the restaurant on social media for serving warm, nutritious meals to Bexley residents who needed them most.

Rath Yatra, Puri/Wikimedia Commons — by G.-U. Tolkiehn