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By the Eastern Ghats and the East Coast

After a busy day going around government offices in Rayagada and meeting with officials to get further insight on the situation in the district, we got a bit of leisure time and visited the hanging bridge at Rayagada - beautiful and could do with a lot more marketing and promotion.
The following day we drove about 2 hours to get to Muniguda where we were due to meet more tribal women from the famous Niyamagiri range of the Eastern Ghats and other groups. This was facilitated by Adhar Foundation. Again another very insightful and a unique experience interacting with these women groups. Having spent the morning with them, that afternoon we met with the men in that region to understand their perception towards women empowerment. It was interesting to note the contrasting ideologies. Back in Rayagada, we were preparing to leave for Bhubaneshwar by road the following morning. 8am, Saturday and we hit the highway - an expected 9 hour road trip to the capital. With a few mini breaks and a big lunch break by Lake Chilika, we reached our destination at around 7PM. That didn't stop us from exploring the city a bit - a bit of shopping, trying local cuisine and just lazing around after a busy week. Sunday was equally lazy but we managed to consolidate our findings from week 1 and were all set and prepared for a deep dive into Dhenkanal.


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