In 1979, the English movie TEXAS DETOUR was playing at Bhubaneswar, which a good friend of mine claimed to have watched it. However he said the movie's name was "Texas Dictator", apparent from the way he pronounced it.
Texas Dictator, Detector, Doctor or Whoever - I had no option but to believe him, for he was the one and the only one self proclaimed expert of English movies and music at that time within my circle. So his words were the Gospel. Yes, I had heard of Texas. But as a State where the American President JFK was assassinated in a city named Dallas - no more, no less.
My friend had an aura about him, as he claimed following ABBA, Boney M music. Often he used to sing something with snorted lips, which resembled English language as "Bata shoes, Carona shoes..shoooooes..whoooos". I was completely spellbound. Ignorance may be bliss, but for me it metamorphosed into sheer adulation.
Those were the days of late 1970s and early 80s, when watching English movies was taboo. Only CHHATARA (girl chasing vagabonds) and BAZAARIs (free roaming loafers) had the reputation of watching English movies - with the additional image and baggage of being filled with nothing but filth to spoil the young minds.
Such assessment wasn't entirely wrong in an overtly conservative society. Teenagers would stealthily break free from parent's prying eyes to watch movies like BOBBY and QURBANI (Sacrifice). Except Bruce Lee and Bond movies, the rest English movies were out of bounds for most. But it couldn't bound the curiosity of the youth of the time, who managed to sneak into those movies designated for Noon Shows.
That was the time when Cuttack was the big brother, a happening city and with Bhubaneswar its poorer twin. The later was regarded as a city of immigrants lacking a coherent culture of its own, ascribed by many as GOLAM NAGARI (The City of Slaves) where the salaried class slavish people served their SALKAR (government) vis a vis the DILADAAR and BOBAAL (Broad hearted and fun loving) KATAKIs (denizens of Cuttack).
Folks from Cuttack were fun loving, considering 5 or 6 Talkies (local parlance for movie theatres) they had, decent by the standard of those days and far more than any other city in Odisha. From the quality of mosquitoes to movies (the famous KATAKI MASA can lift you for miles) the city on the bank of Mahanadi had an edge of its newly built adjoining capital city.
In contrast Bhubaneswar had only 3 movie halls, two of them named Kalpana and Rabi were within a mile, equidistant from my house. Both were arguably the biggest hatcheries of CHHARA POKA (Bed bugs) who can bite chunks of your ass off, which is apparent from the scenes of the viewers coming out of the theatre, scratching their private parts in public.
Once when I was glued to Amitabh's movie NASTIK (Atheist) in Rabi talkies, I got this cold, gluey feeling from bottom, stuck by a big mouthful chunk of chewing gum left by someone on my seat. I realized it midway when I tried to get up, leaving a thin trail of white string behind me, akin to a jet airliner leaving a white tail on deep blue sky. It was real pain in my butt, as during the intermission I spend a good chunk of time, cleaned myself off that chunk from my pant using a handkerchief (a part of a teen's pocket paraphernalia those days along with a comb).
Another escapade in the Kalpana Talkies - I took my TASREEF (sat down) on the coconut coir filled seat, as the beg bugs were having a field day feasting on me. Annoyed and irritated, I barely shifted to scratch myself, glad to be relieved that the spiraling spring protruding upwards from the torn away top of the chair just missed the target it was destined for. I told my English movie loving friend sitting besides me - You just missed the fun. If the spiraling spring hit the right target, you could have heard me inadvertently singing with snorted lips your favorite song - "Bata shoes, Carona Shoes, Whoooooos, Whoooooes, Oh My Woes".
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