The Pandas of Puri

There's is this recent piece of news about a devotee harassed and manhandled by PANDAs (priests) inside the Puri Jagannath temple. Nothing new, it has been going on for a long time. The legendary Odia writer Pratibha Ray was once abused years back. I am sure, many would have been unfortunate to bear this ordeal. The inept and corrupt temple administration has hardly done anything worthwhile to alleviate this menace.

 

The famous BADA DANDA (The Broadway) towards the Jagannath temple is liberally strewn with Bulls and Beggars. It is sad that most of our sacred places of worship have turned into an abode of charlatans, pickpockets and beggars ( I have nothing against beggars who are needy but many I saw begging in Puri were healthy enough to work, taking the devotees for a ride). Chain snatching and molestations are rampant during the annual Rath Yatra or the Car Festival. As the population and the devotees expand exponentially, the administration barely able to cope up with it.

 

A typical Puri Panda is usually pot bellied, due to a diet primarily based on rice and CHUDA (parched rice) topped with a liberal dosage of GHEE (clarified butter), along with his evening BHANG (a paste of Cannabis locally popular) taken with KHEERA (sweetened condensed milk). He is a champion of delivering profanity with a high pitched voice, backed by a glib tongue and ready wit of concocting Odia idioms. Very territorial, his world hardly ventures beyond ATHARANALA (the outskirt of Puri which marks the begin or end of the city, depending on the way you see it). He is rumored to often travel miles to find a suitable SUJI MARKA BALI ( a bed of sand as fine as flour) to relieve himself and looking back at the mound to take pride upon the size of his dump.

My first memory of Pandas of Puri goes back to late 1970s. While inside the temple which was barely crowded those days, I fondly remember a PANDA delivering a couplet poking fun at a local politician named "Harihar Bahinipati" -

 

" AMA HARIHARA BAHINIPATI;
CHHELI KI DEKHILE MUTI PAKANTI"

"Our Harihar Bahinipati;
Upon sighting a goat comes out his pee".

 

I have been lucky never to be harassed by the Pandas, always preferring to maintain a safe distance from them. Few years back a PANDA mistook me as a Bengali tourist (Bengalis form the bulk of the tourists in Puri, I am sure if they decide to boycott Puri for a month the city's economy will collapse like a pack of cards), addressing me DADA ESON ESON (Bro, come with me). I switched to Puri accent, HAIYE AME PIRA BALI SAHI LOKA (faking the Puri accent to pretend as a local lad). The Panda, said "HAU, MAHAPURU 10 TA TANKA DIA", "OK, pay 10 rupee in the name of God". I replied back, " Bhaina ( my elder bro), I don't have a single penny in my pocket". As I moved on, I heard the frustrated Panda mouthing behind my back, KANGALA KAHASE AYAA or "where from this impoverished bankrupt guy has come" ! My experience was funny, but not so funny for many.