Not long ago someone wrote an article in the leading Odia daily "The Samaja". One fine monsoon morning it's founder UTKALAMANI (Jewel of Odisha) Pandit Gopabandhu Das was on a boat in the flooded river of Mahanadi. Suddenly his umbrella 🌂 fell into the swirling water. Our UTKALAMANI didn't bother losing it and thinking it as a lost cause let it go. All he could do was watch helplessly as the umbrella floated away from him in the the rapids of ferocious Mahanadi.
Just out of the blue a young boy jumped into water. He swam and fought against the current of the flooded Mahanadi, fetching Gopabandhu's umbrella caring a hoot about his own safety. He is no other than our beloved Biju Patnaik. Our UTKALAMANI mildly chided a young Biju not to take such unwarranted risk for just an umbrella as it ain't worth it. The year of the incident was mentioned as 1932 in the leading "The Samaja" where this article was written by a lady.
No question about Biju Patnaik's history with dare devilry but the timelines here raise some eyebrows and needle of suspicion. Utkalamani died on June 28, 1928, four years before 1932 when this incident supposedly happened. Biju was born on March 5, 1916. Monsoon floods doesn't come early in June and Pandit Gopabandhu Das was ailing for a while in 1928 before passing away, making it impossible to be there on Mahanadi bank that year. The timeline is way too tight to be true to fit into this scenario. It is of course unimaginable a toddler and infant Biju Patnaik jumping into the river and showing his heroics.
My uncle Chandra Sekhar Dash who shares my skepticism of this incident intimated about it to Mr. Dhirendra Das, a descendant of UTKALAMANI from his native village of Suando (a la Pandit Gopabandhu, his descendants write their last name or surname as "Das", instead of "Dash). The gentleman had no inkling or knowledge of any such incident involving his great grandfather Sir Gopabandhu Das and Biju Patnaik.
An aghast Dhirendra Das called the lady of "The Samaja" Newspaper seeking clarification and questioning the veracity of this news item. The article mentioned 1932 as the year of this umbrella episode whereas Sri Gopabandhu died in the year 1928 - a good 4 years before Biju Patnaik supposedly jumped into water to save UTKALAMANI's umbrella.
The Newspaper responded by correcting the timeline of the event but stood by its authenticity. The reaction by the news outlet was not surprising as this story has apparently been planted by a supporter of the ruling party whose scion is the son of legendary Biju Patnaik.
I am not discarding this story outright. Technically speaking it's extremely difficult though not misson impossible for a 8 or 9 years old to swim in a flooded Mahanadi. But there are a lot of additional questions which raises skepticism about the incident. Is there a historian to vouch about this incident when Gopabandhu's own descendant was gleefully unaware of any such incident. Did anyone really see this event or noted it in a diary or a piece of paper or even recorded as hearsay ? Any document available to prove it ? If such an incident really occurred involving two historic figures of Odisha it should have been duly noted long ago somewhere. Why we weren't aware of this incident until now ? There are way too many unanswered questions to raise an eyebrow. Incidentally Pandit Nilakantha Das, a contemporary of UTKALAMANI has debunked many such popular myths of the time.
My take - this story has been deliberately coined and planted in media for political purpose and sold it to the gullible commoners. A lie repeated 100 times becomes truth. (We see parallels in propaganda by IT Cell of another political party where lies are peddled to boost the political odometer). My grandfather was a contemporary of Pandit Gopabandhu Das. Both lived on the bank of river Bhargavi separated by 4 miles from each other. I can say once my grandfather saved UTKALAMANI from drowning, with a nice, lucid story to back it. Like Ripley's Believe it or not - I would leave it to you to believe it or not. Same can be said about the tryst between the Bull and Jewel of Odisha. These days not everything reported on media should be believed - social or otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment