A new capital city for the state of Odisha was founded on 13th April in the year 1948. I grew up with the city ever since I migrated to it in the year 1976 on a mid monsoon rainy August day, and saw the city grew leaps and bound like a hydra headed monter. As a 7 year old then I was perplexed by the larger than life city little knowing that it would leave an indelible mark in my psyche for the rest of my life, for coming from Bhadrakh, a nondescript city, the 3 storeyed BJB Flats seemed like Empire State Building. So much water has flown through river Daya since. I left the city for good for more than a quarter of century now, the city has never left me.
The Bhubaneswar of those days was better known for its salubrious weather. Summers were warm but breezy, the winters mild. The cool wafts of Southerly wind used to gently caress the whole city in the evening (now the gentle caress has been replaced by slapping hot lava like winds meandering through concrete jungle). What used to be a sleepy township of salaried people has developed into a city of the nouveau riche, an extended village of DALAALs (middlemen) and sundry parasites milking on the riches of Odisha.
Those days in the 1970s and 80s on the Lewis Road leading to Puri close to BJB Flats where my father was housed in a government quarter, a handful of Lambretta and Vespa scooters would be plying, an odd Ambassador or Fiat would pass by. This is unimaginable on a road which is extremely busy these days with chaotic traffic. Modern Urban planning originally present was absent and at its primitive stage when socialism was the fashion and any constructive, free market oriented development was seen as a luxury. A stable (government) job came with its benefits of free housing and other perks. Bhubaneswar being the capital of Odisha was no different.
Those days in the 1970s and 80s on the Lewis Road leading to Puri close to BJB Flats where my father was housed in a government quarter, a handful of Lambretta and Vespa scooters would be plying, an odd Ambassador or Fiat would pass by. This is unimaginable on a road which is extremely busy these days with chaotic traffic. Modern Urban planning originally present was absent and at its primitive stage when socialism was the fashion and any constructive, free market oriented development was seen as a luxury. A stable (government) job came with its benefits of free housing and other perks. Bhubaneswar being the capital of Odisha was no different.
The ubiquitous spring cum summer breeze of Bhubaneswar would come blowing in from the Bay of Bengal in mid afternoon. The sun was hot, but air was cool, but is not so common or cool these days. The arteries of the roads were not yet clogged, so no bypass was needed. On the popular Puja (festive) days, it was perfectly safe for us to bicycle all the way from BJB flats to Saheed Nagar amidst funnel shaped loudspeakers from Pendals blaring out the contemporary hits. One of them was "MEIN HOON DON" (I am don) from the Amitabh's hit movie Don. Another popular number by the virtuoso Odia singer cum song writer Akshay Mohanty, aptlt depicting the New Capital city. The song goes like this...
"AAGE THILA BAGHA BHALU
BHARA E JANGALA,
TU DEKHLO SUKUTA BOU
GHAIN GHAIN BULE BINCHNA NALA.
BAH BAH RE CAPITOL"
Roughly transliterated
'A jungle filled with Tigers and Bears,
Now see, O SUKUTA's mother.
The hand fan rotates faster
hail to Our New Capital Bhubaneswar."
Not sure about tigers and bears but when we moved to the newly built BJB Flats in 1976, howling of jackals were quite common coming out of some of the today's poshest neighborhoods of the city. I was warned by my parents not to venture into those areas after twilight, lest being attacked by an wild animal or bitten by venomous snakes, for Cobras and Russell's vipers (locally known as BODA SAPA) roamed rampant. A boy of my age, part of our cricket team died of venomous snake bite in 1979 near BJB College. Now the snakes no more dare to come out due to the encroaching human habitat. These days one has to be careful of wild traffic, or bitten by stray wild dogs whose numbers have grown leaps and bound in the city, causing vehicular accidents and making the streets unsafe for pedestrians.
SUKUTA which in colloquial Odia means "the lanky lad" is referred here as the typical slow witted, down to earth Odia guy from a village or small city, lost in the din and bustle of Bhubaneswar, a city most part of the year needs AC these days. BINCHANA (hand fans) are now restricted only to the villages. The song goes on further " -
MATHAA RU ODHANA TEKI
DEKHE LO TIKIYE,
NUA JAJADHANI KHALI
HUKU HUKU DIYE,
DEKH KETE BADA BADA SARKARI GHARA
"O mother of SUKUTA,
lift your head cover and get outta.
Our new capital totally rocks,
Look at those huge govt bungalows".
Bhubaneswar housed its lummox sized salaried employees in a string of Government Quarters in its Units of settlement, there were 9 Units. Unlike now, there were not a whole lot of fancy, private houses those days. The unique numbers of each quarter was enough for the Post office to deliver letters on time. The city those days was far from today's concrete jungle. BELA (Stone Apple), JAMUN (Indian Black berry) and KRUSHNA CHUDA (Marygold bearing crimson red flowers in spring) trees adorned its street as far as eyes can see.
An interesting feature about the Government quarters was most of them had at least one Jack fruit, Mango, Papaya, SAJNA (Drumstic) or BARAKOLI (small sweet & sour berries) tree or some combinations of those. The trunks of most of which were surrounded by mounds of termite molehills which occasionally become free quarters for snakes. While playing in the yards my friends who like me lived in Government quart were soundly advised to stay away from those, lest get bitten by vipers.
The city originally planned for 50,000 people, now a million plus population has come a long way. A la cricket has taken the limelight away from other sports, no other plants survive close to a Banyan tree, Bhubaneswar had slowly pushed other cities of Odisha into oblivion. The other two major cities of Odisha, Cuttack and Rourkela are no where close to Bhubaneswar in terms of facilities and infrastructure.
So much so that, many I know from Sambalpur, Barhampur or Balasore region for whom leaving their native areas was once unthinkable, now have sold off their huge ancestral properties to buy a non descript flat on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. For many NROs (Non Resident Odias) buying a property in Bhubaneswar has become a status symbol. Many get a surprise that I neither own a plot or a Flat (appartment) in the city, making me a perfect PENA (nincompoop), DHAEEN (Literally means a person with respiratory ailments gasping for breath, As a local slang it means a worthless guy, an abject failure in life). I consider myself as one such Pena and Dhaeen.
BAH BAH RE CAPITOL (Hail the capital), BAH BAH RE Akshaya Mohanty for being ages ahead in correctly capturing the ethos and pathos of the city. Way to go Bhubaneswar, the city who lives in my heart. Happy 76th Birthday to my city, my first love 💘 Bhubaneswar who no one ever forgets.
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