Happy Utkal Dibasa - 2023

 A scene from the Hindi movie ASHOKA still rings a bell. When Prince Ashok, the Scion of powerful Magadh Empire played by the popular actor Sah Rukh Khan strays into the territory of KALING (modern day Odisha), he is offered food by a native who says "KALING MEIN KOI BHUKHA NAHI RAHTA" (nobody ever goes hungry in Odisha).

History has depicted Kalinga as an I

independent, indomitable Republic of the time. A maritime superpower, rich and robust enough to challenge the powerful Maurya empire. Emperor Chandragupta Maurya and his son Bindusara, both spectacularly failed to conquer it. Bindusara's ambitious son Ashok managed to win a pyrrhic victory against Kalinga after lot of bloodshed on both sides. 

The marauding War Elephants of Kalinga, an integral part of the military in those days was regarded as the best in Indian subcontinent. In a Hindi tele series on Chanakya, when the princess of Magadh, the daughter of the powerful Mahapadmananda is kidnapped, the King mad in rage suspected Kalinga - "EK KALING HAI JO AISA KAR SAKTA HAI", "Only Kaling could dare to kidnap the daughter of the Magadh Emperor".

Kalinga was powerful enough to earn the respect of its powerful neighbor in North.

However CHANDASHOK (Ashok, the Cruel), their scion, won a pyrrhic victory over his old adversary who fought bravely till the end. The war was bloody enough to transform CHANDASHOK (Ashok, the Cruel) into DHARMASHOK (Ashok, the Pious). Ashok was moved by the sight of the women and children of Kalinga fighting till they breathed their last, leaving him forlorn and leaving violence forever. Couple of centuries later, KHARABELA, the emperor of Kalinga avenged the defeat by conquering and ransacking Magadh (modern day Bihar). 

From 11th to 15th century AD, the Gajapati (Lord of Elephants) Kings of Odisha built embarkments on rivers, created impressive architectural feats like the Sun Temple of Konark (Black Pagoda), defended aggression from enemies and built a great civilization. At one point of time the Kalinga empire extended from Ganges in North to Godavari in the south under King Kapilendra Dev.

But in the age sans contraceptives, the mighty King maintained both Queens and Kepts who kept on delivering broods of legitimate and illegitimate progenies. He laid the seeds for future fratricidal wars. His descendants involved themselves in internecine fatricidal wars and managed to sow the seeds of the demise of the great Kalinga empire.

This downfall probably accentuated with the advent of BHAKTI (devotional) movement and KIRTAN (devotional chant) culture introduced by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a mendicant of 15th century from GOUDA (the modern day Bengal), who arguably was the harbinger of the beginning of the end of the Odias as a martial race. Our last independent rulers Pratap Rudra Deb, Mukunda Dev and their army of generals soon considered themselves as the Gopis of Lord Krishna, forgetting their warrior skills.

The soldiers known for their bravery laid down their arms and started begging alms; singing BHAJANs and doing KIRTAN in chorus. (This trait continues, as the state still prides begging from center and abroad). Their KHANDAA (sword) was replaced by KENDARAA (mini violins). The fearless soldiers, who for centuries walked with their heads held higher, now held KENDARAA high above his head, similar to the one held by Sri Chaitnanya Mahaprabhu.

Odisha was soon be conquered by the Islamic invaders and the marauding Marathas who never believed in KIRTANs (Marathas though had their share of Bhakti movement of Tukaram and Eknath did not relinquish their martial traits). It yet vindicated that swords carry more weight and conquer more effectively than the violins. Traces of the martial trait was still visible in the form of the resistance offered by Buxi Jagabandhu, leader of the PAIKAs (a warring class), who fought bravely against the British during early 18th century.

Now, as they say in Odia - KARPUPRA UDIJAICHI, KANAA PADICHI (camphor gone, cloth remains). It means what remains to cherish is the little perfume of past glory lying ruined in the drifting sands of time. Let's hope we can get back some of the past glory in our lifetime. BANDE UTKAL JANANI (Hail Mother Odisha) and HAPPY UTKAL DIBASA to all.

In mother nature's lap

 Nature's nature is to heal us. It's naturally designed to heal our mind, body and soul. You can try artificial means, but nothing beats the feeling of nature soothing you, same as nothing else can ever match the calm and comfort of a mother's hug. Same goes with mother nature.

Yesterday afternoon after doing some yard work, I was sweating profusely. I could literally feel our Odia DHAGA (Proverb) - "MUNDA JHALA TUNDA RE MAARI" (sweat from your head touches your mouth) - means "doing hard work". My feeling vindicated the popular Odia adage. After I was done cutting the grasses, bagging and putting them against the curb I stood under the Maple tree on my front yard, letting the burst of cool air caress me, drying my sweat. 

I stood there in the shadow of the fresh oxygen exhaling tree, could smell the freshness in the air. I have experienced before drying my sweat by facing wafts of cooler air conditioned air inside the comfort of home. But nothing feels more refreshing when you let your sweat dry under a tree. The law of Physics says "Evaporation causes cooling". We need to tag an addendum - the cooling effect due to the evaporation of sweat caused by nature's breeze is far more soothing than evaporation caused by AC. Mother nature's lap is so comforting.

While letting my lungs aerate with the fresh oxygen supply from the Maple tree, I stood there, watching the spotless blue sky with intermittent chunks of snow white clouds fleecing by. Loved watching the bees humming and chasing each other near the rose bushes, whizzing past the flowers sucking nectar. Thanks to their help in pollination I get a fruitful harvest from my backyard. 

Two squirrels kept chasing and out running each another, trying to catch each other's tails. Chirping little birds crisscross the sky as an array of Pelicans passed by, cawing PAON PAON. Far above in the sky two commercial jet liners crossed over, painting a thick white tailgating strip, forming a gargantuan X sign on the sky.

Nothing beats the pleasure of getting closer to nature. As another burst of soothing breeze caressed me, bringing in a lung full of fresh air, I found my memory tracing me back to this song from movie EK BAAR PHIR (1981) and murmuring..

YEH PAUDHI YEH PATTEN,

YEH PHOOLEN, YEH HAWAYEN.

DIL KO CHURAYE, MUJHKO LUBHAYE

HAI MAN KAHE MEIN JHOOMOON

MEIN GAOON.

The flora, these leaves

These flowers, the air.

It steals my heart, tempts me

My heart tells me to sway and sing.

Welcome to Spring in America's South, the Dixieland !!!

India trip March 2023 - Goodbye India

 Julius Caesar famously said - "Veni Vidi Vici", "I came, I saw, I conquered". Similarly, I came, I saw, I conquerered, not in Julius Caesar's way of extending his empire, but extending my trip to multitasking various things like running errands, taking care of stuff at home and tying some loose ends. That's apart from meeting friends and family, eating a lot of sweets in this short and sweet trip. 

One other things I noticed in this visit was conspicuously long lines (line is called queue here due to remnants of British English in America) in front of the liquor stores when I passed by them. They invariably have a standard name - "THIPI BAND MADA DOKANA" or "Sealed bottle liquor stores". Not sure why they write a prefix "THIPI BAND", why not simply "Lquor Store" ? Nevertheless it bears the testimony of the fact that consumption of liquor in Odisha in general and Bhubaneswar in particular has considerably gone up. My friends also tell me the same, though smoking is no more a fad. Part of it has to do with rise in awareness about smoking causing lung cancer and heart disease. Another part is the present generation movie actors don't endorse smoking unlike in our generation when from Amitabh Bachhan, Anil Kapoor to Rajnikanth championed on screen smoking, making youth of our generation emulate them. 

Not long ago a gentleman was in quest for a pious daughter-in-law who should be strictly vegetarian eating foods free from Onion and Garlic, the two vegetables considered as "TAMASIK" or titillating food. He found the right candidate (in Odisha a prospective bride or groom is called a candidate) - A pretty, educated girl, a strict vegetarian fitting the bill whose food didn't contain a single trace of onion or garlic. But there was an issue. It was not her food but her drink. A la before hiring an employer does a background check of the prospective employee, in arranged marriages in India a background check is done on the prospective bride or groom by the respective families, scrutiny is usually more on the bride side. After background check it was discovered that the girl was fond of alcohol. The gentleman was dissapointed. 

I told the gentleman - "I see nothing wrong here. Alcohol is purely vegetarian. They are made from grapes, wheat, rice, potato, rye, corn etc. I have not come across a single alcohol product made from onion or garlic, even they being part of any cocktail mix. Technically speaking alcohol is strictly vegetarian. Unless there is alcoholism and drunkenness involved, what's wrong with a girl getting occasionally tipsy ?" Not sure if the gentleman proceeded any further on the candid candidate. 

What's the similarities between a vacation, a consulting assignment, a job and life ? All have a start date and end date. Like all good things in life a vacation has to come to an end. Before vacation one is rejuvenated and filled with energy. Towards the end of the trip one is jaded, somewhat depressed. There is always an inherently internal wish that you had a few more days to spent. Three, four or five weeks in India, however long you stay is never enough. 

There are so many sights and sounds in India to write about. Eminent writer R K Laxman cited this reason for him staying in India when he had the opportunity to migrate and settle abroad being invited by multiple Universities in UK and US to teach creative writing - "Where on earth you will find so many variety of characters to write about !!!" He wasn't far from truth. No place under sun can match India in the richness of flora, fauna, chaos and characters to write about. Often chaos and disorder brings the fun and frolic out of life rather than orderly tidiness. India also has a huge range of wildlife. It's the only country in the world which is home to both tigers and lions (Africa though has lions, it doesn't have any tigers. Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of iconic jungle hero Tarzan made a glaring mistake of showing tigers in Africa. The reality is Africa has no tigers). 

On the day of departure I went to a local bank, arriving sharply at 10 AM when the bank opens. I was the first customer in line. The staff arrived one after another, did some Pooja (worship) of dieties at a corner burning incense sticks in front of them which filled the hall with sweet smell. It took few minutes for the computers to start and get online. Suddenly a guy came in front of me, cutting through the line. I politely told him to go back in Odia. He retorted back - "AGYA MORA URGENTE KAMA THILA, I had some urgent work". This time I responded in English - "I too have urgent work. Every one here has urgent work too".  The lady at the counter now raised her head and gave me a curious loom. My English words worked like magic. The guy immediately fell in line. 

In the wee hours of the trip it's always an endless cycle of last minute shopping, meeting friends and relatives, running errands, packing, weighing, repacking and re-weighing of luggages. Now the time has arrived to bid adieu to my motherland. The American poet Robert Frost famously wrote - "Miles to go before I sleep". For me it's going to be the same, Miles to go before I reach my home in USA and have a sound sleep as I can barely sleep inside flight. Goodbye India. See you soon.

India trip March 2023 - Bulu Bara Dokan

 There is a freeze warning in Columbus, Georgia where I live where the temperature is predicted to be 34°Fahrenheit. Here in Bhubaneswar it is 34°Centigrade. George Bernard Shaw was quoted in 1942 as saying, "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." Right now as I write Columbus and Bhubaneswar are two cities separated by the same temperature. 

The Bhubaneswar I grew up with has changed leaps and bounds over the years. It has also impacted the "Bulu Bara Dokan" (Shop) located barely 100 feet from my home. Due to inflation its prices has gone up from Rs.2 (2 cents) a piece to Rs.3 (4 cents) during the last decade, but to me it tastes better than a Rs.300 burger in some damn mall. Bulu has is special recipe which brings a unique taste out of his Bara. A la Coca-Cola he ensures his unique formula stays with him by never divulging it to anyone. His shop gets pretty crowded in the morning. So much so that, I pre-order an hour ago and walk down to pick my stuff wrapped in newspaper and put inside a plastic bag. The crowd outside his small kiosk vindicates his popularity. Odias love Bara. Many don't get a bowel movement if they don't eat Bara for breakfast. Though tasty and okay for occasional consumption, it is unhealthy and produces a lot of gas. No wonder many Odias suffer from gastrointestinal ailments.

People of all sorts cluster around Bulu's Bara Dokan (kiosk). Those from the upper middle class and the nouveau riche of our locality send their domestic help to procure their breakfast. Many on their way to work stop by at this stall for an express breakfast consisting of half a dozen Bara soaked in Ghuguni washed down with hot tea. All sorts of topics are discussed here, from cold, bland ones like current weather conditions to hot and spicy gossips about some local girl eloping with a boy to "Pandian being the de facto CM", as hot and spicy as the simmering Bara dollops getting fried in hot oil.

A guy parked his Scooty and walked in to deliver his breaking news - a 3 storeyed building shrank by 3 feet in Dumduma area as another man sitting there reading a local newspaper read it out from page 3. As Bulu the Chef moved around the Baras swirling and wobbling on the surface of boiling oil using his jumbo sized spatula, he exclaimed in an excited voice - "SALAA SABU GAON RU UTHI ASI KAHIBE AME BHONSARA RE RAHIBU" - All those brothers of the sisters I have seduced (Salaa denotes wife's brother, but in local lingo its usage suggests the speaker is the seducer of the sister of whom so ever concerned) have come out of their villages with the desire to live in Bhonsar (Bhubaneswar). "RAJADHANI PANI, TANKU ANUCHI TANI - the water of capital city is luring them into it)".

Bulu continued further - these folks who are used to live in squalors of their native villages have no civic sense. They come and live in GOLAM NAGARI (Slave city, ascribed to the rapidly developing portion of the city by those natives who pride themselves as the original city-gens), live like POKA, JOKA (insects and leeaches) in illegally constructed buildings. SALE SABU CHIPI HEI MARANTU (Let those whose sisters I seduce get trampled in the collapsed building and perish).

The tea and snack stall owner Bulu made his point clear. He prides being the true blue blooded boy of Bhubaneswar, born in Kapileswar, one of the native villages constituting old town, the real Bhonsara. Like all original inhabitants he resents the presence of outsiders encroaching like cockroaches into his domain, turning Bhubaneswar into a city of rusty, arrogant immigrants. He is sad but feels helpless - for least he can do to change the course other than whine about it.

Bara was slowly turning light brown from the spotless white dough made out of soaked grams (lentils). It will take a few more minutes before getting ready. Bulu's unabashed character assassination of the new immigrants to Bhubaneswar continued unabated as my takeout order of Bara was almost ready. Soon the discussion shifted to a spicier topic on Newspaper - "SASU SAHITA JWAIN FERAAR" (Mother-in-law elopes with Son-in-law). "KI JUGA HELA KIYO (What the world has come to) - someone exclaimed while reading out the news. I looked outside the small kiosk as a big gray bull dumped a fresh mound of shit only a few feet away from me as I could overhear more bullshit discussions going on, akin to the bullshit which I peddle on Facebook on regular basis.

I picked up my carry out order (the carry out or "to go" order is called PARSALA here, the way parcel is spoken in Onglish, i.e., Odia accented English). My order of 10 pieces of hot Bara costing me Rs.30 (40 cents) was ready for pickup. A family breakfast for 40 cents, fresh out of wooden clay oven - you can't beat it. As he handed me over the packet Bulu said - "BHUBANESWAR RE AGYA AU RAHI HABANI - Bhubaneswar has become unlivable for us. It was deja vu for me. He is not the only one who complains about Bhubaneswar, but hardly any one leaves the city. I haven't, it still remains in my heart.

While walking back home and struggling to keep my mind straight, I could feel one feet on the muddy path on the road due to the leftover water because of the never ending roadworks, while the other feet on bone dry dust. It fully described my current state of affairs - I have one feet on my motherland India and the other feet on my adopted land of the United States. The tea stall owner Bulu has no such dilemma. More later..

India trip March 2023 - My tryst with close shave

 These are the first few lines of an Odia duet I heard at a Barber's Haircut Saloon. 

Boy - TO SEXY SEXY ANTA DEKHI

MO DIL FIDA HELA.

(Looking at your sexy waistline,

My heart is fine). 

Girl -  TO STRONG STRONG BODY DEKHI                   MO NAZAR LAKHI GALA.

(Looking at your strong body,

My eyes were fixated steady) 

Calculate how many English, Hindi and Odia words are there in this so called Odia song loaded with tons of vulgarity. It is high time the legendary Odia singers Akshay Mohanty, Chitta Jena, Prafulla Kar et all take rebirth to save Odia music from adulteration, annihilation, cataclysmic alteration and its eventual extinction. I requested the guy giving me haircut and shave to save me from any further torment by switching from this "Sexy Sexy" song to something less sensuous and more listenable. He dismissed me - "AGYAN AJI KALI SABU EIYA KU SUNUCHANTI (Sir, these days all folks listen to this). He made his point. 

This trip enabled me to play Holi in India after a hiatus of more than quarter of century. However it was a subdued Holi for me as I am not a very colorful person as I use color very frugally and hate to take long showers. Holi came and went, leaving its mark. Yet I can proudly boast that this year will be the year of my unique experience of celebrating Holi festival in India. 

Now it was my turn to experience another thing unique to India - getting a haircut in a saloon. Saloons here are not the just the spots for hair cut and shaving, it is a place of rendezvous, a watering hole, social gathering by itself. Before leaving for India my wife told me to have a haircut and dye my irreversible whitening of hair. But I procrastinated - "Why spend $20 for a haircut in USA when I can cut my hair and dye it in India for less than $3, tips included. It will save you some time. (My wife dyes my hair and does a great job at it)." I thought she would be pleased but she responded - "When you ever listen to me !" It was her nonchalant response to someone who had been religiously listening to her all these years. Nevertheless I didn't want to miss the experience of having my hair cut and dyed at the local saloon in our locality. 

We NRIs (Non Resident Indians) are world champion hypocrites who give bombastic speeches about the low cost manual labor in India. But when time comes, we take the guilty pleasure of taking full advantage of the low cost, grabbing it at the very first opportunity. It was my turn to do so today by visiting a Saloon, as a Barber's shop is called in local lingo located barely a mile from our house. 

This Barber shop aka Saloon was clean. Over the years it has improvised a lot - from a wooden Kiosk with fluttering electricity to a concrete room with a wall mounted AC unit blowing cool air being its latest addition. But I hardly noticed any changes in the profile of the folks gathered inside. After entering the Saloon I noticed a few guys, thinking they were ahead of me in line. So when the hair dresser signaled me to occupy a chair, it surprised me, putting me in a spot. Sensing my hesitancy he insisted - "SAARE, BASANTU (Sir, please take your seat). 

Soon I realized the reason of me being pulled ahead of the rest. Those guys ahead of me were not customers, but free roamers and freeloaders needlessly hanging around. The reluctant hair dresser is no fan of these guys whom he refers as BALUNGAs (worthless weeds) and wanted to avoid any PUNGA (not to mess around) with these local brats. He tolerated the unavoidable nuisance as an occupational hazard in his profession which he has to tolerate. This he had confided to me earlier. 

One of them was combing his hair backwards standing in front of the big mirror from time immemorial, whistling from the top his snorted piggy lips. He then took a break, wiped residual hairs off the comb, checked it again by turning it over. Not satisfied, placing it close to his mouth, he tried to vacuum it off by blowing hair through his pouting lips.  

He resumed his combing operation, ploughing his hair backwards, uttering in Odia - KIRE KUNA (a common Odia nick name) TA SHAALI BAHAGHARA RU PHERILA (Did Kuna return from marriage of his sister-in-law) ? The guy reading a local newspaper got up, walked to the front door to spit out his betel stained saliva and replied - "NA MA. SE E JAYE MEESSI KALLA KARINI". (He has not given me a miss call - a call on the cell phone destined to be missed but expected to be returned at the earliest). The tete-a-tete continued as the barber focused on giving me a clean shave, used his blade in surgical precision reaching out to all the nooks and corners of my face which I can rarely reach. He continued weeding out the unwanted hairs off my face, gave me a nice massage, soothing my jaded nerves. I thanked him for giving me a clean slate. 

Adding my tip to the final payment it cost me little more than couple of dollars. It can't get any cheaper than that. Can't complain, when I had a close shave for a tiny amount, as close and low it can get. 

Barbers, Plumbers, Electricians, Mechanics et all thrive well in Bhubaneswar, making decent amount of money. There is always demand for them due to the city's explosive population growth. The dignity of labor hasn't quite matched up to their earnings in a feudal society of BABU and SAARE where manual labor is often frowned upon. But due to an upward demand curve and mobility, the dignity of labor is bound to grow as years progress. More later...

India trip 2023 - A visit to Cuttack Part II

 As we entered the highway the ride to Cuttack was pleasantly fast, though in spite of the fairly light traffic, I saw many driving in middle of the lane. A few ran across the road, safety be damned. Someone riding a Scooty suddenly entered from the right, right in front of us to make the driver of my vehicle deftly swerve to avoid a collision. Whew... 

It was a slightly cooler day. We drove past mountains of apartment complexes on both sides of the road, floating in a sea of mist and smog. It was a cloudy, hazy, dust laden morning. Soon the sun peeped through the curtain of haze, revealing vast stretches of barren land with interspersed trees swaying under a cool morning breeze, akin to the hues of brown and green turbans seen in a rally of Sikhs. The Coconut trees seem to be smiling and waving at us with their large branches. 

On the way I saw a lot of Auto showrooms, e.g. Ford, Toyota and Suzuki. As we got closer to the Cantonment road near Barabati Stadium, the traffic started to crawl through the labyrinths of narrow streets - very typical of the city of Cuttack. We trudged ahead on the road filled with potholes, amiably shared by homo sapiens and animals alike - numerous stray dogs, cows, buffaloes, goats, a mother monkey with her baby tucked to her back. I always whine about the Bhubaneswar traffic. But trust me, compared to Cuttack, the traffic in Bhubaneswar is a walk in the park. We passed by sluggish Kathajodi river which struggled to flow, looking more like a dirty cesspool and a swimming pool for buffaloes at a corner than a water body which can be called a river. From a distance I saw a washer woman was seen barging cloth on a stone on the river bank. 

I enjoyed the caressing of the dust filled cool air through the clogged Cuttack traffic with various street vendors, kiosks, food stalls on both sides of the road. 

Finally I managed to reach my destinstion of the government LAR & R (Land Acquisition Relief and Rehabilitation) Court-cum-Office, a walkable distance from the Barabati Stadium. This particular government office was bit different from the others, being newly constructed and devoid of any betel stains at wall corners. The Clerk downstairs wasn't available on his seat. He came back 15 minutes later and directed me to the Courtroom upstairs to get my case id. 

I went upstairs and requested another Clerk to get my case id from the computer. No sooner he started keying in my credentials to get the case id, than the judge arrived. Everyone in the Courtroom stood up in attention. The judge, the Presiding Officer from Odisha Judiciary Services requested all to seat down. The Computer Clerk told me to take a seat and wait until all the hearing in the court ended. I asked - "How long this proceedings will take" ? He replied - "It will take an hour to three, add an hour of lunch time in between". I requested - "It should take couple of minutes to pull out my case id. I have no business in these court proceedings. I have come a long way from Bhubaneswar. If you can just give it me what I need, I will be done and go back". The clerk said - "Saare Asi Galeni, the Sir has already arrived. I have to record the court proceedings. You can eat your lunch, come back and wait". 

I had no other option. After eating my lunch at "Golden Spoon", a restaurant near Barabati Stadium I was back to the Courtroom, sitting on last row near the whirring wall mounted AC, dozing through the boring court proceedings until it suddenly became interesting. A brother and sister were involved in a litigation over landed property. The sister came to the witness box and got emotional - "My brother was a gem, made of pure gold. My Bhauja (sister-in-law) is both "Dahani and Chiriguni" (Witch and Devil) rolled together. She has brainwashed him against me". In our society it's always the outersider to be blamed, especially the daughter-in-law who spoils the lily white brother. The audience murmered as the chagrin and conquerer mixed look on Bhauja's face sitting close by was apparent and visible. The judge shouted - "Order, order". 

Suddenly the Judge noticed me and asked me about my case. I started to explain myself in Odia while still being seated when the judge  interrupted me by retorting back - "You should stand up and speak in the court. That's our decorum". In English I replied - "I am sorry. I didn't mean any offense as I am new to all this. In fact, I have nothing to do with the court proceedings going on here, rather I am an inadvertent onlooker just waiting for my case id. I will leave this room as soon as I get it". The Judge got a little curious now. Giving me an "odd man out" look he said - "You don't seem from here. We are about to take a break, but you are free to meet me in my room". Not sure if it's going to get good, bad or ugly for me I followed him to his chamber. 

The Judge gave me a fair private hearing after offering me a seat and ordered afternoon tea. During our tate a tete-a-tete we discovered that we live 2 lanes apart in the same locality in Bhubaneswar. It was a huge coincidence and became a binding factor between us. Then he told me clearly - "You issue won't be fixed by just getting the case id. You will be forced to come time and again. There are a lot of paperwork to go with this process". Then he rang his bell. And orderly arrived promptly. The judge told the man to take my credentials, make photocopies of them and bring those to him to sign. He continued - "Tomorrow is the 2nd Saturday, a holiday in government offices. I want to finish this for you before the end of the day so that you don't have to come back again". 

As the clerk went ahead with my paperwork, the friendly judge asked me about life in America and the ubiquitous question asked to those from Indian origin living in USA - "I know my friends and relatives who went to the States (as USA is commonly addressed here) never came back. Are you going to follow their footsteps ?" Instantly came my reply - "There is a reason why NRIs are called Non Returning Indians". He laughed. 

Finally done with all papers signed, I entered the clerical chamber to take the final copy of the order. As I offered my thanks to the staff, one of them stepped forward - "Agyan Kama Ta Heigala. Tike Cha, Pani - Your work is done. How about some Tea and Water !" I got the hint and prompy obliged, unsure and without clue about the right amount of "Tea and Water". But from the look of satisfaction on their face it could be presumed that I sure "Teaed and Watered" them well. 

On my way back home from Cuttack we drove through Tishulia on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, followed by Barang, Patia, Nandan Kanan - the later looked quite different from my childhood days. Patia used to be a snake infected area. During summer vacation of 1984 after our CBSE Board exam, I as part of a group of friends bicycled all the way to Nandan Kanan. On our jouney back home it was getting darker, so we pedaled as fast as we could we were scared of  Elephants and Leopards which galored that area. Now the place harbors swanky malls and expensive real estate. We live in changing times. More later...

India trip March 2023 - A visit to Cuttack Part I

 I love Cuttack though have been a frugal visitor to the Silver city. Never seen the two iconic institutes of the city - Ravenshaw College and the SCB Medical College as I never got the opportunity to visit both. Last time I was in Cuttack was in the year 2000. This was my first trip to Bhubaneswar's sibling city after a long hiatus of 23 years. Some pending works at the Government office of Land Acquisition Relief and Rehabilitation (LA R and R) Authority Court on Cantonment road near Barabati Stadium forced me to take the trip. 

Cuttack and Bhubaneswar form a Twin city - like twin siblings me from Bhubaneswar and my friends from Cuttack fight a lot among ourselves. During my growing up days Cuttack was the big brother, a happening city and Bhubaneswar its poorer twin. The later was regarded as a city of immigrants lacking a coherent culture of its own, termed by many as GOLAM NAGARI (The City of Slaves) ascribing to the salaried class slavish people serving their SARKAR (government) masters vis a vis the DILADAAR and BOBAAL (Broad hearted and fun loving) KATAKIAs (denizens of Cuttack). We used to poke fun at KATAKIs for their squalor like SAHI (localities) consisting of unplanned houses entwined by narrow lanes filled with stinky, squalid drains compared to us housed in swanky, planned quarters in the squicky clean city of Bhubaneswar. 

The denizens from Cuttack boast to be fun loving, considering the 5 or 6 Talkies (local parlance for movie theatres) they had, a decent by the standard of those days and far more than any other city in Odisha at that time. Prominent of them were Grand Cinema, Durga and Nishamani Talkies - the later which played only Hollywood movies. From the quality of mosquitoes (the famous KATAKI MASA is capable of lifting you for miles) to the movies the city sandwiched between the bank of giant Mahanadi river and its tributary Kathajodi river always had an edge over its newly built adjoining capital city. 

In contrast Bhubaneswar had only 3 movie theatres, two of them named Kalpana and Rabi ehich were within a mile from each other, equidistant from my house. Both were arguably the biggest hatcheries of CHHARA POKA (Bed bugs) who galore under the seats of the unsuspecting audience and can bite chunks off your ass. This was apparent from the scenes of the viewers coming out of the theatre scratching their private parts in public. 

We always use to tease my friends from Cuttack, they can beat us  BHUBANESWARIYAs (from Bhubaneswar) in two aspects  - MASA (Mosquitoes) and MIXTURE (a unique mixture blend of snack from Cuttack). Though critical of Cuttack of its fledgling infrastructure, its dirty drains, whenever the latest Hollywood blockbuster comes to Cuttack's Nishamani Hall, especially a movie of my favorite Brooke Shields, I lose no time to visit Cuttack to watch her movies. 

On my way to Cuttack the car passed the Ratnakar Bag before getting on to the highway. I couldn't recognize the area which I used to be familiar before. Ratnakar Bag on Tankapani Road used to be filled with fruit laden mango trees, not far from the BJB Flats where my father was quartered in. In summer of 1981, as a 12 year old one evening I was at a friend's house near Ratnakar Bag when a sudden thunderstorm put out the electricity for few hours. It was already dark when the rain stopped. On my way back home I had to walk through in darkness of the densely forested Ratnakar Bag which was rumored to house ghosts and people heard sound of metallic anklets (Ghoongroo). Glad I didn't hear anything except the croaking of frogs after fresh summer rain. 40 years later the same place is covered in jungle where concrete has replaced trees. This time I couldn't recognize anything or make any head and tail out of the locality I grew around. 

Suddenly my memory teleported me back to early 1990s to one of my rare trips to Cuttack.

Staying close to Dhenkanal those days I was accompanying a group of friends to attend a marriage ceremony inside the city. We were lost in the labyrinth of the lanes inside the city known for its BAUN BAZAARA, TEPANA GALI (52 bazaars and 53 narrow lanes) trying to find the Marriage MANDAP (venue).  

We asked a bystander for the direction to the venue. The inquisitive bystander quizzed us - "Where are you from ?" One among us enthusiastically responded - "from Dhenkanal". "Oh, that explains. Now I can see why you cannot find the direction", the local guy replied followed by chorus of laughter from all bystanders and to the chagrin of my friends from Dhenkanal who were not so amused. (Folks from Dhenkanal district of Odisha, satirically snubbed as DHENKU are believed to be naive and slow witted like their Sardarjee counterparts at the national level. Only solace, unlike Sardars they don't have the reputation of getting dangerously mad at noon). The second part of my Cuttack trip will follow. Till then...