OLA and UBER cab services are arguably the best thing to happen to the city in recent years. Just book them using your Smartphone App, you can see the cabs rolling in on screen, doing somersaults before showing up at your doorsteps in minutes.
The other day I was the 8th ride for the OLA driver at 9 PM in night. He boasted that he is to driving as fish is to water and was planning to drive on untill midnight today and on the long tem until he goes over the hills over the wheels. A late migrant to Bhubaneswar from the midsize town of Bhadrak, like many job seekers from the hinterland of Odisha he came to the capital city, his city of neon lights and opportunity. He landed up as a driver for UBEREY (Uber pronounced in Odia accent) before shifting to OLA.
He shared his frustrations of handling occasional fastidious, recalcitrant passengers, last minute cancellations et all. He dreaded trips to Cuttack, for it's a challenge for him to drive in the labyrinth of lanes of the old city which prides itself on its 52 Bazaars and 53 Streets (BAUN BAZAAR, TEPAN GALI). Also he detested his customers in Cuttack whom he found to be more obnoxious and less rule abiding than those he encountered in Bhubaneswar.
I asked him - "How can you generalize like that" ? He continued - "Trust me, you must not have seen Cuttack". He was right. Though Cuttack is our neighboring city, I haven't visited it more than half a dozen times in my life, the last time was in year 2000. He went on - "The traffic in the new Capital city of Bhonsar is a walk in the park compared to Odisha's Old Capital city of Cuttack". I chuckled while replying back - "I certainly see how every rule abiding Bhubaneswariya makes his or own road rules on daily basis. Cuttackias can't be any worse".
During our early days in Bhubaneswar we lived in BJB Flats, in a government quarter provided to my father who used to teach Physics at the nearby BJB College. As the name indicates, the BJB Flats housed mostly teachers and staffs of BJB College, though there were considerable number of folks from other government services who got allocated quarters in those flats.
When we entered BJB flats in the year 1976, it was only 29 years since India got its independence from Britain. The British legacy still held steady. Apartments in Bhubaneswar were called Flats those days instead of Apartments as it is called in America. Now Flats are called Apartments in Bhubaneswar - e.g. Kedaragauri Apartments and so on. No one calls them Flats anymore.
Batsmen are now called Batters a la in Baseball games in USA. American slangs like bro etc is widely used by the young and not so young in Odisha's state capital. I saw an American restaurant "Chillis" at a mall near Rasulgarh. I heard men calling each other "Hey man" ! Pax Americana has taken over Bhubaneswar where British are so passe.
I took my son Sidhant with me to show him around the BJB Flats where I grew up, spent the bulk of my childhood and youth. We stayed in a 3 bedroom Flat located on the first floor, right on the front row of a series of flats. I knocked on the door of the flat numbering D-33 where we lived for 15 years. The current occupant of the quarter, a doctor, was initially a bit reluctant to let us in, but relented when he came to know that we are visiting all the way from America.
A lot have changed since we left the Flats in 1991. The floors are now made from marble instead of cement. There are parking garages unlike our days which makes the entrances to the flats look clumsy. A lemon tree planted by my mother has grown leaps and bounds into a tall shrub. I gaped at the rooms with nostalgia remembering those days of silly fights with my sisters. My room is still intact with the cupboard freshly painted. Only thing missing was the big poster of Brooke Shields, my teenage crush which adored inside the cupboard.
Local news channels had predicted the arrival of monsoon ahead of schedule by June 8. Well, June 8 came and went, still there was no sign of monsoon. It's less hot and sultry during the daytime, evenings being windy and pleasant. It seems like me monsoon is taking a vacation. But the air is thick and heavy, pregnant with water vapor, eager to deliver monsoon anytime for the eagerly waiting parched folks. More later....
He shared his frustrations of handling occasional fastidious, recalcitrant passengers, last minute cancellations et all. He dreaded trips to Cuttack, for it's a challenge for him to drive in the labyrinth of lanes of the old city which prides itself on its 52 Bazaars and 53 Streets (BAUN BAZAAR, TEPAN GALI). Also he detested his customers in Cuttack whom he found to be more obnoxious and less rule abiding than those he encountered in Bhubaneswar.
I asked him - "How can you generalize like that" ? He continued - "Trust me, you must not have seen Cuttack". He was right. Though Cuttack is our neighboring city, I haven't visited it more than half a dozen times in my life, the last time was in year 2000. He went on - "The traffic in the new Capital city of Bhonsar is a walk in the park compared to Odisha's Old Capital city of Cuttack". I chuckled while replying back - "I certainly see how every rule abiding Bhubaneswariya makes his or own road rules on daily basis. Cuttackias can't be any worse".
During our early days in Bhubaneswar we lived in BJB Flats, in a government quarter provided to my father who used to teach Physics at the nearby BJB College. As the name indicates, the BJB Flats housed mostly teachers and staffs of BJB College, though there were considerable number of folks from other government services who got allocated quarters in those flats.
When we entered BJB flats in the year 1976, it was only 29 years since India got its independence from Britain. The British legacy still held steady. Apartments in Bhubaneswar were called Flats those days instead of Apartments as it is called in America. Now Flats are called Apartments in Bhubaneswar - e.g. Kedaragauri Apartments and so on. No one calls them Flats anymore.
Batsmen are now called Batters a la in Baseball games in USA. American slangs like bro etc is widely used by the young and not so young in Odisha's state capital. I saw an American restaurant "Chillis" at a mall near Rasulgarh. I heard men calling each other "Hey man" ! Pax Americana has taken over Bhubaneswar where British are so passe.
I took my son Sidhant with me to show him around the BJB Flats where I grew up, spent the bulk of my childhood and youth. We stayed in a 3 bedroom Flat located on the first floor, right on the front row of a series of flats. I knocked on the door of the flat numbering D-33 where we lived for 15 years. The current occupant of the quarter, a doctor, was initially a bit reluctant to let us in, but relented when he came to know that we are visiting all the way from America.
A lot have changed since we left the Flats in 1991. The floors are now made from marble instead of cement. There are parking garages unlike our days which makes the entrances to the flats look clumsy. A lemon tree planted by my mother has grown leaps and bounds into a tall shrub. I gaped at the rooms with nostalgia remembering those days of silly fights with my sisters. My room is still intact with the cupboard freshly painted. Only thing missing was the big poster of Brooke Shields, my teenage crush which adored inside the cupboard.
Local news channels had predicted the arrival of monsoon ahead of schedule by June 8. Well, June 8 came and went, still there was no sign of monsoon. It's less hot and sultry during the daytime, evenings being windy and pleasant. It seems like me monsoon is taking a vacation. But the air is thick and heavy, pregnant with water vapor, eager to deliver monsoon anytime for the eagerly waiting parched folks. More later....
