I was born in the year 1948 when India just got independence. I was born in Teeni Mundia Chhaka in Old town of Bhubaneswar.
I was educated only in Chahali and did not have proper schooling and college due to lack provisions. I was having brother and one sister and both of them have died in recent time. I was a roller driver in PWD and after serving few years in PWD Dept in Koraput as roller driver, I returned to Bhubaneswar.
I sold medicinal herbs and plants along with my father for a considerable period of time. I had four children. One of them is son and rest three of them are daughters. He is staying at home with one unmarried daughter and son.
I can tell about costs of products in Bhubaneswar township. Firewood costs were very less. People used to give one stack of wood in one anna only. Many times people used to give one free of cost if you buy one. Rice was sold in Mana & Kataki Sera and it was not weighed. People don’t have adequate money to buy goods. Even they used to buy goods in credit. Items like salt were given free of cost by shop keepers. Mutton, chicken was sold using Bhaga. One bhaga or equal share was sold 2-3 rupees.
People were not very aggressive. People used to be friendly with each other. There was a police station which was named as Fandi existed near temple. But people did not go to police regularly. People were engaged in agriculture, vegetable selling and small business. Govt Job was very scantily available during 1950. Only few were having private jobs.
Badheibanka Chhaka, Rathgada Chhaka are few of the prominent places of Old town. Telegu people stayed around the railways. Bhubaneswar doesn’t have specific film halls. It was brought to Odisha by Bengali people. Make shift tents were put to run film shows. Shree Jagannath is one of the premier movie which I have watched. Hindi film was not very popular. Bengali women used to act in the films.
Jatra was also very popular. One party from Rajgangpur came and performed and he has watched it. Newspaper was not very popular. Radio and TV was yet to arrive. People only came to know about the news from the word of mouth.
The bullock carts were used to pull people from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack. 4 to 5 people were used to board in bullock cart and they used to pay one or two anna. It used to take 4 to 5 hours to reach cuttack. If your relative is having a bullock cart, you don’t have to even pay that. The bullockcart used to stop before the Kathajodi and people cross the river by boat.
The road in old town was made up of red soil and bullock driven carts used to water then to limit dusts in air during Ashokastmi.
Very few people are having bi-cycles. The cost of an English Raleigh Bi Cycle was Rs 250/- during 1960.
Temple was very popular for foods. The devotees were given food most of the time free of cost after it is offered to Deity. At times they also charge very less for one quick meal
Similarly shops of Pagal Bishoyi and banamali Bishoyi sold Bara Piaji, Pakodi etc. Two to Three baras were sold per anna.
There was also a Brahman shop owner named Dama Panda who sold so delicious food in those time that people from the sahi used to go all together to his shop every afternoon.
Kabadi, and tungli Pua and diving in water for bathing were prominent sports. We used to team up and go out side for fun. Many times our parents beat up if we donot return to home in time.
People used to get 2 anna per day for 8 to 10 hours of work. There was discrimination between men and women . Women were paid less. Some people from Nayapalli came to work near old town. Some local people also worked. Bhubaneswar used to get labour from Khurdha and Nayagada etc.
Share cropping pattern was available in those areas. The land owner and share cropper used to share the crops in 3:2 ratio.
A homeopathy set up was available in Bellur Matha which was supported by Bengali Doctors. Most of the doctors gave consultation free of cost and charged very less for the medicines. Chandan Jatra was very popular in Lingaraj temple. Ashokastami & Dola Jatra was very famous. It was not crowded.
Electricity was not available in the area till 1955. Red Kerosene was used to light the lamppost and white kerosene was used to fuel the lantern.
