I was born in the year 1944 in Naharkanta of Khurdha District. My forefathers were Jamindar who were held from Lucknow. They were Jagannath Devotees and often visited Puri for Darshan of Deity. They decided to settle down in Odisha and then King of Puri gave them land near Naharkanta to Settledown. The name of my Father was Dibyesh Mahartha Mahapatra, who was a Jamindar and he died in the year 1980. We have constructed their house in Naharkanta and have been staying there before independence. We were four brothers where now three of them survived. All of them were job holders and worked with Govt. agencies.
I passed my matriculation from Maharatha Bidyapitha in 1964 and later joined BJB college. I joined as a teacher in same Maharatha Bidyapitha for 35 years and later retired in the year 2004. Now I am into agriculture and also working as president of Mo School alumni. I also looks after temple construction in the village.
People used to take a walk for nearby areas. Upto 5 to 6 Km people walked. Cycles were also available. There was no express train at that time. People used to travel through train to Kolkaka and Chennai. Scooters came to Bhubaneswar around 1980. After 1990 the appearances of bikes started flourishing
The buses who plied during those period were different from the one’s we see. The buses run in petrol and trains run through coal. People used to wait 3-4 hours for getting a bus. Puri to talcher route was connected by train. I have no idea about other trains. Most of the roads of Bhubaneswar was Kutcha. The pucca roads were made during British raj. The cyclist used to take rest under the tree. Mango Banyan, Jamun trees were abundantly found on road sides.
I have seen that the post office was located in Balianta. They could not deliver mails to people on regular basis. The people fought to bring a post office to Naharkanta. The students were sent to Balianta to get the letters from Balianta post office.
There was no street light. But in Laxmi sagar and Kalpana area there were street lights. A person used to come during the evening to light up.
Our family was a poor family even though we have lots of lands. My father sold the plots with Rs 120/ per Guntha in the year 1953-54. The Zamindari system was abolished in the year 1955 and we need finance to fund the education of our four brothers.
Constructing houses were difficult then. We can get labourers here but there was lack of mistry. We used to get mistry from Khurdha and other areas who later settled here.
Balianta Hat existed. There also existed one hat in Old town. We used to sell Patato. In ten rupees we can get a bagful of Vegetables. Dried fishes were sold per bisha. Sera System was prevalent until metric system was put on place. I remember selling Patato 90 paise per Kg.
We used to travel to Lingaraj temple, Kedargouri and Bindu sagar etc. Khandagiri and Udayagiri was not having motorable road. People used to walk on stone steps to reach the caves. Ashokastami was celebrated and we used to go to see the rath yatra with family on bullock cart. It took us two to three hours to reach the venue. Harekrushna Mahatab came to our house as Subhadra Mahatab was contesting election. He was chief minister then.
Sri Laxman Mallick of Congress and Sri Sukadev Jena ex MLA of Cuttack Sadar visited our place. He stayed over night with us too.
No of hospitals in the then Bhubaneswar was also few and far. Old town Municipal Hospital was the oldest hospital in Bhubaneswar. It was managed by NAC. Capital Hospital came next. Mr. Gadadhar Mohapatra was posted in Municipal Hospital who did a great job.
There was no anxiety among people. People have low expectation. Women were not allowed to work. Only few women were seen working. Alcohol shops also existed but they were limited in nature.
Capital high school was the oldest school and in old Bhubaneswar there is one BM high school. The classes were not having much students. Each class is having around 10 to 12 students and out of them are 2 to 3 are women. We have to go to different schools as there was no single school which can impart education from 1 to 11th standard.
There was on Bellur Matha in Bhubaneswar from which people used to take medicines. There are people at village level who used to give medicines to the ailing members. In return they used to take rice and other things from the affected members or their family. There are times when some ladies distributed Christianity related books among people to propagate culture.
People used to work here in Bhubaneswar and send money back. Silver coin was in presence. One silver coin was largely 11 gms. in weight and it would have been Rs 600 to Rs. 700 by todays’ calculation. People used to collect coins and store it.
Mutton Sold Rs 5 per KG. One Desi Chicken cost 15 to 20 per live birds. No one has seen farm eggs. We used to get plenty of desi eggs. Fish was available in plenty due to presence of ponds and rivers. People did not have to buy vegetables. They grow sufficient vegetables in their backyards. Selling of vegetables was not available then.
People read Samaj Largely and magazines like Dagar, Durmukha and Niankhunta were also read by people. News paper arrived one day late as it came through postal. People used to talk bath in canals and rivers. The canal which passes through Jharpada now days was having clean water. The water was used for bathing, drinking and other purposes.
