I was born in the year 1956 in a Zamindar family. I was having two sisters and one brother. But I was born and brought up in a joint family as my father was having other four brothers and we were staying together. We are 21 siblings, who were raised under one roof.
I came to Bhubaneswar, soon after my marriage with Mr. Bijay Mishra in the year 1976. Prior to that, I was staying in Bhingarpur village which is 20 km from Bapuji Nagar. I belonged to a Zamindar family and our family was very rich as well as affluent too. Many people work in our family. Gadadhar Mohapatra who was the famous doctor Old town happened to be my maternal uncle. Because of this family tie, we used to come often to uncles’ place by riding a bullock cart. Tanka Pani road was a red top road then without any culverts. It used to take 4 to 6 hours to reach Bapuji Nagar.
My schooling was in Bakreswar High School of Bhingarpur. This Highschool was constructed by my family members we have also given land for this school. After I passed my schooling, I went to join Nimapara College but I couldnot complete the college owing to non-availability of transportation facility. Only one single bus plied from Puri to Bhubaneswar via Bhingarpur. Our family was also bit orthodox. They were not very persuasive towards education and many of the girls in our family did not have the opportunity to get primary education even.
Getting primary education was also challenging. The primary education was not very easy to get. Usually schools existed on the other side of the river. The rivers swell in rainy season and students find it dangerous to cross the river. My grandfather has donated two large boats, which can board more than 100 students at a time. One of them was reserved for the students only.
Food was usually cooked using firewood; hence the taste of the food was different altogether. In our family girls are not allowed to enter to the kitchen. Only married women were allowed to cook food for us. Many food items that are cooked in those days are hard to get by during these days.
Dusshera, Kumar Purnima and Raja are few important festivals observed in our local community in and around Bhubaneswar. People used to take active participation in it. Usually, it was festivals which were organised at one place and people love to contribute to the festivals. People used to pay rice, small amount of cash and vegetables for the purpose of Puja.
Then you cannot find specialists. There are doctors who used to offer all services under one roof. Even compounders were also competent enough to treat cases. There were no surgeries at that time. Only few medicines were enough to cure diseases.
Girls did not enjoy privileges of using cosmetics. As my father was a film producer, he used to go to Kolkata to bring cosmetics for me. Powder, snow and few other essential cosmetics are enough. My father also used to bring basketful of fruits for our family from Kolkata. Even if We get all these fruits in nearby localities in recent times, but that sweet & sour taste is missing altogether.
Even though my father was into movie making, yet as a girl I was not allowed to go to movie hall in Bhubaneswar. But when I visited Puri, , I often watched movie in Janata Cinema,which is close to our home
In 1976, ours’ was the only double storied building in Bapuji Nagar. We used to see till long while standing on the roof. But now the skyline has changed. As newly married couple we used to go to many places together. Nandankanan, Dhauli was very enjoyable place in those time.
Burgalry & snatching was not there. No. of people were also very limited in Bhubaneswar. Around 1982 maids were available @150 per month. Even that Rs 150 is also a huge money. Maids used to arrange education etc for their children within that amount.
Even though girls’ education was restricted yet, girls participation in workforce was started to be visible around 1980. Many girls joined both private and Public sector Offices and it became a progressive sign from Bhubaneswar.
