I belong to Ganjam District. I was born in Balunkeswar Village of Khallikote in 1932. My Fathers’ Name was Balabhadra Rath. My Father is having one brother and one sister. His sister has died earlier.we were three brothers and three sisters. I have seven daughters and one son. I have lost one of my daughter whereas rest 4 of the daughters are staying in Bhubaneswar. My only Son is in Pune and working in an Italian company.
I came to Bhubaneswar in 1969, when I joined as Reader of the Dept of Mathematics in Utkal University. Six years after that, I joined as a Director of Correspondence Courses. I was born in Khallikote in the year 1932 and had my earlier education in local schools. I passed matriculation from Khallikote Highschool. I was the one who got first division for the first time in the history of the School. Later, I joined Paralakhemundi College to complete my intermediate education.
I came to Ravenshaw college to complete my BSc. I completed my M.Sc from Ravenshaw College in the year 1954. From 1954 to 1969, I went on to compete various exams and appeared for the jobs. I was selected for different jobs. Later I completely switched over to academic profession, as there were dearths of human resources in academic setup in that period.
Bhubaneswar appeared an open and clean city to me. The city was limited in size and hardly it was congested like today. There are lots of open spaces, hence, we could get enough wind. Drains were not required as even after heavy rains, the areas used to drain well and remain free from water.
The current Sahid nagar square was known as Rupali Chhaka and Convent square, Raj Mahal, AG square were completely developed. Even though town bus was playing between two points yet, the no. of busses were pretty limited. Bus was also going inside Vanivihar campus. In 1986 because of students’ unrest, one bus was torched and after that buses stopped going inside the Utkal University Campus.
When I first arrived at Bhubaneswar, I stayed with my uncle near Bapujinagar. My first salary as a reader was around Rs700/- per month and I used to pay Rs 70 rupees towards house rent per month. But I could able to leave happily with rest amount of money for the whole month.
We used to buy vegetables from Unit-1. As I was staying near Bapujinagar I used to go there to bring our vegetables. Berhampur was cheaper and sambalpur was considered to be costly but later when I stayed in Sambalpur, I came to know that it is also cheaper. Tomato sold Rs 20 paisa per Kg there in Sambalpur.
Vanivihar was also having a dispensary. But people used to go to Capital Hospital for surgeries. I did my hernia operation in Capital hospital long back and also had my brain surgery 3 years back in Utkal Hospital. The private hospital and health care facilities have grown up like any thing in recent times.
The place where I stay at present near Acharyavihar was bought by me in the year 1972. It was a barren land then and was muddy. No one was interested to settle in the city permanently. I bought this 3600 sq ft land by spending Rs 2500/- .Later I purchased another 7000 sq ft plot and annexed it to the main plot. Even though I purchased land, I did not have money to build a house. Towards the fag end of my career, I got some loan from Govt through University. I also got some support from my daughter and later I build the house.
Even at that point of time, we did not have adequate jobs for the people. Almost all the line depts. were having limited job opportunity. Large scale medical set ups developed within last 15 to 20 years only. There was another hospital in old town. There was also news of burglary, though lesser in no.
The quality of education was quite good in those days. Teachers were dedicated towards students and their welfare. Currrently, you go to any university, you will find all the depts. don’t have adequate no. of faculties. Even the advanced centres are having one to two faculties. But in those days, there was tough competition between Ravenshaw and Utkal University. Govt. today doesn’t have adequate interest to promote education, especially higher education.
Transport was a major challenge in those times in Bhubaneswar. Medical facility was also limited in nature but doctors were not greedy.
Bhubaneswar doesnot have any specific mass festival.While Khudurukuni was limited to few villages only, Durgapuja emerged as a mass festival much later. There was not much hype on festivals or celebration of festivals. Saheed Nagar and Bapuji Nagar started observing the festivals on a large scale.
Bhubaneswar doesnot reflect good neighbourhood. Everything was weighed in the monetary scale. People trust money more than their neighbours. Hence, the trusts between the people are missing and thus it was difficult to built relationship in cities. This is just not the case in Bhubaneswar only, even in large cities like Delhi and Mumbai similar pattern of relationship developed.
Cultural ethos developed in the city much later. Citizens in Bhubaneswar wanted to go out on holidays and often in holidays cities wore a deserted look. Now, people are coming together as clubs and celebrating events together. But after 1990 large scale melody programme, group dance etc appeared in street Puja Pendals.
Students unrest was there but it grew largely off late and today it has obtained gargantuan proportion. It has also not left our villages untouched. Mobile has added to the nuisance. Bhubaneswar has gradually shifted the base swiftly. Now it is urbanized in nature but slowly veering away from traditional value system.
