In our family, my Father was first to arrive in Bhubaneswar in 1964.My father was having 5 sisters and two brothers. I have two brothers and one sister. I have two daughters who are settled in their career. Since last 4 decades, I am into this tax profession. I used to stay in unit-8, when I first came to BBSR and my father was a businessman. My father had a shop in market building. We together later shifted to Saheed Nagar during 1977 and have been staying in Saheed Nagar since last 46 years. 

I started my schooling in Cuttack, as I was staying with my relatives there. But after few years , I have to go back to village. I returned to Bhubaneswar around 1964 with my father and got admitted in DM School and completed my High Schooling in 1968.I joined BJB college and completed my graduation by 1972. I was also into MS Law College for my law degree.

I never did any job. I was more interested to start my tax firm and hence started to work with a  senior professional to understand the nuances of the trade. I was not paid anything but within few years, I became efficient and around 1984 I opened up my own proprietorship firm. Then I started earning handsomely. Though I have no idea about my earlier income in those days, but now I remember, it was more than enough to meet my both ends meet during that times.

I can still vividly remember that the value of Rs 100 was very high. You can imagine the importance of Rs 5 from the fact that, we used to have one full bag of vegetables with that amount around 1969. We have one Capital Police Station in those time. The market building was small. The shops used to be inside the unit-1 market. Traders used to bring cart load of Vegetables & park them on streets.  For many roads are the only one areas sitting on the by-lanes of which, marketing can be done.

Bus service was also limited. Regular busses ply from Cuttack to Banapur, Rourkela and Berhampur etc. Train Services were also operational in those periods. I used to travel to Kolkata and New Delhi through Train, even though I don’t remember the ticket prices. Rail journey was smooth and it was not at all congested.

People in Bhubaneswar, in those days, have desire for higher education and knowledge accumulation. Soochana Bhawan was having a public library and people used to gather there for information collection. They used to read till late evening and used to crack exams. The trend had started around 1980.

The AICC conference in Bhubaneswar changed complexion of the city to a large extent. New roads were build, lights were laid and houses were constructed in large nos to accommodate congress workers. Later they were handed over to public and the city got expanded. Even till that time, places like Saheed Bhawan, donot have good quality all weather roads connecting to all the places.

LIngaraj temple was famous temple of Bhubaneswar but there also existed a small temple in Buddheswari Colony where I used to stay briefly before I shifted to Bhubaneswar.

The old Bhubaneswar people who stayed in laxmi sagar and Badagada etc were not enjoying a good social life. At that point of time, they used to fight with each other and even now fight to some  extent exists.

Around 1970, trucks were largely seen in Bhubaneswar.  They were major mode of transportation for many. There was a Punjabi Colony, where Punjabi drivers used to remain in a colony.They were plying between Bhubaneswar to Paradip. They together used to contribute to the economy of Bhubaneswar at a large scale.

The film halls were limited in number. Ravi Talkies and Kalpana talkies were standard halls. Roopa Mandir was also a film hall located in old town. The costs of the tickets were very less and people often go to watch movies. The Roop Mandir movie hall was made of thatched roof and tin walls and is supported by bamboos. People find it difficult to see movies if a bamboo exist in front of their seat.

During 1970s’ Bhubaneswar was very moderate in looking. There was hardly any major construction work going on. The city lacked opulence, which is displayed in every nook and corner now a days. The Picchu roads were narrow and road side cabins did not exist. The Burma General Store was located at master canteen & was sufficient to meet needs of the Bhubaneswar. Later, another grocery store opened in Unit-1 Market and it was known as T. Krishna Patro general store. Later, both of them abandoned the shops and shifted to some other business model. Burma General store became Kalamandir, which is now a very popular household name in Bhubaneswar.

People used to go to Khandagiri and Nandankanan for picnic purpose. People of Bhubaneswar were having large scale intrest in football matches and tournaments. Many of friends from DM school were good football players. Some of them have died and I don’t remember their names.

Unlike present day Bhubaneswar, the city used to wear a deserted look during large festivals like Durgapuja. As Bhubaneswar consisted of people, who have come from outside, hence, people moved to their villages during the Puja occasions. Hence, the city appeared desert and the population even gets thinner.

The roads don’t have street lights and driving at night was difficult. Hence people used to return home early. Burglary or dacoity was not there but thieves used to lift materials whenever possible.

Bhubaneswar in those days donot have many hotels. Even most the square or Chhaka we see today were not in picture during earlier days. Most of them have developed after 1980s. Food junctions and hotels started appearing first in and around Raj Mahal Square. Raju Sahu was having his hotel and later Raghaban started developing Venus Inn as a hotel. It was earlier in Unit-4 later, Venus inn was shifted to Bapuji Nagar later.

Harekrushna Mahatab was very popular as he has played a very vital role in building Bhubaneswar. Later Biju Pattnaik also got love and affection of Bhubaneswar. Not many political leaders were as popular as the above two.

Master canteen, Vanivihar, market building & secretariat were major land marks of Bhubaneswar around 1970. By 1970 almost all the colonies were given water connections.  Near AG chhaka a large water storage tank was set up  and later similar other water tanks were set up. Town bus service was not there till 1970. The Bhubaneswar was a sloppy terrain. Hence, even if it rains hard for few hours water logging was not there in Bhubaneswar. Drainage was very good. As Bhubaneswar was covered by trees and fencing of quarters were done by trees hence, summer was not at all felt.  The wind speed was so high that, we couldn’t even paddle our cycle. Ganesh Puja, Durgapuja and Dussehera programme were very popular.

People were having no intrest to buy lands in Bhubaneswar. Govt used to offer land to people at a very subsidized rate. Most of the business houses got land in prime locations of Bhubaneswar at a very nominal rate. Vivekananda Library is one of the important library of the town, which was frequented by people.  

Bhubaneswar as a city was still safe and secure. It has not till date seen any large crises. Even though low lying areas around Bhubaneswar got water logged in those times, yet Bhubaneswar has not seen any flood like situation. The city has given opportunity to many people and many people have made their career out of this city.