I am 80 years old this year and have been living in Bhubaneswar since last almost 50 years. My last three generations are staying in Bhubaneswar. I stay in my house in the DakaBangala Chhaka Sahi. Around 1980 he shifted to the Dakbangala Chhaka earlier I was staying in Old town.
I was born in 1944. His forefathers came 800 years back from Kanyakubja. My grandfather came to Bhubaneswar. My other family members were having Seba in Lingaraj Temple.
I had my schooling in Pandit Raghunathpur school, then I went on to complete his schooling in BM highschool . I completed his college in BJB College, then I completed a mountaineering course in Himachal Pradesh. I worked for two years as a guide there and later started my career in JK paper mills.
I am now currently staying with my son and daughter in law along with my grand daugther in Dakabangala . I am having business who is into automobile spare parts selling.
People have individual wells and common wells to draw water.The water table never dried up in those days. People used to take water of these wells for drinking and other purpose. Most of the wells were common property and every body was allowed to draw water from these wells.
There are ponds also. There is one Hadi Pokhari in Mahatab Road and Godi Pokhari in Harachandi Sahi has been two great ponds which have been reduced in size. There is one pond named Padma Pokhari near Kalpana Chhaka.
Gangua was a river which is now turned out to be Nallah. As the consumerism has increased, the level of pollution has also increased. The fast food shops are the major source of pollution. People lived a very happy life.
The local business were used to get sound income. Many people come from different parts of India to Kedargouri and Lingaraj. Hence the businessmen were getting good income. Even though business was not big but people used to get sufficient income that helps to maintain their family.
During 1940 to 1950 only few chhakas existed. Keutasahi, Hatasahi badheibanka Chhaka are only few to name. Sundarpada was still a forest.
The travel within the city was largely carried out by paddle operated rickshaws and local town buses.
Two town buses plied from Dakabangala chhaka daily. One started in 10.00 am and 3.00PM. The Nanda family who had few hotels with them in Kalpana area were also having 40 buses which travelled within Bhubaneswar and to Puri too.
Jharpada, Bargarh, Kalpana & Laxmi Sagar were disturbed areas in which people used to fight with each other for land related issue. Other areas were calm and people used to enjoy their lives. In the year 1968, the cost of the gold was Rs 160/1 gm. I had brought a gold watch by paying 800 rupees from Madras.
Pandit Raghunath ME School at Dakabangala RI office was one of the best schools of that time. There also existed one BM high school which imparted education till 11th Std and this existed behing lingaraj Temple. Later, Sundarpada, Kapileswar , Baragarh & Laxmisagar High School developed.
BJB was only college existed. Then Rajadhani College, Maharshi college and RD college. During those days Kedargouri was only visited by local people. But lingaraj and Ananta Basudev Mandira was very popular and every day around 1000 people visited these temples. Now more than 5000 people are visiting these places.
The electrification of roads began in 1955. There was oil lamps in selected Chhakas existed around 1952. One person from Municipality used to come at the evening hour to put kerosene in the lamp and light them. Ludu, Pasapalli were popular. There was one gym in Old town which used to impart physical training to people. People were interested to take part in the games. There was a club named tofan sporting in unit-1 which used to organised a mega football tournament.
There was hotels in Raj Mahal which sold Singda and Chatni per one anna. In Badadanda there was also a Nuria Nana Hotel which sold Aluchap , Singda, and Bara and Chatni too which sold per two anna. Mitra lodge existed during that period in Tala Bazar.
Dowry system was prevalent then and people used to give bed and mattress along with 80 to 100 grms of Gold. Even cow and servants were given by upper class people as dowry. But it was not that rampant whereby brides were killed.
The winter appeared around Sept in the then Bhubaneswar. The temperature of Bhubaneswar was not more than 32 Degree Celsius in Bhubaneswar. The prevalence of AC was still not there people used to use blanket in the month of June & July to get rid of cold.
There was two big films as Roopmandira and kalpana talkies. Roopmandir was there before 1942. Kalpana was having asbestos roof and Roopmandira was thatched. The ticket cost was 4 anna were as the price of the ticket is Rs 1.oo per person. Each show carried 200 to 300 people and films like Baiju Bawara etc very popular among audience. While Odia movies also run in the film halls, but the numbers were few and farfetched.
People from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh Delhi came to Lingaraj Temple and Kedargouri etc. Jatri pandas used to manage their business by selling goods and services to them. But there was a provision for mis behave. When You mis behave with people or piligrims you are likely to be punished financially.
There was a provision of penalty if jatripanda’s misbehave with people. There was one incident where a jatripanda was fined four annas for misbehaving with people. People were very obedient and disciplined.
Bhubaneswar did not have much literate people, hence people from other states also came to do their job. The salary was not more than 80 to 100 rupees per month. But Many talented individual preferred to go outside and do the jobs as it gave them more money.
Bhubaneswar started from Bapuji Nagar. Then Unit-9 and Unit-4 developed. Surya Nagar Developed bit later. Patia and Vanivihar developed as township around 1970. Poonama gate was named after Poonama Gouduni who used to sell milk in that area.
Money lending was also prevalent. People used to get money for their day to day expenditures. They used to pay Rs0.08 Paise per one 100 rupees.
Kedarnath Mohapatra was a very renowned historian and his brother Gunanidhi Mohapatra was the chairman of Old town. Both of them were very renowned person and people used to respect them. Around 1978 George Tiadi ( Film Star) Sunanda tiadi (Classical Singer) gain popularity in old town areas.
Puri and Bhubaneswar was connected by Train. Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai were connected with train. Janata and Mails were connected. But people used to travel in local trains as it was cheap. Affordability was an issue.
