I was born in the year 1950 in Khandapada district of Nayagarh District. I lost my mother soon after my birth and my father find it difficult to manage our family. Hence, my elder brother who was already staying in Bhubaneswar at that time took me with him. I stayed with him near Ashok Nagarpost office in a mess. His elder brother was working as a post man in Ashok Nagar Post Office. I was a LIC agent first then an officer and retired after serving the institution under various capacities. I retired as LIC officer and now I am staying in Laxmisagar with his son and daughter in law. My wife died last year.
During our time, People used to travel to places through bicycles and later, we saw people travelling in bikes and scooters in large no. Soon we started seeing cars on road which was a rarity then.
We never anticipated that there will be so many cars in the markets and that too so easily. The shape and area of Bhubaneswar was so small that it can be covered by cycle within one to two hours. Now even in car, you cannot even cover the entire city.
There was no road at all. Even on the present day Cuttack road, used to have around 2-3 houses only. The road was only 8-10 ft wide only. I used to travel towards Kesura which needs to be travelled through a boat only.
The buses run through Diesel and even with coals. A long bar was used to start the bus. People used to take small tortuous path to travel from one part to another part even within the city. The road condition was so bad that, I have damaged 8 to 10 cars and hence forth, I brought a second hand car. There were only 4-5 trains ferried from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata and Madras. They used to carry ferry mails from places. People used to travel to Balasore and Berhampur areas by walking as only few buses were running from Bhubaneswar to other places.
The bus stand was located at Rasulgarh, then it shifted to Unit 2 and now it is located at Baramunda. The property prices in Bhubaneswar were very less. Lands were available in plenty. The land rate per Bhuabneswar Gunth is limited 400 to 500 rupees. However people could not afford it.
Many people don’t consider it viable to buy property as they don’t see any future in Bhubaneswar. Asbestos houses were available on rent with Rs 30 per month. These were standard houses with toilets.
Few shops existed in eastern tower and western tower of Ashok Nagar. The market which exists in Unit-1 was an open field those days. The shops were small, few and far fetched. Weekly hats are also organised. People come from far places to get their products and sell them too. There was one book store in eastern tower. Religious books were sold on streets which cost rs 0.50 paisa to 1 rupee per copy.
People used to live in joint family. There was no tension and stress among family members.But at times people fought with each other within a village. Encroachments of lands, using slang in public places are few of the major reasons of fracas between people. People brought rice , vegetables etc from villages.
People used to work in Secretariat. Few others continued to work in private sector banks and LIC etc. Very few persons’ worked as petty shop owners and small businessman.
Initially, Durgapuja was very popular. The festival grew because of influence of Cuttack. Dola was very popular. Jhamu was also very popular in the then Bhubaneswar. Ashokastami was celebrated and people used to pull chariots on bad roads. Hardly police were deployed to maintain law and order condition.
Harekrushna Mahtab, Nabakrushna Choudhury, Nandini Satpathy, Sadashiv Mishra are few of the known political faces of Bhubaneswar then. Prashanta Nanda and later Uttam Mohanty later got popular. People from other areas did not participate in politics. Now people from all sectors are interested to participate in politics.
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.
There are two notable film halls during those times. Keshari & Ravi Talking were famous. I have watched Kedar Gouri and Sri Jagannath Movies in this hall. Capital highschool was the oldest school and people used to do pranam before entering the utkal university, as it was considered to be the abode of Goddess Saraswati. Similarly, BJB college was the only college existed then. Later Ramadevi college opened. For a large period of time Rama Devi college operated within the Campus of Utkal University too. Now other colleges have opened.
There was no spiritual guru at that time. Even Religious places like Khandagiri and Udayagiri were not motorable. Bullock carts used to take people to those places.
People used to work here in Bhubaneswar and send money back. Silver coin was in presence. One silver coin was largely 11 grms in weight and it would have been 600 to 700 by now. 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 usually did not buy vegetables. Television came to Bhubaneswar after 1982. The Samaj was very popular. Magazine was also very popular.
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.
People used to travel to places through bicycles and later, we saw people travelling in bikes and scooters in large no. Soon we started seeing cars on road which was a rarity then.
We never anticipated that there will be so many cars in the markets and that too so easily. The shape and area of Bhubaneswar was so small that it can be covered by cycle within one to two hours. Now even in car, you cannot even cover the entire city.
