The ‘Odiya’ in me….
My roots lie in a place called ‘Orissa’, a small state in the eastern region of India, which has long passed into oblivion, barring the flutters it creates now and then, most often than not for facing nature’s extreme fury (read super cyclones, floods and droughts) and sometimes when a Budhia Singh runs miles which are ten times his age or when the axe of Indian cricket falls on a certain Debashis Mohanty or S.S Das.
Being nomadic by nature and having to travel and live in places all over India, I have lived all my life among Non-Odiya (yes!! It’s pronounced Odiya and not Oriya!!) friends, I have always been subjected to various categories of reactions when I have introduced myself as an Oriya…Ranging from disbelief to pity to disgust to curiosity…The point here is that people always have this feeling about Orissa being a ‘not so’ normal state which always dangles at the bottom of the ‘List of poor states’ of India.
The myths and misconceptions are so many that I can write an entire book on it. For starters, people always feel that the entire of Orissa is full of poverty stricken people who die due to malnutrition and lack of vitamins. I am sorry it is this place called ‘Kalahandi’ which has hogged the limelights due to poverty and NOT the entire state of orissa. Orissa in general is full of rich people who can afford to buy their toilet papers as much as people from any other state can…and yes, It has it’s fair share of healthy (read obese) people and oriyas in general take pride in the kind of food they have, and are very fussy regarding the same.
The second great misconception that people have is that Orissa is just an extension of Bengal and are a quasi Bengali clan…8 out of 10 people tell me that Oriya is similar to Bengali…. excuse me, but all neighboring states have similar languages, be it the great south (Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka, Kerela) or the west (gujrat, maharastra)…culturally they can’t be more different. Ask die hard oriyas and they will vouch for it…
Next, people think that the only thing Oriyas can do is COOK…although places all over India, be it my current habitat West Bengal or my previous one, Bangalore are swarmed by Oriya cooks, not all Oriyas are great cooks…I for one can’t go ahead of my cuppa tea and a plate of maggi even if you put a knife to me.
Talking of the educational scenario, we have one of the most educated chief misters of the country!!
I am not saying that we belonged to that great ‘Aryan’ race that has now been sidelined for long and it’s time for us to get our fair share under the sun…i am strictly against regionalism and psuedo nationalism in any form, but speaking of our past culture it is rich to say the least. Considering the temples strewn all over Orissa. Be it Jagannath temple in puri, or Lingaraj temple in bhubaneswar or the hundreds of temples in tiny villages of orissa which are yet to capture national attention, the architecture in itself is awe- inspiring…it suggests beyond doubt that people from this pert of the planet were far ahead of their times…
Oriya people in general are lazy, harmless and always ready to help. Sometime in the recent past four of my friends working for Infosys were transferred to Bhubaneswar along with me and they were cribbing all along the way, cursing their lady luck that they had to leave a place like bangalore and had to go to a ‘NON’ happening place like Bhubaneswar, but believe me they fell in love with the place and their eyes were moist when they were leaving Bhubaneswar for greener pastures. That’s the power of Orissa. Experience it to believe it!!!
Finally we had more than our fair share of great men, but all of them did their job and refused to hog the limelights. Be it Utkalmani Pundit Gopabandhu das and Fakir Mohan Senapati…who were great freedom fighters and class A literary big wigs, or be it the great Biju Pattnaik who refused the prime ministership of the country…. Oriyas have always been the apostles of ‘Tyaag’. Mr. Naveen pattnaik for instance, gave up a high society life in the US of A where he was active in the highest of social circles, when his state needed him. Netaji Subash Chandra Bose was born and brought up in Orissa and the seeds of patriotism in him were planted at this place only!!
…Wow!! That’s quite a bit of information and the Fog surrounding Orissa must now be clearing a bit now…To some people this may be sounding more like a conspiracy theory, but I am not here to glorify my state, my only intention is clearing a few misconceptions that people have about Orissa, my orissa…
So what are you waiting for, go get the next flight to THE place and if you still can’t wait till then, reach for the nearest Oriya near you and kiss his hands…or get yourself photographed with him maybe!!!
Being nomadic by nature and having to travel and live in places all over India, I have lived all my life among Non-Odiya (yes!! It’s pronounced Odiya and not Oriya!!) friends, I have always been subjected to various categories of reactions when I have introduced myself as an Oriya…Ranging from disbelief to pity to disgust to curiosity…The point here is that people always have this feeling about Orissa being a ‘not so’ normal state which always dangles at the bottom of the ‘List of poor states’ of India.
The myths and misconceptions are so many that I can write an entire book on it. For starters, people always feel that the entire of Orissa is full of poverty stricken people who die due to malnutrition and lack of vitamins. I am sorry it is this place called ‘Kalahandi’ which has hogged the limelights due to poverty and NOT the entire state of orissa. Orissa in general is full of rich people who can afford to buy their toilet papers as much as people from any other state can…and yes, It has it’s fair share of healthy (read obese) people and oriyas in general take pride in the kind of food they have, and are very fussy regarding the same.
The second great misconception that people have is that Orissa is just an extension of Bengal and are a quasi Bengali clan…8 out of 10 people tell me that Oriya is similar to Bengali…. excuse me, but all neighboring states have similar languages, be it the great south (Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka, Kerela) or the west (gujrat, maharastra)…culturally they can’t be more different. Ask die hard oriyas and they will vouch for it…
Next, people think that the only thing Oriyas can do is COOK…although places all over India, be it my current habitat West Bengal or my previous one, Bangalore are swarmed by Oriya cooks, not all Oriyas are great cooks…I for one can’t go ahead of my cuppa tea and a plate of maggi even if you put a knife to me.
Talking of the educational scenario, we have one of the most educated chief misters of the country!!
I am not saying that we belonged to that great ‘Aryan’ race that has now been sidelined for long and it’s time for us to get our fair share under the sun…i am strictly against regionalism and psuedo nationalism in any form, but speaking of our past culture it is rich to say the least. Considering the temples strewn all over Orissa. Be it Jagannath temple in puri, or Lingaraj temple in bhubaneswar or the hundreds of temples in tiny villages of orissa which are yet to capture national attention, the architecture in itself is awe- inspiring…it suggests beyond doubt that people from this pert of the planet were far ahead of their times…
Oriya people in general are lazy, harmless and always ready to help. Sometime in the recent past four of my friends working for Infosys were transferred to Bhubaneswar along with me and they were cribbing all along the way, cursing their lady luck that they had to leave a place like bangalore and had to go to a ‘NON’ happening place like Bhubaneswar, but believe me they fell in love with the place and their eyes were moist when they were leaving Bhubaneswar for greener pastures. That’s the power of Orissa. Experience it to believe it!!!
Finally we had more than our fair share of great men, but all of them did their job and refused to hog the limelights. Be it Utkalmani Pundit Gopabandhu das and Fakir Mohan Senapati…who were great freedom fighters and class A literary big wigs, or be it the great Biju Pattnaik who refused the prime ministership of the country…. Oriyas have always been the apostles of ‘Tyaag’. Mr. Naveen pattnaik for instance, gave up a high society life in the US of A where he was active in the highest of social circles, when his state needed him. Netaji Subash Chandra Bose was born and brought up in Orissa and the seeds of patriotism in him were planted at this place only!!
…Wow!! That’s quite a bit of information and the Fog surrounding Orissa must now be clearing a bit now…To some people this may be sounding more like a conspiracy theory, but I am not here to glorify my state, my only intention is clearing a few misconceptions that people have about Orissa, my orissa…
So what are you waiting for, go get the next flight to THE place and if you still can’t wait till then, reach for the nearest Oriya near you and kiss his hands…or get yourself photographed with him maybe!!!
posted by Perfect Misfit at 3:11 PM
3 Bouquets/brickbats!!
