Impact of IT industry in Odisha

I think there is no need to explain why governments are always interested to establish information technology (IT) related industries in their states. Though Odisha does not have many IT industries compared to southern states, some big companies have their campus in the state and new ones are coming also coming up. In this piece, impact of IT industry in the state - particularly on higher education and on lifestyle of people is analysed.
As IT companies normally employ engineers (though it is said that any graduate can do those work with a little training) some businessmen opened engineering colleges in Odisha, which lacked proper infrastructure. These colleges have only attractive buildings to lure the students. Then cyclic process of inefficiency started in state. A large number of teachers were required in these colleges and Odisha had less number of people with required qualifications. To maximize their profit college owners were not interested to employ deserving faculties from outside of state and simple graduates were employed in many colleges as faculty. Lack of incentive and inexperience of faculties produced many ‘engineers’ who do not know even their syllabus. So they hardly got any proper employment. Some of them were absorbed as faculties in these colleges and this cycle continued. After recession unemployment has increased manifold.
Engineering colleges mushroomed in Odisha without proper analysis of the market. So this year around 20,000 seats are lying vacant, though students from West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand are coming to Odisha. Some coaching centers have opened +2 science and engineering college for both backward and forward linkages for their business.
Though situation is very grim, parents and students are unaware of this. They are happy that one year of the student and money which was to be spent on coaching is saved. As there is scope for every +2 science student to study engineering, seats in general streams like B.Sc and B.A. are lying vacant in some old colleges.
IT industries and many engineering colleges are located I and around the capital city Bhubaneswar. So branded stores and cafes have come up to cater the need of young people. Even Friday night party culture has started in Bhubaneswar. Disposable income of young professionals has begun to create misery for lower income groups in capital. Costs of vegetables and other day-to-day needs have increased many folds. Previously house rent in Bhubaneswar was at par with Cuttack; but now it is more than double. So unemployed youths who were staying in capital to prepare for various competitive examinations are now shifting their base to Cuttack.

Kaaudia culture in Odisha

Month of Shraavana is very significant for devotees of Lord Shiva. They use to carry water in small pots from various rivers and walk bare foot to temples to worship the Lord on Mondays. These devotees are called Kaaudia in Odisha and Kanwaaria elsewhere.
Origin of the Kaaudia culture in Odisha is not very clear. Some people say that it was started by few maarwaris around fifty years ago. But this view is opposed by some others on the ground that Odisha has some famous temples of Lord Shiva like Lord Lingaraj, Lord Lokanath, Lord Gupteswar, Lord Dhabaleswar, Lord Chandrasekhar(Kapilas), Lord Akhandalamani, Lord Chandneswar- and this ritual was performed by devotees of Odisha long before. However a song is picturised in the movie ‘Aei Aama Sansar’(1986) depicting this tradition.
In the last decade number of kaaudias has increased exponentially. Now even women are participating in large numbers. This has created business opportunities for music companies, as they are releasing albums particularly for this event in this month. People selling saffron bermuda, T-shirt (as kaaudias are no longer wearing dhotis) and accessories like bahungi(wooden carrier), pot etc are also doing brisk business.
Astronomical rise in the number of kaaudias is also creating some problems like traffic jam on Sundays, water logging and deposit of waste materials in and around temples etc. It is disheartening to see that young devotees are consuming narcotic substances in the name of Lord Shiva’s Prasad during their journey. They are also using funny and cheap slogans like ‘Ganesh father paar karega’ in place of traditional ‘bol bom’ chant. Music companies are also churning albums with cheap lyrics like ‘aamaku side dia he…(side please…we are kaaudias) in the name of devotional songs. Now it is heard that few rich people are outsourcing this rituals- they are paying willing people to carry water to temples on their behalf. These are not good signs for society. Devotees should maintain sanctity throughout their journey to get their desired wish fulfilled.

Janantiki-2

Odia cine actor Mahashweta's original name is Rashmi. Her first film was Shesa Shrabana. Recently she has acted in a film with his nephew(sister Malabika's son) Budhaditya.

Duidhadi-2

Jaubanaru aparadha tahinru jaata khyama
Khyamaru jaata huoi laaja
Laajaru jaata prema prema........
-Lyrics from Odia movie Sindura bindu
Lyric and music by Prafulla Kar
Singers- pranab Pattanaik and Sudharama

Duidhadi-1

"Mo himalayaku mu bikidebi- kehi kiniba?"
Shrotaamane parasparaku aneile.
"dam?" - gunduchitie agabhara hoi pacharila
"saheti nakhyatra"- janeila bengaraja

--------Quoted from 'Saaru gaccha mule'- a short story by Manoj Das.

Shabdatie-1

Bartaaki= baigana(brinjal)
One can find this word in Odia panji(almanac)where it is mentioned as a prohibited food item on a particular tithi(a day in a lunar calender).

Janantiki-1

Engine gita
This is a term used by Odia album industry people(normally common people do not use this term) to refer a song in an album which is meant to carry forward the whole album in its popularity and business. Very often these songs are neither the best song in the album nor they have great lyrics. These songs are only meant to attract the youth population. So they are played in marriage processions and melodies round the year but do not have long life.

New features

We decided to introduce three new features in our blog. They are-
Janantiki-This will contain some trivia
Shabdatie-It will be a word less used or less known today
Duidhadi- Here we will post few lines from any Odia story, novel, poem or lyric
But we can not be regular in posting due to our preoccupation with other work and laziness

Jagannatha Das- Atibadi or Atibada?

Jagannath Das popularly known as Atibadi is a household name in Odisha for his Odia Bhagabata.During my childhood I was curious to know the meaning of 'Atibadi' which was explained as big or great. Sixteenth century Bhakti movement forerunner Sri Chaitanya used to refer Jagannath Das as atibadi. But later I found that there is no such word in Odia.Then how did this word come to exist?
Sri chaitanya viewed only Lord Krishna as the only male and all human beings as female including himself. So he referred Jagannath Das as atibadi thinking the feminie gender of atibada to be atibadi. But in Odia there is no such term unlike other Indian language such as Hindi.So in terms of linguistics atibadi is wrong. But the major fallacy is referring a male as female. Faith, belief is personal thing. One may consider himself or other person as female according to his belief;but nobody will accept a male using kumari or srimati before his or some other male person's name. Ironically in case of Jagannath Das this has happened. We are referring him as atibadi for last five hundred years. Across the world various mistakes are being corrected how old it may be. I think it is high time to think over it and take corrective measures.