Life of low income employees in Odia songs

It is said that lyrics of a song is like a flower and music is its fragrance. A song touches one’s heart when both the lyrics and music are good. Though romantic songs are large in number, we find songs written on various other themes also in Odia. In this piece four songs have been discussed which describe the life of low income employees. I am very sorry that I cannot recall the lyricist and all the singers who created those beautiful songs, as I heard them some twenty years ago from All India radio.
A girl is describing the impatience of her sister-in-law (bhauja) on Saturday as she waits for her husband to come from work place in the song ‘Sanibara dina mo bhaujanka mana hela khali kan kana, bhai asibaku kahithile boli kamare na laage tankari mana’. Normally low income employees find it difficult to take their wives to workplace as they cannot afford it. So if their home is within three/four hours of journey, then they visit on every Saturday. Newly married girls particularly from rural areas may identify themselves with this song.
Misery of a husband whose wife is illiterate is very well described in the song Doora bideshare kie manepade…..sung by Sikandar Alam. He cannot bring his wife to town as he is unable to find a rented house for two; at the same time he cannot go home as his leave is not granted. So he decides to write a letter to his wife, but he recalls that she is illiterate…apathoi mora kania….
In ‘Afisi bela jaye gadi’ sung by Tansen Singh, husband is worried that he is getting late for office and his boss may write adverse remark in his service book while his wife pleads not to leave food and wants to serve a piece of fish fry more.
‘Aji masara pahila’ depicts the typical picture of a low income employee on the first date of a month. Wife, children want to go for shopping, cinema; but husbad is left with little money as his salary is almost spent on paying to milkman, grocer and others from whom he buys everything on credit.

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).