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).

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.

Gold mine in Odisha

Kunderkocha is a less known gold mine in Odisha situated in Bahalda tehsil in Mayurbhanj district and it has spread to Jharkhand. Britishers exploited this mine for some years in the early part of twentieth century. Now mining work is going on in the Jharkhand side. One is not sure about any plan from Odisha for exploitation of this gold mine.

Odia designed new Arjuna award statuettes

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has redesigned the National Sports and Adventure awards/trophies to give them a new look.The statuettes/medals of Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award, Dhyan Chand Award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, and Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award have been redesigned completely to depict the human aspiration for excellence and achievement embodied in the sporting endeavor. Artist Gajendra Sahu who has redesigned Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award, Dhyan Chand Award and Tenzing Norgay Award, is a senior faculty member at the B.K. College of Government Arts and Crafts College at Bhubaneswar.

Prince dance group of Odisha

Prince dance group of Ambapua,Berhampur made Odisha proud by winning the reality show 'India's got Talent' on Colors channel. This group consists of talented dancers who were daily labourers and have physically challenged persons also. Chief minister of Odisha Navin Pattanaik was so impressed with their performance that he himself voted and appealed others to vote for the group in the final. Now he has ordered to open a dance academy in Berhampur on priority basis. We wish the group more success in future.

Buddha Ganesha in Cuttack

Millennium city Cuttack has some unique traditions. One such example is worship of Buddha Ganesha(buddha=old; not Gautam buddha). Originally Bania sahi of Cuttack was celebrating this unique tradition. Now some other places like Mangalabag, Balubazar, Choudhury bazar are also following this tradition. Buddha Ganesha is worshiped for around nineteen days- till Dyutibahan(Mulasttami). Idol of Lord Ganesha is immersed after offering Him 'ghanta' tarakari.

e-admission

This year Department of higher education in Odisha has introduced e-admission in 60 junior colleges on pilot basis for efficiency and transparency in admission process of plus two classes.

Power crisis in Odisha

Odisha is the first state in India to reform power sector and privatize it. Till last year we were surplus in electricity(though many villages are yet to be electrified). But due to rapid industrialization,growth in population,climate change,change in peoples' life style we are now facing power crisis.In this hot and humid summer power cut is making life miserable. Odisha has potential for more hydel and thermal power project. We have to take immediate steps to increase power production before the situation goes beyond control.

Rasogolla:indigenous oriya sweet

I love food. I love sweets. I love ‘Rasogolla’.you ask for mitha(sweet-meat) in a restaurant in Orissa and they will provide rasogolla, although they sell a variety of sweets; such is the popularity of this sweet. Rasogolla is available almost all over India. But regarding the origin one myth is associated with rasogolla. Many people believe that rasogolla is originated in Bengal; though the truth is that it is an indigenous Oriya sweet. Though the exact time period of its origin is not known it is believed that rasogolla is being consumed in Orissa from medieval period.
People who believe that rasogolla is of Bengal origin claim that one sweetmeat maker from Bengal invented it in 1868 when he tried to make something ‘different’. To discard others claim regarding rasogolla’s origin some even say that Indians did not know the use of milk derivatives as rasogolla is prepared from chhena- a milk derivative. They learnt it from Portugese and this knowledge came through Bengal. Such a pity! These researchers forgot that in Mahabharat we get the description of various milk products being prepared in Goppura.
Let us know the actual fact about rasogolla. Among many other variety of indigenous sweets rasogolla is offered as prasad in Jagannath temple. Particularly after Ratha yatra Lord Jagannath offers rasogolla to Maa Laxmi to please Her(as Lord Jagannath is accompanied by His brother and sister to Gundicha temple and Maa Laxmi is left). This ritual is followed every year. So one can get an idea of how old rasogolla is; definitely its origin is not in 1868. Another important fact about Jagannath temple is that; nothing is used as Prasad in Puri which is not indigenous including vegetables like potato tomato cabbage etc.(though these are being used in other Jagannath temples). This proves the point that rasogolla is originated in Orissa.
One might become curious as to how rasogolla is so much popular in Bengal. During nineteenth century many Oriya Brahmins were employed in Bengal as cook who were called thakurs. These people introduced rasogolla in Bengal which became popular for its taste. Oriyas were never interested in publicity. When people in Bengal wanted to store rasogolla for more days they mixed some impurities in the ingredients to increase its shelf life. Then only it could be easily exported. Lack of publicity and marketing by Oriya people led to the wrong notion regarding rasogolla’s origin. To get the exact taste one should try fresh rasogolla if available instead of canned one. Though canned rasogollas are also exported from Orissa it decreases the taste like any other packed food item. Salepur and Pahal are famous for rasogolla in Orissa. Next time you visit Orissa don’t forget to taste the authentic rasogolla.

Oriya album

In this article I will discuss about the Oriya music album industry. For this purpose I have excluded the songs from Oriya films and songs produced by Aakash Vani (AIR). Scope of this writing includes both devotional (bhajan) songs and modern songs.
Now-a-days we have so many music companies. But in the early days, when there were no music company in Orissa, companies like Gaathani and HMV were releasing records of Oriya artists. Later Oriya companies like JE (now Sarthak) and Samrat produced music cassettes besides geetinatyas, jaatras and comedies.
In the early 1990s album music saw a little degradation both in content and form. Dual meaning lyrics and hindi film music initiated songs made inroad to the industry. Then only audio albums were available. In 1995, Jai Prakash Mohanty (popularly known as JP) made a brave attempt to picturise popular old songs of veterans like Akshaya Mohanty, Prafulla Kar Pranab Pattanaik, Chitta Jena and others. These were being telecast by Doordarshan in the programme ‘Rajanigandha’. Popularity of this programme caught the imagination of the music companies and they started producing videos of their new music albums. Now Oriya album industry has grown in size and the quality of work has improved a lot. Even albums are more popular than film songs in Orissa. Hit albums are being dubbed and released in West Bengal, and response is encouraging.
Here is a list of some of the most appreciated personalities involved with album industry.
Singers: Ira Mohanty, T. Shouri, Sailabhama, Shakti Misra, Barun Misra, Bibhu Kishore, Pankaj Jal, Namita Agarwal, Manasi, Pami, Sanghamitra, Kumar Bapi, Sricharan, Subhasis Mahakul, Govind Chandra, Saurabh, Narendra Kumar, Anasuya Nath.
Music directors: Veterans : Swarup Nayak, Late Saroj Nanda, Amarendra Mohanty, Deepak Kumar, Manmath Mishra. Contemporaries : Malay Misra, Abhijeet Majumdar, Santiraj Khosla, Purna Khuntia, Giridhar Gamang (former chief minister of Orissa), Braja Jena, Gagan Vihari, Prem Anand (real name Premanand).
Lyricists : Nizam, Alekh Biswal, Arun Mantri, Basantraj Samal, Srikanta Goutam, Nirmal Nayak, Panchanan Nayak, Jatindra Pradhan.
Actress : Lipi, Meghna, Kajal, Mithi, Sweety, Deepa, Jina, Lopamudra, Gargi, Susmita, Naina, Soma Hota, Soma Bhowmik, Monalisa(3).
Actor : Deepak, Late Papu, Bulu, Bobby Mishra, Aakash,Salil Mitra.
By virtue of their performance, some of the actors like Anubhav, Sabyasachi, Ameli, Mithi, Kajal have established themselves in the film industry also.
In spite of its success story, album industry is facing some problems. It is alleged that mafia (bhai) and builders are investing money in the industry for other reasons, not for the sake music. Stories are published about the rural girls aspiring to act in the albums are being exploited. Music companies are encouraging cheap lyrics for instant success. Bhajans are lacking devotional feelings. Business wise piracy is a threat to the music companies.

Ratha Yatra

Today Ratha Yatra was celebrated.some facts about the rathas(chariots)are given below.
Chariot of Lord Jagannath
The Chariot of Lord Jagannath is known as Nandighosha. It is also known as Garudadhwaja and Kapidhwaja.
Height: 13’.5m
Number of wheels: 16 (seven feet diameter)
Length and breadth: 34’6” x 34’.6”
Wrappings: Red, Yellow color cloths
Total Number of wooden pieces used: 832
The Rath (chariot) of Lord Jagannath is guarded by Garuda – the mythical bird and vehicle of Lord Vishu. The charioteer is called Dahuka and the flag is named ‘Trailokyamohini.’ The wooden horses driving the chariot are named as Shankha, Balahaka, Suweta, Haridashwa. The rope used to pull is called Sankhachuda. There are nine presiding deities in the chariot – Varaha, Gobardhan, Gopi Krishna, Narasimha, Rama, Narayan, Trivikrama, Hanuman and Rudra.
Chariot of Balabhadra
The Chariot of Balabhadra is known as Taladhwaja.
Height: 13’.2m
Number of wheels: 14 (seven feet diameter)
Length and breadth: 33’ x 33’
Wrappings: Red, bluish green color cloths
Total Number of wooden pieces used: 763
The chariot of Balabhadra is guarded by Vasudev. The charioteer is Matali and the flag is named ‘Unnani.’ The horses are called Tibra, Ghora, Dirghasharma and Swornanava. The rope used is named basuki. Ganesha, Kartikeya, Sarvamangala, Pralambari, Hatayudha, Mrutyunjaya, Natamvara, Mukteswar, and Shesha deva are the nine presiding deities.
Chariot of Subhadra
The Chariot of Subhadra is known as Darpadalana. It is also referred as Padmadhwaja.
Height: 12’.9m
Number of wheels: 12 (seven feet diameter)
Length and breadth: 31’.6’’ x 31’.6’’
Wrappings: Red, black color cloths
Total Number of wooden pieces used: 593
The chariot of Subhadra is guarded by Jayadurga. The charioteer is called Arjuna and the flag is Nadambika. The horses are Rochika, Mochika, Jita and Aparajita. The rope is called Swarnachuda. The nine subsidiary deities in the chariot are all female deities – Chandi, Chamunda, Ugratara, Vanadurga, Shulidurga, Varahi, Shyamakali, Mangala and Vimala.

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