Bhubaneshwar gave me a pleasant surprise. The first thing that strikes a visitor is that none of the walls of the city have posters chipkaoed on it. The walls of this city do not allow posters of Sharukh Khan with his six abs, Aamir with his 8 packs and other voluptuous heroines flaunting their assets. No grafittis, no advertisements are allowed on the walls of this temple city.
On the contrary every wall has become an avenue for artists to display their talent. Scenes from Indian mythology, Jagannath yatra and Orissa’s rich cultural heritage have been painted giving the city a very nice look indeed. Even the flyovers have been creatively used to display traditional designs and handicrafts of Orissa.
Apart from being a sight for sore eyes and giving a very neat look to the city it has greatly motivated the young and not so young struggling artists to earn their livelihood which is indeed great.
Apart from paintings, the broad streets of Bhubaneshwar and its roundabouts are also put to creative use by artistic display of natural rocks. Some of them are also chiseled and given shapes.
All the road-side vendors (a real menace in every Indian city) are being allotted pre-fabricated shops neatly laid out and at a fair d
istance from the roads. As a result the thatched huts threatening to encroach on to the streets have been by and large done away with and instead we see neat rows of green coloured shops.I believe most of the good work has been aggressively spearheaded by its dynamic lady Municipal Commissioner by the name of Mrs. Sarangi. Even the CM has backed all her initiatives and has kept politicking on this issue down to the minimum.
I know Bhub is no Singapore but at least there is a very serious attempt to make it a clean green and beautiful city.
The best part of this view point is that even if you differ with me all you have to do is to meet Nargis and Sarita.
You are then bound to agree with me that Bhubaneshwar is a beautiful city!!
Chasme baddoor. Kissi ki nazar na lage.
12 comments:
I'm charmed and simply floored. Kudos to Sarangi for her innovative idea.Only a woman can think up of something as cool as this...just kidding... Anyway, as you mentioned AB, kisi ki nazar na lag jaye.The last I went to Bhubaneswar was ten years back. My parents had settled down there after retirement.Now your pics are incentive enough for a visit in the near future. Two decades back my batchmates were so taken up by the city when we had stopped over at Bhub on our Bharat Darshan. I can imagine how charmed they would be if they saw it now.
Speaking of improvements, reminds me of my recent visit to Rajasthan.
Whenever we visited Ajmer, we would stop over at Jaipur and drive down by road.The ride would be hot and dusty and the landscape the usual barren desert which Rajasthan always was. This July, however,after a gap of four years, we were in for a pleasant surprise.
The entire stretch of the NH between Ajmer and Jaipur had been reforested with local vegetation and was a veritable dense forest, complete with birdlife and maybe wildlife too!! What was sight to weary eyes that was....my husband who is a tree planting enthusiast just couldn't stop marvelling at the effort made to halt the onslaught of the desert and attract rain clouds. We actually had a few drizzles on the way...something unheard of in those parts a few years back.
It is nice to know that there do exist some officers who are so dedicated.
Another case in point is the then collector of Surat (I think he was an Oriya), who after the plague, transformed the town from a 'badsoorat' Surat to a 'khubsoorat' Surat.
Honesty, vision, dedication and collective will to improve is what is needed...the rest will fall into place.
AB, thanks for sharing those lovely pics of a new artistic Bhubaneswar, a vibrant and dynamic city which is giving amateur painters and artists their just dues.
Tas what a small world. The then collector of surat was Mr. Guruprasad Mahapatro a dear friend of mine. We were in JNU together.
REAL small world, eh?
You're from JNU?? Which school?
My husband, Jason, is also a JNUite... MA (Sociology) 1984....suddenly,decided to do his Masters a few years after his Grads....I would've been his senior had I done my Masters from there!!
Hey! the world is shrinking!!
1981-83 Centre for Historical Studies (CHS), Kaveri Hostel.
Jason was in Ganga! 1982-84
Checked up from J. He was in JNU 81-83, Ganga. Same year as you!!
Very small world!
Ask J if he knew Subrat Singh Deo who was in sociology same batch.
Yes Jason said that this guy was in his class. So were a whole lot of other Oriya guys... he reeled out so many names Mahapatra, Misra, Purohit, Pradhan! I can't remember their first names!!
Some of his class mates that I've met are Nandita Gogoi, Moloy Bora, Neeraj Sinha. This weekend the Mallu JNUites had a reunion of sorts at a friend's (Mani Alexander who was a bit senior) daughter's wedding in Kochi. Jason met a whole lot of old pals after 2 decades.
I told him all about you and specially about your wonderful writing. He is not very computer savvy, so may not read them till I personally open the links for him. Only knows to Skype... and that's a LOT!!
Folks, I may not be able to blog for sometime....so take care all of you.
MA(Sociology)?? That was my forte, but in Delhi University (Delhi School of Economics) between 1980 to 82.
Alas I had to discontinue in 1981 to join SAIL.
So J and I have something in common.
Hi Venu,
Were you the same batch as Shaswati Tripathi or Himakar Tata or Gitam Maker?
Himakar Tata---hmm, I think I met that guy at BAM. Gitam Maker, the cut surd from SBP was a year senior, doing MCom at DSE. However, he was staying 2 rooms away from mine at the hostel--Jubilee Hall.
He later become my batchmate in SAIL and Vizag Steel--I remember the sigh of relief I'd heaved when I saw him during the medical exams at Bhilai--he was the only guy I knew then.
Gitam is now in Gurgaon.
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