Category Archives: Odisha & Odia

October 6, 2013 · 2:58 am

Buy Odia Books Online. And You Have Some Choice

A few months back, I wrote this piece, The Other E-commerce Guys for a portal. In the peak of skepticism about the sustainability of e-commerce business models in India, I argued that the basic value proposition of e-commerce—removing the constraint of time and space from shopping—still remains and that is good enough reason for people to try making it work—even if those ventures are off limelight and do not measure their progress by how much funding they attract.

This is what I wrote, trying to build up a case for these ventures.

But how many of us can say honestly that we don’t crave for something that we have grown up with and something that we do not get anywhere in the superstores? Remember the banana cake that the bakery next to your house in Kollam made so perfectly? Or the auromatic curry powder that the man in the street behind your housing colony in Berhampur sold from his home?

We know the superstores, despite their 20 plus brands in offering, can never match that. Yet, we cannot do anything about it. We are too busy in our everyday lives to do anything beyond craving.

Of course, all the examples in the above piece were about sites selling food items.

But how many of us can say honestly that we don’t crave for something that we have grown up with?—you will agree that the question goes well beyond food. 

This piece is about one such thing that I have grown up with; one such thing that I badly crave for; and do not get anywhere in my city: Odia books. 

This piece is a celebration of the fact that in recent months, I have seen multiple efforts to fill this gap. There are at least three serious websites selling Odia books. And there are a couple of more who are also trying their hands but have long way to go.

This piece is a short review of those sites. The reason I chose to do that is not because going forward, I want to do a big annual ranking of these sites. But because, as the tagline of my blog says, I love “celebrating the excellence in the less discussed.” They are new; lesser known; let alone being discussed. And I could surely help a bit in their efforts by highlighting the good work.

The two specific objectives of the piece are

  1. to help my peer groups (whether they are Bangalore or Baltimore or Balasore) who do not have access to a good/any book store that sells Odia books.
  2. to give some sort of feedback to these companies, who are just beginning their journey with a great objective that will help many like me

And when I do that, there are bound to be comparisons and some criticism (identification of gaps). I hope the entrepreneurs and others behind these ventures will take that sportingly.

These are the three sites I found to be serious about what they are trying to do. Not only are the sites professionally designed, the effort to build good catalaogs is visible, as I have followed all of them from the time they started.

  1. Odisha Estore (sells multiple products but books are the main offering)
  2. Odiabook Bazar (focused on books)
  3. Odikart (the youngest among the lot sells multiple products but books are the main offering; started last month)

There is another one, Fullorissa.com which also sells books but the collection does not have any of the usual books that one would expect such a store to have. So, I am not sure what the model is. I am not including it in the review here.

As a professional researcher and editor, I have done similar exercise quite a few times. For evaluation of any e-commerce site, we take a few things into account.

  1. product range in offering
  2. product quality
  3. pricing
  4. user experience of the site (such as search/navigation)
  5. actual fulfillment (delivery)
  6.  customer service

The last two are measured based actual usage (mystery shopping) or survey and hence, I am excluding them. I will restrict myself to the first four.

  • Range: Range, in an evolving business, is often a function of the duration for which the venture has been in business. So, it is no surprise that while both Odisha Estore and Odiabook Bazar have more than 3000 titles each, Odikart has less than 200.
  • Quality: While range is good, curation is becoming extremely important in e-commerce, as people have less time. Quality in a standardized product category like books can be measured without actual usage/buying. For measuring this, I created a standard list, based on my brief survey with people like myself, mostly non-resident Odias (so it may be a little skewed against books published in the last ten years or so). The list is a combination of classics and popular titles; old and new; and a mix of multiple genres: poetry, novels, biography, science-fiction and other non-fiction. This is the list I used
    • Abupurusha O Anyanya Kahani (Manoj Das)
    • Amabasyara Chandra (Barrister Gobind Das)
    • Atma Charita (Fakir Mohan Senapati)
    • Chandrara Mrutyu (Gokulananda Mohapatra)
    • Chhabila Madhu Barnabodha (Madhusudan Rao)
    • Chhamana Athaguntha (Fakir Mohan Senapati)
    • Chilika (Radhanath Ray)
    • Desha Kala Patra (Jagannath Prasad Das)
    • Ghara Baida (Raibahadur Laxman Mishra)
    • Ka (Kanhucharan Mohanty)
    • Kanakalata (Nandakishore Bal)
    • Kanamamu (Laxmikanta Mohapatra)
    • Karanjia Diary (Santanu Kumar Acharya)
    • Nakata Chitrakara (Faturananda)
    • Nilasaila (Surendra Mohanty)
    • Odisha O Odia (Chittaranjan Das)
    • Paraja (Gopinath Mohanty)
    • Bhratruhari Shrungara Shataka (Tr: Janaki Ballav Pattnaik)
    • Utkala Gaunli Gita (Chakradhar Mohapatra)
    • Yajnaseni (Pratibha Ray)

This list is, of course, not perfect—like any other subjective list. But there is no other way to measure. When I ran the search in each of the three sites, I found comparable results; I could find 10 in Odisha Estore; 9 in Odiabook Bazar and 8 in Odikart. Purely from comparison point of view, I must point out that if a month old Odikart with just 157 books in its catalog, could almost match the others with significantly higher range, it illustrates that it is fairly well curated.

But the bigger point that I want to highlight is not who is better in what aspect. It is this. Despite all the considerations—they are all new; publishers are not yet excited; many books are out of print etc etc—I believe it is a low score in general, especially as I tried mostly popular books.

What explains absence of Barnabodha from the catalog? Lack of availability is surely not the reason. Similarly, Kanakalata was a milestone in Odia literature.  There was a time when there was hardly any middle class households that did not have its copy of Ghara Baida (Tutuka Chikitsa) by Laxman Kishra. Also, two of them did not have Yajnaseni. Need I say more?

If non-residents are a serious target segment, there is no way that they can ignore serious curation. I expect far better results next time.

  • Pricing: By and large, pricing is comparable.
  • Site user experience: Though most of them are better than many e-commerce sites, in terms of look and feel, I think all of them have to significantly improve navigation. Books are searched by name, author name, category, and publisher—usually in that order. None of them are complete in that respect. Odiabook Bazaar provides category-based, publisher-based as well as author-based browsing but its title search is really bad, with not even an error message showing that the book is not available. The rest two do not provide author-based browsing—a big gap.  Navigation is something that is usually thought through in the beginning; it is not a function of time, considering there are thousands of online bookstores in the world to look for a template. For example, one can well understand that a new site like Odikart has a lesser range of books, but that is no reason for not having an author filter (or any filter for that matter). This is one area I hope everyone will improve on.

Some of the areas of improvement notwithstanding, I see a great start to this wave. I have tried just one site and the delivery has been quite prompt. If others have similar quality when it comes to fulfillment, I think it is just a matter of time before the orders get flowing in, in large numbers.

Now, they just need some effective marketing.

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February 26, 2012 · 7:28 pm

The New, New Festivals of Odisha

Bara masare tera jaata (literally meaning thirteen festivals in twelve months, in Odia) is how Odias refer proudly to the abundancy of festivals in the state throughout the year. Whether it is the more pan-Indian festivals like Holi, Diwali, and Maha Shivratri; Eastern Indian festivals like Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja; Pan-Odisha festivals such as Rath Yatra, Raja and Kartik Purnima, or even more regional festivals within Odisha like Dhanujatra of Sambalpur or Thakurani Jatra of Berhampur—you will never have a period in a year without a generous amount of occasssions to celebrate. If there is nothing else, you have the 12 Samkrantis in a year, many of which have some extra add-ons: Dhanu Samkranti with the dhanu muan (a sweet preapared mostly but not only in South Odisha), Pana Samkranti with the pana (a special drink) and Makara Samkranti with the makara chaula (a special rice) and so on.

The modern day manifestation of that love is a series of new age cultural festivals (mostly music and dance) some of which have become sought after events by the culture loving crowd from India and abroad. The oldest and most popular in this genre is the Konark Festival. Originally started as Konark Dance Festival in 1989, this is the oldest annual pan-Indian classical dance festival in India. This is organized between 1 to 5 December every year jointly by the Guru Kelucharam Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre (GKCM-ORC) Bhubaneswar, along with Departments of Tourism and Culture, Government of Odisha. Artistes from India and abrod paricipate in this festival and perform all classical styles such as Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Chhau, and Mohiniattam. The 2011 festival also has the International Sand Arts Festival going along with it.

The second most popular festival outside Odisha, is the Mukteshwar Dance Festival, which along with Rajarani Music Festival, is known locally as Ekamra: The Temple City Festival and is organized in mid-January. Unlike Konark Festival, the focus of Mukteshwar Dance Festival is Odissi dance. Odissi performers–both groups and solo–from across the world participate in the this. Rajarani Music Festival, which does include non-Odissi classical music as well, is, however, not that well-known outside Odisha, even though it features well-known vocalists and instrumentalists from across India belonging to Odissi, Hindustani and Carnatic traditions. This year (2012), it featured Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra (Hindustani) and Pandit O S Arun (Carnatic), apart from Pandit Damodar Hota, an accomplished singer in both Hindustani and Odissi traditions.

A Dance Sequence in Mukteshwar Dance Festival 2012

I had the opportunity to attend the Mukteshwar Dance Festival this year on the first day. The performances were magnificent. But the attendance was thin. Apart from locals and some foreigners, there were hardly any Indian tourists from outside Odisha—ironic considering that it is primarily organized by the state Department of Tourism, with help from (GKCM-ORC).

Orissa Tourism is involved in organizing most of these events—including the Dhauli-Kalinga Mahotsav. The Dhauli Mahotsave is organized by Orissa Dance Academy and is an Odissi dance festival. The Kalinga Mahotsav, on the other hand, is a martial dance festival and is organized by Department of Tourism.

The Department, in association with GKCM Odissi Research Centre and the Department of Culture, Govt of India, organizes annual International Festival of Odissi Dance in the last week of December. The 2011 festival was held between  23 to 30 December 2011.  It made to headlines for getting into the Guinnes Book of World Records for the largest number of dancers (555) dancing for close to  8 minutes. Otherwise, this is one of the prestigious festivals for the performers.

The other music and dance festivals include Gotipua Dance Festival in November, organized jointly by GKCM ORC and the Department of Tourism (this year’s edition is slated for 15 to 17  November 2012), Odissi Music Festival (organized this year between 8-10 January 2012), and  Konark Dance & Music Festival organized by the State Tourism Deaprtment, along with Sangeet Natak Academy, organized between 19 and 23 February 2012.

While this sudden flurry of activity in the state on the festival front has got some visibility for the state, so many festivals with similar focus and similar names has created a lot of confusion as well. The festivals are not marketed well which explains the thin attendance. For example, one fails to understand the rational of two festivals, Mukteswar Dance Festival and Dhauli Mahotsav, in a span of one month. Similarly, the February Konark Dance & Music Festival has created a lot of confusion, as the website for the festival is konarkfestival.com, which actually is the name of the December festival at Konark, the oldest classical dance festival in India with the temple as a backdrop.

Finding information at the website of the concerned organizers is an adventure in itself. You never know whether you land up in 2008 page or 2011 page. In short, despite organizing so many festivals–and organizing fairly well, to be fair to the organizers–the lack of coordination among the organizers (that is despite a common entity, Department of Tourism being involved in most) and the complete lack of long-term marketing, has not yielded results the way it should have. With so many Odias and Odisha-focused groups active in the social media, the organizers need to use them more effectively. Combining a few of these events together to create a fewer, larger events would actually make the marketing easier. Ideally, some spacing could help, as all these events are between November to February. But that is easier said than done, as in summer and rainy sessions,  it is next to impossible to do any mass events. They too are not tourist seasons in Odisha.

While there are too many dance and music festivals, Odisha Tourism has started to other initiatives–the Sand Arts Festival in Dec-Jan (9 Dec 2011 to 29 Jan 2012) this time and the Toshali National Crafts Mela, which was held between 15 to 27 December 2011.

But what is really heartening to note that there are efforts now, albeit among private groups and individuals, to shed Odisha’s image as a place of traditional culture alone. Two events are noteworthy on this account. The first, called India Surf Festival was organized between February 7-9 this year near the Konark-Puri Marine drive and saw participation of surfers from across the world and was a great success. The second, an avante-garde festival of films called, the Bring Your Own Film Festival (BYOFF) which was held between 21 and 25 February 2012.

I am sure I am not aware of many more such initiative that must be happening and are in preparation. While all these festivals have the potential to make Odisha a hot tourist destination, there are gaps that need to be closed. Use of social media, good coordination among different bodies, a more effective use of the Odia diaspora and a good long-term marketing initiative can make Odisha a place where the old and new traditions meet seamlessly!

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February 6, 2012 · 2:14 am

Heartening News: Experimentation is Back in Odia Music

Some time back, I had read an essay by Sarat Kumar Mohanty, one of the most prominent essayists of Odisha, about the crisis of talent in contemporary Odisha (this was most probably in late 90s or early 200s). He had argued how there has been a gradual decline in talent and experimentation from the 60s and 70s in all the areas of creativity—citing explicitly the example of a young Akshaya Mohanty cycling around Cuttack with new tunes on his lips.

For at least three decades—60s to 80s—Akshaya Mohanty stood for all that was new in Odia music. While there were other popular singers and composers—such as Prafulla kar and Bhikari Bal—anything that was innovative and experimentative emanated from the mind of Khoka Bhai, the way Mohanty was popularly called. His music combined the nativeness of Odissa in all its forms—folk, classical, or the newly emerging urban culture of Odisha—with inspiration from across the world—in form, style, and content. While Harry Belafonte’s There’s a hole in the bucket  became a highly odia-ized Mathiare gote kana, Bachchan’s poem Laao laao piya nadiya se son machhari became Dhibara re anide anide mote suna Ilishi. In some others, he used khanti (pure) Odia content to try new forms. Such an experimentation is Odisha’s all time favorite Kanchi Abhijaaana.

For a long time, that experimentation has been missing. It is heartening to see there is some effort, of late. And not surprisingly, leading it from the front is Devdas Chhotray, one of the most prominent lyricists of the Akshaya era, whose other identities include a noted civil servant, educationist and writer. To most Odias, though, it would suffice to say that he wrote songs such as  Paradesi bandhu tume, Thik tori pari jhiatie, Mate Saila Saila Nakara Guna, and Rupa Shagadire Suna Kania. 

I first picked up an album called Maya Darpan a little more than a year back from Time N Sound in Bapuji Nagar, Bhubaneswar, a shop I religiously visit on each of my trip to Odisha. When I picked up the CD, what impressed me were both the idea and the guts. It was the poetry of Mayadhar Mansing, something that exhilarated (and to be honest, scandalized) us in our school days. No other poet who was considered a great by our parents generation had anything close to what Mansingh offered. I also felt the experimentation was particularly adventurous, as both the composer, Om Prakash Mohanty and singer, Susmita Das were unknown names to me, though I must admit that I have hardly kept up with Odia music in the last two decades. “Devdas Chhotray presents” on the top of the cover was  reassuring, though. But when I listened to it, I knew here was a classic. Unfortunately, none of my friends who listen to Odia music had heard about the album, let alone listening to it. I too could not find much in the usual places on the Internet to forward a link.

So, while I was appreciative, I was sceptical too about the continuation of that experimentation. That is, till a few months back, I picked up two more by the same trio—this time the lyricist being Devdas Chhotray himself. One called Hati Saja Kara, was taken from the name of a poem (and a book which I had happened to read) by Chhotray. The other, called Nua Luha Puruna Luha decribed itself as a collection of songs that were introspective and nostalgic—and which claimed that it was inspired by Ghazal and sufi poetry. And both these albums impressed again, though I would confess that I found the Nua Luha…to be a little heavier in terms of lyrics, with melody failing to catch up. That apart, all the three were great experimentation, largely successful. This time, I could get some info on the web about the composer and the artiste.

All the three are released by a label, Mitu’s Music, owned by singer Susmita. I wrote to her and got a prompt reply. The good news is that the songs are available in her website, susmitadas.in, and anyone can listen to these. By the way, some of them are available in Youtube as well such as Dekha hela kimpa from Maya Darpana and Hati saja kara from Hati Saja Kara. 

Better news is that their experimentation continues and in the offing are two more albums: one, Rubaiyat of Omar Khaiyam, and two, some old radio songs of Akshaya Mohanty, which are no longer available.

I will surely post more on the topic, if I manage to speak to the trio in near future.

While with three albums out and two more in pipeline, this trio lead the experimentation wave, there are some other notable efforts as well. One is an album of Akshaya Mohanty’s unsung lyrics sung by an artiste Namrata Mohanty, called Deepa Jale Deepa Libhe, released again by the artiste’s own label, set to music by the same composer, Om Prakash Mohanty.

Another is recital of Sriradha, arguably the best long poem written in Odia in the last 50 years, by Rabi Satapathy, again released by some unknown label. This is an even bolder experimentation. And while Satapathy does a fairly good job, I would recommend it only to someone who has no other way of reading the poem. The voice is uniform throughout and surely the poem is not. Nevertheless, here I am talking of experimentation and am not into reviewing the work.

One last example I would like to cite would probably not fall in this category—as it is not really a creative experimentation but a commercial one—but nevertheless made me hopeful. It was a collection of children songs such as Jhool re hati jhool, Chaka chaka bhaunri, Dho re baya dho, Itikili mitikili, and Aa aa re bai chadhei. The songs were accompanied by some below average animation, but nevertheless, this is the only Odia CD that I have bought for my five year old son so far, though he has more than 100 CDs of Hindi and English cartoom movies, songs and so on. This, too was released by an unknown label with a Mumbai address. And since then, in each of my visit, I have inquired if there is a second one but unfortunately I have always heard a no.

On one hand, the wave of experimentation makes one hopeful and reassured. On the other, the fact that very little is known about these albums to people who would have loved to lap them up, makes one a little apprehensive. None of them are released by any of the major labels—neither the Saregamas and the Sonys, nor even the JEs and the Sarthaks. In case of Susmita, she admitted that their marketing has been anything but extraordinary.

I just hope that increasingly the new medium of web would be used creatively and effectively by both the artistes and the fans to reach out to the market that may just be waiting in San Francisco, Dallas, London, Bangalore or New Delhi. I promise to keep a watch.

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August 31, 2011 · 12:25 pm

New Indo-Chinese Movie Around Odissi: Appreciations & Apprehensions

Finally, we have a Bollywood movie centred around Odissi. Desire: The Journey of a Woman, is a new Indo-Chinese movie that revolves around Gautami, an Odissi dancer, portrayed by Shila Shetty. The male lead role is played by a Chinese actor Xia Yu who falls in love with the dancer during one of her visits to Malaysia for a program. The movie stars Om Puri, Jaya Prada, and a host of other Indian actors. Produced by Shilpa’s mother, the movie has been directed by R Sarath, with music by Shankar-Ehsan-Loy and background score by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, the classical guitar maestro.

The Odisha connection comes in form of an Odissi dance sequence enacted by Shilpa Shetty and Jaya Prada, to the Odissi song,  Shyama lagi mu pagali,  penned by noted Odia poet Gopalakrushna Pattnaik; and also, one of the two choreographers for the movie being Ratikanta Mohaptra, noted Odissi dancer and the son of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.

I am happy that finally Odissi has caught the imagination of filmakers. But I am also apprehensive that like some other such efforts in the past, most notably, the movie Asoka, it does not do a wrong portrayal of Odisha, Odias and their culture. The reason for my apprehension is that the no Odissi musician is involved in the music of the movie. While I have all the respect for both the S-E-L team and Pt Bhatt, Odissi music has its own distinct characteristics and to try it out on a global scene without the involvement of an accomplished Odissi musician may be a litte too much of an adventurous experimentation.

Also—it is my personal opinion, though—putting Odissi in the centre stage without that extremely endearing face of Kalia (Lord Jagannath)–is not a great sign. The movie has not been shot in Odisha at all. And that is okay. Our art should not be restricted to the geographic boundaries of the state, but to dissociate Lord Jagannath from Odissi is inexcusable. I did not notice it anywhere in the promo and website of the movie. I just hope that it is there in the actual movie.

I am sincerely hoping that my apprehensions are proved wrong and the world sees Odissi in all its glory, especially that it has been choreographed by no other than Ratikanta.

 

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June 30, 2011 · 2:25 am

Utkala Bhramanam: The Hidden Gem of Odia Literature

What are your favorite books? This is a question that many of us have answered multiple times—in social get-togethers, classrooms, job interviews and now, in social networking profile forms. Sometimes, it is restricted to a genre, a language, or to some sort of qualifications. As an Odia, I have got this question many times in friend circles: what are my favorite Odia books? I do not have a definite list of five or ten but some names that automatically prop up are Nilashaila, Amabasyara Chandra, Chhamana Athaguntha, Paraja, Sriradha, Utkala Bhramanam and so on. The names evoke different reactions: “I love that too” or “I do not know why people go mad over this”, “well, I have not really read that”, or even “poetry is not really my cup of tea”. But there is one name—Utkala Bhramanam—that invariably evokes a common reaction every time: what is that? Who is the author? Many even assume it must be some obscure work by some obscure writer which for some reason has appealed to me. But the eyebrows are invariably raised when I drop this bombshell: it is by Fakir Mohan. Fakir Mohan? You mean Fakir Mohan Senapati?

Yes, I mean Fakir Mohan Senapati, arguably the most well-known writer of modern Odisha. Chhamana Athaguntha, Daka Munsi, Rebati or Patent Medicine—which reader of Odia literature has not read these classics? And while many may not have read these books, most are aware of Galpaswalpa, Mamu, Prayaschita, Lachhama, Atmajibani Charita and the likes. But Utkala Bhramanam—what is that? Is it a novel, a collection of stories, or a travelogue, as the name suggests?

And the suspicion further rises when I say it is a long poem. Are you sure it is Fakir Mohan? Yes, I am. And that is the tragedy. Odias do not even know about one of the best works of (one of?) the best writers of Odisha.

The statement may sound arrogant to many of you. What gives me the right to call it one of his best work? Because I feel so. And if someone has read it and does not think so, I will respect that opinion. Problem is: few have even heard of it.

I do not know why. Why was such a beautiful work lost? I remember my father getting a torn copy of the book from a library some thirty years back. But after that I have tried to get it but have not been successful. I have asked in the usual places including Orissa Sahitya Akademi and other major publishers, without success. I will be obliged if someone gives me some good news on this.

Enough of justification. What exactly is Utkala Bhramanam? It is a long poem which is part satire, part parody, part history, part travelogue, and part biography. It is a comment of Odisha of that time—the good, the bad and the ugly. And the language is universal, something that would appeal equally to a scholar of literature and a high school student. BTW, I myself was in high school when I first read it. I am reproducing some of it here. I do not have the book with me now; it is completely from memory. So some mistakes might have crept in.

This is how it starts.

Jaganntha Mahaprabhu Sri Guru Gosain

Puri Zilla Postafisa (post office) Kundhibenta Sahi

And from the very beginning, you know what to expect. He invokes Goddess Sarala in his inimitable style

Tumbhara abhysa kavi kanthe basibara

Mo prati separi kara nahin atyachara

Kanthare basile hoijibi je hauda

Kipari lekhibi tebe grantha dui pada

And if Sarala is not spared, how can you expect the wannabe Sahibs to be spared?

Educated Babunkara nitya vyavahara

dekhi dekhi helini mu nihati nachara

Nidhuma Kharare pindha banatara coat

Fingi dei chhenabada kha biskot (biscuit)

Thia hoi muta pachhe ghsa nahin danta

Ingreza (English) na heba thiba Odia ekanta

Mayura lanjaku gunji bula nahi aau

Na heba mayura thiba je kau se kau

And then the satirical comment on the tendency to use Onglish (Odia+English) by the educated…

Odia egara pana baki Ingirezi

Adbhuta khechudi eka misi hue saji

Bhala gote matrubhasha kisa heba bhai

Chali jau achhi kama rundai pundai

Kukura kimpai gote banaiba ghara

Chati bule baramisa aintha patara

And finally, his apology too is sharp and humorous

Ahe babu mane kare request excess

Mo nama re na aniba defamation case

Nitanta raga re jebe heba gara gara

Withdraw kari nebi lekhata mohara

If part of the book made fun of those wanting to be Angrez, most part of the book is a tribute to many great sons of Odisha of that time. And here are some, not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the book.

About Utkala Gauurav Madhusudan Das

Asa Mister M S Kare Shake hand

Samruddha hoichhi tumbha joge motherland

and

Bhala bele kari accha okilati paas

sabaas sabaas bhai sabaas sabaas

About Bhaktakabi Maddhusudan Rao

Ojana re heba madhu adhai pashuri

Kipari rakhichhi ete guna pete bhari

and

Adarsha manyusha jebe dekhibaku chaha

Dhai jai thare dekhi asa Madhu Rao

About Pallikabi Nanda Kishore Bala (he was a political agent that rquired a lot of tact)

Sapa bi mariba aau badi na bhangiba

E policy tuma chhada aau ke janiba?

And his good words are not only reserved for the Odias;  it is for all well-wishers of Odisha.

About Ravenshaw and John Beemes

He Ravenshaw punyashloka dharma parayana 

Dhanya heli tuma nama kari uccharana

Ravenshaw college kirti sabu dine thiba

Jaya jaya jaya jaya Ravenshaw Sahiba

and

Thila jane Beemes asha thila taha thare

matraka parila nahin rahi Odisha re

And of course, there are other gems too about places and people. I particularly like these ones about Jajpur

Asu asu mane padi gala adhadura

Parbati ma thila para ehi jajapura (There was a famous gundi called Parbatima Gundi)

Ki upama debi taku gyani pane

Heba Newton Galileo pari jane

Jagata durlabha pana tahin gundi puni

Amruta phopadi debe debataen suni

I can go on and on. And last time I read it (my father had copied the book on a notebook) was more than ten years back. I do not remember too much of it but I can still write a few more stanzas. That is the beauty of the poem.

I put it as one of my favorite books in Facebook by creating the page. After more than a year, I am the only person who likes it.

I sincerely wish the government of Odisha publishes and publicizes it. It is, in my opinion, one of the most precious hidden gems of Odia literature.

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March 5, 2011 · 5:09 am

Rangabati: The Making of A Cult Song

Almost two-three generations in Odisha in the 80s and early 90s have grown up swaying to the tune of this beautiful Sambalpuri song. There was a time when no marriage or bisarjan ( idol immersion) processions were imaginable without Rangabati Rangabati. There have been reports of violence by the audience if some orchestra programs (popularly called Melody in Odisha) failed to sing Rangabati. Such was the popularity of this song!

I doubt if there is any other song in Odia or any other language that has  such a sway over people for generations. Yes, there have been super hits but they rule for a while and then fade off.  In contrast, this song ruled for almost one and half decade.

The story of this song is fascinating. The original mukhda apparently was taken from a local folk song. But the actual lyrics of the song was written by Mitrabhanu Gauntia, a local teacher. My sister had interviewed him on record a few years back and I will try to post the video if and when I can lay my hands on the tape. It was set to tune by  Prabhudutta Pradhan and was sung by Jitendra Haripal and Krishna Patel.  The major instrumentalist was Chaitanya Paik.

The song was first recorded and broadcast by All India Radio in the mid-70s. After its popularity, a record company from Kolkata (then Calcutta) saw the opportunity and Haripal, who is from the local Dom community and was never trained as a singer, went to Kolkata and recorded the song in 1976. But there was some disputes about the ownership and after some legal battles, the disc was released in 1978-79.

The rest is history.

Unlike most Odia songs released by the popular singers of those days like Akshaya Mohanty or Prafulla Kar, this record did not become an instant hit. Rather, it took almost two years to be known. And another interesting fact about this song is that apart from Sambalpur, the song became a hit in other tribal areas such as Koraput and Kalahand before the popularity spread to other parts of Odisha, through south Odisha to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. This was an exception, as most Odia artistes that time were in Cuttack.

But even at the peak of its popularity, few knew the artiste’s name. I was in school at that time and we used to hear all sort of stories. The one that was most believed was that the male artiste was murdered by someone. Thankfully, all that was nonsense.

While the onslaught of Hindi film music did dilute its popularity a bit in the late 90s, it was still a must for a place where you were supposed to dance. College picnics were incomplete without the song.

Its popularity resulted in the tune being copied in other language. And many of them were considerable hits. These two, Haule Haule in Hindi and Rangabati in Telugu were fairly popular.

But it was ironic that the artiste of the state’s most popular song ever was living in penury. A report by noted journalist P Sainath in The Hindu in 2001 about his conditions drew attention of the music lovers and finally the officialdom. In 2007, he was felicitated by Odisha chief minister Naveen Pattnaik.

In recent years, Rangabati has received the respect that is due to it. If the state government’s decision to choose this as the music to be played for Odisha’s Republic Day Tableau a couple of years back was the ultimate official recognition, the most respectful popular recognition came when the Odisha Cricket Association chose the song to be played during the third One Day International match played between India and Sri Lanka in December last year. It just shows there is no more popular song than Rangabati in Odisha–after 36 years of its first recording.

There are few songs that can be labelled as legends. In Odia, Rangabati stands No 1 on that list.

(Update on 17 Jan 2014: Odia director Nilamadhab Panda, famous for his films such as I am Kalam is using Rangabati in a dance sequence in his forthcoming film Kaun Hai Kitney Paani Mein)

(Update on 5 July 2015: A remix version of Rangabati is presented by musician Ram Sampath, singers Sona Mohapatra and Rituraj Mohanty, which also include the state song of Odisha, Bande Utkala Janani, in a mash-up)

 

 

 

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