Transformation from a Pastoral Township
into Cosmopolitan
City
While waiting at
the meeting point in front of Pal Height Mall in Bhubaneswar lighted a cigarette to cut the
boredom and pain of waiting for some body. To my surprise my mind traveled back
35 years in time while looking at the brightly lit up four lane road now with
LED lamps, constantly moving traffic in both directions and evening shoppers
lazily strolling into the Mall for a bite at newly opened KFC. As my memory was
telling me this four lane road was non-existent then in 1978; when, my father
bought a piece of land not far from where I am standing now. We moved to occupy
our newly built house in 1980 consequent upon the transfer of my father from an
interior district head quarter. All five siblings were agog with excitement to
live in our own home in the State
Capital City,
Bhubaneswar.
Our new home was located at the edge of a residential area called Acharya Vihar
about 2.5 kilometers from the nearest bus stop. There was a small bridge on the
NH-5 behind our home a small stream of water continue to flow and empties
itself into a down stream lake at Vani
Vihar. The barbed fencing of central poultry farm with very thick under growth
was just finishing in front of our home. My father had planted hundreds of
Banana and coconut trees facing the National
Highway; that earned the place the sobriquet of
Banana Farm little later as cycle rickshaw pullers at the bus stop would
immediately understand the location if any body says “Kadali Bagicha” in Odia
language. There were very few houses in the vicinity and still fewer traffic.
We used to count how many cycles and two wheelers in our fingers; though
National Highway was occupied by long distance cargo vehicles from Howdah to
Madras and the other way round. We notice some innocuous cargo being
transported in huge tractor trailer with 34 wheels; that we came to know later
as boilers. We used to take the muddy road from the National Highway to reach our home. Then Bhubaneswar was considered
as a one horse town. Then Unit-1, Master
Canteen and Ashoka Market complex constituted the main market of the town and Entire Township
depended on those areas for shopping and recreation. In the centre of the town
there was huge open space in front of State secretariat called parade field
which was later converted into Indira
Gandhi Park
after her death. Then Bhubaneswar was cute little city with wide roads lined
with tall trees, traffic was so miniscule that in half an hour you can tour the
entire city in a two wheeler. Now 35 years later that pastoral town has
converted itself into a growing cosmopolitan Metro City
with population over one million. City now boasts of globally acclaimed
institutions like IIT-Bhubaneswar,
AIIMS, NISER, XIMB, and Institute
of Physics, two multi
disciplinary Private Universities like KIIT & SoA and countless private
engineering & business schools. All major ICT organizations have opened
shop in the city to take advantage of skilled manpower. You can buy any
globally reputed brand car from of the shelf; as Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Land
Rover and Jaguar make car show rooms littered in different parts of the city.
You can also fly in and out of the city from Biju Patnaik
International Airport.
Social life has taken a high with youngsters
trooping into discotheques to shake a leg after a busy day. Food joints have
moved places and all kinds of food from Badapao to Pizza, Pasta to KFC are now
available at your door steps. Chinese fast food joints and Momo shacks are
popping out of each street corner that city dwellers are lapping it up as you
would notice long queue at each of those of places. City has swelled its
waistline to 40 kilometers dia. All major roads are four lanes with LED
lighting, all parts of the city now well connected by town bus &women
specials and city is thriving with traffic, life and charm of its own. Soon it
could become one of the preferred destinations to live and work in the eastern
part of India.
E-MAIL:streben.market@gmail.
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