The Barpali Days

This blog is the Facebook of Barpali which picturise its "life" and "culture". It was a "palli" or a village a century back where the all time great Oriya poet swabhaba kabi Gangadhar Meher had taken birth. Now this bustling little town is renowned world-over for the weaving of Sambalpuri ikat handloom fabrics. Agriculture is its prime economy. And when you happen to visit this little town don't miss to taste Chaul bara.

Breaking

Dec 29, 2017

8:12 PM

Sampurna Kumar Bhoi : The new age Dronacharya


The irony is that in our society we recognize and felicitate only those students who reach the heights in their course curriculum or in the extracurricular activities. Whereas we grossly ignore the key man i.e. Guru or the Teacher of the student who made his or her disciple to achieve the success. Sampurna Kumar Bhoi of Kadlipali village is such a victim of our society. He is the Physical Education Teacher(PET) of Veer Surendra Sai High School, S.Dumberpali in Bargarh District, Odisha. With the unparalleled valour, dedication and determination Sampurna able to roll out so many girls of Bargarh District to participate in national sports.

[Nikita Bishi]

During December 2017 one of his students by the name Nikita Bishi went to Dhaka, Bangladesh to play Under 15 years girls South Asian Football Federation(SAFF) Championship 2017 at Birsreshtha Shaheed Sepahi Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur, Dhaka. In the final match India was narrowly beaten 0-1 by the host team Bangladesh. Yet Barpali is proud as its daughter Nikita Bishi represented and played for India in this international football tournament. Whereas earlier she had been to Tajakisthan to play Asian Football Championship(2016) on behalf India.


Sampurna is not a regular teacher despite serving for the past 16 years on contractual basis. With his own initiative he is imparting training to only girls, the gender discriminated children of Bargarh district. His students are not the kids of any landlords, businessmen or the government employees. He motivates the neglected offspring of the peasants of this locality who are otherwise forced to work in the farmlands. He induces the parents to send their kids to the playground.

Apart from above mentioned Nikita, two other girl students of him by the name Tarasa Mirdha and Ulasa Mirdha went to play football at National Athletic Meet(NAM), Bhopal. This Nov’17 another OBC student by the name Muskan Podh went to play  Football Championship at Imphal, Manipur. Sampurna Sir teaches the subjugated kids of Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe and Below Poverty Line(BPL) families. These kids can’t afford to buy either a football, sport boots or the jerseys. There is an abysmal supply of sports accessories or the equipments by the state government of Odisha. Many a times with his money Sampurna Sir bought either a pair of jersey or boots for these poor children so as they can play football.
  
[Muskan Podh]
As per the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Dronacharya was the greatest teacher of warfare in this subcontinent. He was the guru of Pandabs. He taught Arjuna the skills of archery. But to keep alive his gurunistha or being loyal to his students Dronacharya asked  Ekalabya to cut his thumb finger of the right hand and to give it as gurudakshina. Drona did not want a kid of a sabara or the forest dweller to be an expert in warfare and to excel beyond the skills that Pandabs possessed. But in juxtapose to the above mythology, this  new age guru is imparting training to the tribal children of Odisha.

kiranbima@gmail.com
​​​​
​​Mobile # +918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Near SBI,
Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh, Odisha
India

Dec 15, 2017

12:05 AM

Siddharth Sanjib Panigrahi : Capturing Western Odisha with his camera lens

               

A photo speaks hundred times louder than thousand words that ever written. Based on this presumption Sidhartha Sanjib Panigrahi a government teacher of Matiabhata High School of Balangir district in Odisha opted to photography as a hobby to unleash the hidden talents lying dormant within him. He was possessing a non digital camera ever since his school days. But in the year 2013 one of his ex-student showed him a photograph clicked by him. In that photograph the subject was focused, while the background was blurred. This teacher wanted to know how it was possible to click such a photograph. That engineering qualified student introduced a DSLR camera to Sanjib. Keeping aside the self ego as a teacher, Sanjib eagerly explored all the possibilities of photography with a DSLR camera.

Western Odisha is a treasure trove of nature, wildlife and indigenous culture of its people. Born into  a religious Brahmin family  of western Odisha, Siddhartha Sanjib Panigrahi is a personification of intelligence and creativity. He weaves magic through his photography. His photographs depicts mainly the natural beauty of western Odisha. The lush green forests, the hefty mountains, the springs come alive in his photography and mesmerise the viewers. Carrying his set of DSLR camera and ancillary gadgets he travels around western Odisha. He captures flora and fauna, nature, wildlife and tribal people living in the lap of nature.                             
    
       
Ranipur Jharial is a place where there is a confluence of more than 108 temples was the capital of Koshal during Kusha period, has been neglected by the state government. But in the web and print media it became a much talked subject for the efforts he made through his photography. Many people came to know about the architectural beauty of Chausathi Yogini temple and Indralath temple by the photos Siddhartha shared through social media. A Facbook group i.e. Amazing India even shared the photos of Chausathi Yogini temple in its page. Western Odisha is adorned with numerous springs and fountains like Chaldhar, Kapildhar, Shilaphathar and many more. The beauty of these springs are vividly depicted through the photographs of Sanjib. The photos of Devdhara waterfall, situated in Bargarh district of Odisha taken by Mr Siddharth Sanjib are amazing and are appraised by many photographers world over. A photo of this place taken by him was also shared in the page Amazing India group. This place is now brought into notice of people and attracting foreign tourists as well.  The Gandhamardhan hills adorned with lush green forests and wildlife has been a victim of poachers, mafia and corrupt industrial houses since it got reserves of bauxite, the mineral from which aluminium is produced. Siddharth is attempting to frame this patch of green forest in his camera. He has taken many photographs of the springs streaming out of this hill range. Temples like Harishankar and Narasingnath amidst the forest of Gandhamardan has evoked spirituality of thousands of visitors to this place the way this young photographer has been inspired.  
    Inline image 1

Inline image 2
         
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Western Odisha is adorned with numerous springs and fountains like Chaldhar, Kapildhar, Shilaphathar and many more. The beauty of these springs are vividly depicted through the photographs of Sanjib. The photos of Devdhara waterfall, situated in Bargarh district of Odisha taken by Mr Siddharth Sanjib are amazing and are appraised by many photographers world over. A photo of this place taken by him was also shared in the Facebook page of Amazing India group. This place is now brought into notice of people and attracting foreign tourists as well.  The Gandhamardhan hills adorned with lush green forests and wildlife has been a victim of poachers, mafia and corrupt industrial houses since it got reserves of bauxite, the mineral from which aluminium is produced. Siddharth is attempting to frame this patch of green forest in his camera. He has taken many photographs of the springs streaming out of this hill range. Temples like Harishankar and Narasingnath amidst the forest of Gandhamardan has evoked spirituality of thousands of visitors to this place the way this young photographer has been inspired.
  
 
A dam over the Indravati river in Kalahandi district is a symbiosis of modern day marvel.  Siddhartha wandered through this place taking many photos of the scenic beauty of this place. Not only the places and the locations, but the people of Western Odisha and their attire has also attracted this photographer. He has taken many photos of these people in their colourful costumes and ethnic ornaments. The photos of star trails and milkyway speaks volumes about the versatility of this photographer. 


Many a nights he sneaked out of his home at dead of the night as if a spy to photograph the night sky over different hills surrounding his village. On returning home caught red handed by his mother and got shouting as well.   

kiranbima@gmail.com      
Mobile # +918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road
Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha
India

Nov 30, 2017

12:01 AM

Pan Dukan [Betel Shop]



As such I am a vegetarian, milk is the only animal produce that I consume. Neither I am addicted to any sedatives, be it alcohol or tobacco in any form. This afternoon after having a sumptuous meal I had a temptation to chew a pan. I went to the pan dukan or the betel shop at the Tehsil Chowk, but I was turned down by the store keeper saying there is no pan pattar or the betel leafs. I went to the neighbouring two more stores, but to my surprise the outcome was the same. I became sceptical why do at all we call these stores as pan-guda or pan dukan, when they are no more selling any pans. There hanged only rolls of gutkha packets, while the stores are being littered around by small empty pouch of gutkha.


Over the decades the Pan eating culture has been completely corrupted with the advent of the Guthkha industry. Until a decade back I had seen how after handing over a pan the vendor would fold his both hands and do the Juhar or Namaskar to the customer while expressing his gratitude.


I do recall the glorious years of pan eating culture that we had in Odisha. It was the year 1983 then I was a student of 7th Standard in P.R.High School at Balangir. We were residing in Suth Pada. At the Chowk or the intersection of the roads there happen to be a pan dukan. It was owned by Khaira Behera. He might have inherited such unusual name for the vocation that he was engaged in. In Oriya Khaira means catechu. It is the substance that is extracted from the acacia trees. Catechu is applied on surface of pan leaf along with the lime while making a pan. This substance is used to dilute the harm caused by the lime either to the gums, teeth or the tongue. Not only that, his two children were endowed with strange names. His son’s name was Labang which in English called clove, whereas  daughter’s name was Ilaichi that means cardamom. Both these spices are essential ingredients to make pan.

That pan vendor Khaira was a peculiar man. He was a middle age person and inherited the business from his father. His shop was a large rectangle wooden box elevated from ground at around three feet. Next to the store there was a wooden plank fixed to two wooden columns that were rooted on earth. On it there would be placed the daily Oriya Samaja news paper for the customers to read. The wooden plank was basically for the customers to rest when he prepares the pan.

When a customer would order a pan, Khaira would pick two pan leafs from the bunch rolled neatly in a wet cotton cloth. He would deep the leafs in clean water stored in a bucket. Then he would pick the scissor and cut the lower end of the pan leafs. While holding the petiole of the leafs with the fingers of his left hand, he would start applying the lime (chun) and katha (catechu) with the thumb finger of the right hand. While applying these two essential ingredients on the leaf he  would start his talk show. He would ask the familiar question “Janicha ken ?” Whch means, do you know ? And this début question raises a lot of curiosity in the mind of the customer to know what the issue could be. He would talk everything that exists under the sun and about the solar eclipse too. Then Indian television broadcast media was at the nascent stage. There seldom happen to be any talk shows in the Door Darshan. Arnab Goswami the Caesar of India’s television news was yet to set the goal of his life. That pan vender Khaira happen to be the anchor of the gossips. Mostly the issues on which he used to talk  was on test cricket and movies. But the debates used to be louder when the issue was politics during the election campaigns. Apart from all this, he used to talk about the domestic issues of every house of the street, but it was spoken softly while whispering on the ears.  
  

There used to be a good flow of customers to his shop. Few would rush in a cycle. They would park the cycle and come to the stall. The customers would lift the circular tin box in which bhang would be kept. Bhang is prepared by mixing the powder of tobacco leafs along with lime. They would sprinkle this powder in their palm and put it in their mouth. This substance happens to be a freebie, to attract customers to his stall.

Khaira use to maintain a note book, where he would write down the names of those customers who would take the commodities on credit, without paying money. Each page of the notebook carried the names of the debtors. He used to write down the figures of 5p, 10p, 25p and 50paise. But when the aggregate would reach the limit of Rs.10/-, he would stop giving things on credit. From that point his debt recovery drive would start. He was sending his school going son Labanga in a cycle to recover the money. Only if the public sector banks of India would have followed such business ethics of a school dropout like Khaira, than Vijay Mallya the flamboyant Indian businessman could not have swindled Rs.8,191 crores from our banks and fled to London.


Whereas today every corporate is vying to endorse their products through the pan shops, let it be the mobile recharge vouchers, DTH coupons or lottery tickets. Just ask for anything under the sun and they ought to serve you.


NB : This blog doesn’t promote consumption of tobacco in any form let it be its use in pan, guthka, bidi or cigarettes.

E.Kiran Mohan (the writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (MD)
Tehsil Chowk,
At/PO. BARPALI – 768 029
Dist. Bargarh, Orissa, India
Cell # 918249314972

Nov 10, 2017

9:25 PM

Amarjeet Maan : The Art as clear as Crystal

                   

The greatest scientists on this planet never went to attend the classes at MIT, nor the most successful businessmen ever graduated from Harvard. Likewise we in India got a prolific lady artist who in fact never went to any art school or college to hone her skills in this field. And it is artist Amarjeet Maan. She was born and brought up in Bangalore, but settled in Nagpur since her marriage. Her art works looks more Western. Her paintings are soft in colour and give a soothing effect to the eyes that gaze at them. She has the unusual abilities to make her paintings transparent. Have a close look on the cover photo given above, you ought to be under the illusion of it being a photograph clicked by a DSLR camera from a close range.

Amarjeet brought forward the attributes of her past life started and started playing with colours early. But when her son started going to school, it was her mother who inspired her to make best use of her time by doing art. She learnt how to keep and equilibrium in her life while balancing domestic responsibilities on the one hand and her passion for art on the other end. 


Unlike other artists she do not travel thousands of miles to a picturesque location to do her paintings. While staying back at home she just observes at the objects placed around the living room and start paintings. For example look at the image given above titled “Fish out of Water”. It’s the painting of glassware that was placed on her study table. The colours she applies are much softer and soothing for the curious eyes to gaze at. Your spirit ought to uplift instantly while having a glimpse at her paintings.




Initially Amarjeet used to do art with oil paints. She is fond of canines and was rearing a German shepherd at home. Every night when Amarjeet would be painting, her pet called Coffee would sit near her. Like any other dog once in a while Coffee would start scrubbing either her abdomen or the ears. As a consequence Coffee’s hair would fly and stick to the wet oil paints on the canvas. As a consequence her art works would damage. Amarjeet was in a great dilemma thinking what to do. She could neither disown her pet, nor could discard the damaged paintings. A dear friend of her suggested to try an alternative medium of colours and it was water colours.  Water color dries faster when applied on paper and the fur of the dog would not stick on the paint. And the idea worked. Amarjeet found the application of water colour highly effective and gradually she fell in love with this pigment of colours.


During June 2017 Amarjeet took a trip to Banaras located on the banks of river Ganga. It is one of the holiest pilgrim places for Hindus. Our artist was captivated by this colourful city which is submerged in the ethos of Hindu religious values since time immemorial. She spent two weeks over there and made a series of paintings. 

It is worth watching the
portrait of a Hindu priest while offering 
arati(fire) to river Ganga which is considered to be the holiest river on earth. 


On the other hand look at the painting  titled “Longing”. It’s a portrait of an old man of Ladhak. You need to look at the expressions of the eyes of this person. He is waiting for his son who in fact has left this Himalayan mountain range in search of greener pasture. One cannot ignore the wrinkles on the face of this old man. 


Her paintings have travelled far and wide and exhibited by International Watercolour Society. Until now they were exhibited at Albania, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and at Fabriano in Italy.


In India we got a male dominated society. Over here women have to lead an introvert life, within the periphery of their homes. Women seldom come to public life. But Amarjeet able to break all such orthodox norms. Apart from fine art Amarjeet has got a passion for photography as well. She travelled across the nook and corner of India. With the lenses of her DSLR camera she has captured Indian wildlife and forests in finer details. Just look at the head of an Indian Bison popped out in a tea garden at Valparai in Tamil Nadu located on the southern end of India. On the other hand she has tracked the heights of Himalayan mountain ranges to capture its scenic beauty. 

[ count how many owls are there in this painting]

[Pangong Tso is the worlds highest saltwater lake in Ladhak India]

WhatsApp: +918249314972
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao(M.D)
Main Road
Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha
India









Sep 1, 2017

11:18 PM

Raghunath Sahoo : A Duet of Art and Music


The common man who got no knowledge of art, are often the victims of hallucination by glamorous paintings that were made with vibrant colours, let how irrelevant the subject is. The career of most of the artists abruptly ends while creating the generic images of meadows, forests, waterfalls or the sunsets. But in current scenario here in Odisha we got an artist of very high order whose works make him stand apart from the other contemporary artists of India. It is Raghunath Sahoo of Bhubaneswar who able to bring a ripple among the art aficionados. His art works are raw in nature. The colours that he chooses may be dark in tan, but they reflect the true scenario of rural life of Odisha. The subjects that he chooses to paint are weird and uncanny. 
Have a glimpse on the given art. It’s the painting of a wooden door of a dilapidated house that seem to be more than a Century old. But the thing that most likely to grab the attention of any viewer is the presence of a cockroach at the bottom. On day to day life such small objects and things appears in our life, but our eyes ignores them as they does not appease us.  But it is Raghu who give space to such insignificant things in his canvases. 

Raghunath sketches with finer detail the utensils or objects that are used in any households of rural Odisha. It is worth to have a glimpse of the bamboo baskets in few of his canvases. One should appraise the above painting for the accuracy of geometrical proportion of the shadow of the basket. In fact Raghu is an artist who have mastered the technique of using sun light and shadow in most of his art works. He could focus on the elements that have been ignored by our common eyes, due to their wretched condition. For example the wheel of a abandoned cycle. When you walk through the Unit-VIII of Bhubaneswar the neighbourhood where this artist resides, you would have a glimpse of the rural life of Odisha. Many houses are roof topped with either terracotta tiles (Khapar) or paddy straws(nadda chappar). Instead of compound walls each of these houses are fenced with mats made of bamboo. And our artist Raghu has been immensely influenced by this rustic village atmosphere of Odisha, to transpire it in to his canvases.


  Unlike other artists he does not go to any locations to do study paintings. He just observes the surrounding that he lives and trace out the subjects to make art works. In the year 2011 in a magazine he saw the photograph of a painting done by Atanas
 Matsoureff titled “Meeting”. He was greatly inspired towards this painting of a bag. Though it was a water colour art, but looks as if an oil painting. For years Raghu remain clueless how this painting of a bag has been done. But years later when he got an internet connection than only he able to know the technique that has been used by this great Italian artist. Use of internet played a major role in his art career. Now he solely depends upon the Facebook to sell his canvasses. In an average he sells one painting a month to the visitors of his Facebook.     


  He works on chiracharita paramparika art style. It is worth watching few of his paintings made on the temple architectures of Odisha. Notably the Muktewar temple and Jagganth temple are worth appraising. Since medieval period there has been a massive growth in science and technology, but seldom we could ever be able to erect yet another Konark, Lingaraj, Mukteswar or Jagganath temple. Whereas this Oriya artist is building the architectural wonders of medieval Odisha on his canvases.
   
But not an iota of his canvases has been endowed with any titles. He says, “What is the meaning of drawing an image of a mango and tagging it with the name ‘A Mango’. Art is something that is visible to bare eyes. As an artist my job is to observe the surrounding and to create the art, whereas it is the responsibility of you the art connoisseur to savour it with your own eyes. Let the onlooker interpret my art the way he or she understands it.

During his study of Bachelor of Fine Arts at Bibhuti Kanoongo Art and Craft College, Bhubaneswar their Principal use to tell the students when so ever you sit to do watercolour paintings, always hold a fresh cotton cloth along with you. It is because while painting, in case you commit an error you can immediately rectify it by wiping the colour with the dry cotton. Why ? Because in watercolour paintings, an error can never be rectified. Whereas with acrylic or oil paints an error can be modified for any number of times until achieving the perfection. He says doing art with water colour is something like sculpting a rock. In case you carve the rock an extra millimetre, than you won’t be able to rectify the error and the rock would be redundant.                     
         
During his college days he was possessing an IMFA calendar titled “Odisha ra Baraputra” carrying paintings of twelve eminent personalities of Odisha like Gopabandhu Das, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Madhusudan Dash, Gangadhar Meher and so on. These paintings were done by Muralidhar Tali, a revered artist of Sambalpur. But our budding artist on the making never able to understand how the special effects were made on those paintings. But when he saw the original canvas of paintings done by Muralidhar Talli at the Regional Branch office of Rastriya Lalitkala Academy than he realised how the application of water colour on a canvas can be altered by the mere touch of cotton. And that was a great turning point in his art career. Our artist Raghu was much moved by watching a few of the paintings of this art series. On viewing a couple of paintings he left the venue and rushed home in a state of trench. 


Here is a painting of Raghu showcasing the scenario of a kitchen in any household of Odisha. 


 

With the fingers that he holds a paint brush, that apart he could fiddle with the strings of a guitar or the tabs of a synthesizer. He could blow a flute to the tune of Hindusthani music. Raghu simultaneously posses the skills in both the disciplines, be it art or music. Whereas we are yet to acknowledge this Oriya who is a maestro in multi disciplines of art.                                   
kiranbima@gmail.com
Mobile:+918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road
Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha
India

             

Mar 19, 2017

9:42 PM

Tiranga fur, furh, furhhh……..


These days our patriotism is restricted only to sharing the image of the National Flag either in Facebook or Whatsapp. Most of us share it only on two schedule dates, either on Republic Day or Independence Day. The new breed of youngsters seldom read the history books to learn how our great Oriya hero’s sacrificed their lives to free India from the clutches of British raj. Seldom you might have ever heard the names of Oriya martyrs be it Madho Singh Bariha, Rindo Majhi, Jai Rajguru or be it Lakshmana Naik. But for many of us our national flag Tiranga is not just a piece of cloth, we adore it a lot by heart. When the National Anthem is telecasted in televisions, with a sense of admiration most of us stand on the floor. We have inculcated such values from the primary school, where we have been taught the basic alphabets of our own vernacular.


Now the present generation of kids has got ample stationery to play with. They spend enormous money to buy the colorful stickers, glowing tattoos, panoramic post cards and all the garbage. Whereas during the late 70’s of the last Century, I was virtually brought up in a black and white era. Indian economy was in the doldrums. Only on the week days I was getting 10 Paise as the pocket tips while going to school. That money was not enough either to buy an eraser, a pencil or to fill the ink in the fountain pen at the book store.



Since childhood I was fascinated by our National Flag “Tiranga” merely because of its tri color and for a blue wheel at the centre of it. One evening I was walking along with my mother to the market. On the way at a junction of the town there was a gathering of people. They were shouting as “जिंदाबाद जिंदाबाद” which means, hip hip hurray. I left the hand of my mother and stood there while saluting towards the gathering. My mother looked backward and asked “What this ridiculous thing you are doing ?”. I pointed my little finger towards a tricolor flag. She laughed at me saying “You stupid, every tricolor is not a Tiranga. Look there is a palm of a hand at the centre. And it’s not our Tiranga, rather the flag of the Indian National Congress (INC) party”. She said a tri color flag with a wheel at the centre is only our National Flag. I scratch my head and followed my mother. She is the first teacher in my life, who has invoked patriotism in me.


While I was attending the primary school at Khalikote, the Physical Education teacher was endowed with the responsibility to hang the National Flag either on 15th August or 26th January. A day before these two schedule dates he would collect the National Flag from the wooden cupboard of the Head Master’s office. Religiously he would undertake the job of washing it with a detergent cake and dripping it in the indigo blue so as the white portion of the flag would glow. Hours before the flag hoisting the PT teacher would stuff the flag with the petals of roses and a short of non-fragrance tropical white flowers called Tabernaemontana divaricata and a dozen chocolates. 


On the eve of the celebrations we the students use to stand straight in a row.  When the flag hoisted we would sing the National Anthem “Janagana mana adhinayaka jaya he, Bharata bhagya bidhata…………” while placing the right hand on the forehead by saluting. While singing the National Anthem the kids on the front row would use to look at the base of the iron pillar instead of looking at the National Flag. Why? Because along with the petals of the flowers, the flag has been stuffed with one or two dozen pieces of 5 Paise Parle’s orange candies and they as well use to drop on the ground. When the singing of the National Anthem would end with the last stanza “jaya he, jaya he, jaya he……jaya, jaya, jaya, jaya he” we all the kids would break the Code of Conduct and run towards the flag post to collect the orange candies that fell on the ground along with the flowers. My batch mate Motu use to grab a couple of candies as he was a hefty boy and use to overpower others.


I recalls yet another event of my childhood associated with the National Flag of India. It was during the early eighties of the last Century. Than I was a student of Class Five in a Oriya primary school at village Khalikote of Ganjam district of Odisha, India. This school was set up in the premises of royal palace of Khalikote. On this palace apart from the primary school, there exists a fine art college as well. Once somehow I accessed a paper Tiranga. With care I kept that in the school notebook. Next day I carried it to school and proudly showed my possession to my classmates. But Chaitu the hooligan boy of our class grabbed the flag from my hands. I caught hold of his shirt, so as he should not escape with my property. But in a retaliation he caught my hair on the head. He pulled my hair and I was in acute pain. I left his shirt and caught hold of his hair as well and grabbed it. We both were wrestling on the floor of the classroom holding the head of each other. While watching us the rest of the classmates were clapping and shouting as if they were watching a wrestling bout. In the meanwhile I got a bash on my buttocks. I was shocked and turned back to look. It was the Head Master of our school. He was standing there holding a stick in his hands, with a pair of red bull’s eyes. My half niker was wet as I urinated with fear. All the batch mates laughed at me. The head master turned his eyes around. All the class mates went to their respective place to occupy their space on the floor. The head master asked Chaitu to show what he is holding in the hand. Chaitu handed over the National Flag to him. He inspected the flag, it was tattered at the centre. The Head Master advised, you both are excused because you are fighting for our National Flag. But remember two sons of a mother should never fight in between themselves. After thirty five years now I realize how being Indians we are fighting in between ourselves, further to divide our existing States and Union Territories. Of course all these things are being invoked by the ever greedy political clouts to cheat the gullible civilians.


WhatsApp# +918249314972

E KIRAN MOHAN(The Writer)
C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao(MD)
Main Road, Barpali-768029
Dist-Bargarh, Odisha, India