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.

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Dec 31, 2018

8:30 PM

Prabeen Kumar Sahu: Ruling the Prime Time of Odia television industry


Prabeen Kumar Sahu is the one whoh has made a ripple in the Odiya television broadcast industry. He is the news caster of Kalinga TV. This young man was born and brought up at Barpali. He able to go a long way from western Odisha to eastern Odisha to make an identity for self and his town Barpali.
Prabeen was brought with the marginal income of his father who is a businessman. Prabeen has attended the Odiya primary school located in the Rajbati of Barpali.

Though now he is a handsome and tall
man, but during his childhood he used to be a hefty boy. He had such a large belly that his brother use to tease him while saying it’s a pillow and he can sleep by resting his head on it. While he might be hardly 5 years old his mother used to give Praveen Rs.2 to bring change from the grocery store. That boy used to go to the store and was asking for the coins of smaller denomination. When the proprietor of the grocery store would give four 50 Paise coins in exchange, Prabeen used to voluntarily return 50 Paisa and bring the rest three coins to home. That tender boy had such a good heart that he was thinking the business man should get his fee for the services he was providing. On reaching home Prabeen used to get shouting from his mother for doing such stupid acts. She was sending Prabeen once again to bring back 50 Paisa from the grocery store.
While he was a school student Prabeen used to be a prankster. He recall an incident when he was in the 6th Standard. Once he did not do his home task so Prabeen along with two of his batchmates were punished. Their Dengri Sir asked them to kneel down outside the classroom until the period is over. Prabeen and two of his friends were ridiculed by all the students of his class. Prabeen was deeply hurt and was furious. To retaliate Prabeen cut the tyre of the bike of that teacher with a blade. But later on Prabeen  deeply regretted   for his misdeed  and begged pardon.

Every year in his area people conducts Ram Leela. The organizers once approached Prabeen to do the role of Lord Ram. His father agreed to the invitation. But when Prabeen went to practice, looking at his hefty figure he was allotted the role of Bibhishan. Prabeen was innocent, but his father shouted at him why he accepted such a negative role. During his school days Prabeen happened to be a fickle minded kid. Every Sunday in their home mutton used to be cooked. While watching Shaktimaan the famous TV serial of the 90’s our Prabeen used to have the special afternoon meal. While eating mutton and watching Mukesh khanna in the TV Prabeen used to think himself to be a legend.

One Sunday morning it so happened his father purchased mutton and handed over him to carry home the polythene bag containing mutton. But that kid always used to be in a happy state of mind, the way you find him as on this date. Prabeen brought the bag of mutton while rotating it with his fingers. It was obvious the mutton dropped out of the polythene bag and fell on the road. On reaching home his mother suspected why the quantity of meet seem to be less than one kilogram. Prabeen confessed the mistake that he has done. His mother was furious and beat him with a stick. But Prabeen consoled his own self thinking he has taken the resort of truth.


On reaching college Prabeen became inclined towards music. Prabeen started singing songs on college functions, Barpali Loka Mahotsav  and various other programs. During college elections he contested as well. When he used to approach the students class wise the girls were are asking him to sing Hindi songs, instead of any material benefits.


Prabeen is the second sibling. His elder brother was a preferred son of their mother. Prabeen was not that good in studies as compared to his elder brother. So on completion of his graduation his Badbapa suggested him to open and run a shoe store at Barpali. But his father had high ambition from his son. He wanted Prabeen to opt a profession which is closer to his heart. Prabeen appeared for the entrance examination of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). With his seer ability Prabeen able to crack the hard nut of a Central Government institution. His father anyhow managed to arrange needed funds for his son so as he can travel Dhenkanal to enroll his name in IIMC; pay hostel fees; buy study books and a laptop.


Our Barpali hero caught an evening bus and reached Dhenkanal at midnight. Next morning he took admission at IIMC. On boarding the hostel of IIMC Prabeen faced all the vagaries of this cruel planet, because until then he led life in the comfort zone of their home. On successful completion of his education Prabeen joined Kalinga TV as a news anchor.

Prabeen has got a smart outlook. He got
active presence in the social media through Facebook and WhatsApp. Obviously he is an heart throb of many girls across Odisha. Due to the anchoring of different programs the viewers of Kalinga television recognises him. Once it so happened he updated his Facebook saying he is going to Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar for an evening stroll. On reaching there and while walking a girl confronted him. She said she is a Facebook friend of him and reached there just to meet him on reading the status update of his Facebook post.



We are talking about one side of the coin, where as this versatile young man is trying his prospects in modelling and singing as well.

Mobile # +918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road, Near SBI,
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India


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Barpali, Orissa, India Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

Dec 22, 2018

5:10 PM

Dr Omkar Hota(MBBS) : An Angel for the tribals of Southern Odisha



It is shocking to discover that there is only one qualified doctor to serve as many as 13,154 persons who live in rural Odisha. The Government of Odisha might be trying to post as many doctors in the remote Odisha, but unable to retain them as the new breed of physicians are engaged on the unethical and unscrupulous practices. Even more disgusting is to find the high rate of absentee doctors in the government hospitals.

Either you go to Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Science and Research(VIMSAR), Burla or any other government hospital across the length and breadth of Odisha on questioning you will be told the doctor is on leave, but when you check their Facebook page you will find the doctor would be either holidaying in a star hotel at a hill station or in a resort at the seashore. The question is, how does these doctors afford to spend so much money? The truth is their holidays are being sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies whose medicines they do prescribe. Because of such absenteeism by these govt. doctors the poor patients are forced to visit the private nursing homes and pay the hefty fee.

This doesn't end here. The new gener of doctors of VIMSAR have  waged a war against their Director itself. Rather its Director professor Ashwini Pujhary is a man of strict discipline. He has taken every measure to curb the menace of private nursing homes, that are running at Burla. Some doctors have got unholi nexus with private nursing homes that are operating at Burla. They are asking patients to get admitted in those nursing homes so as they can give personal attention.


Where as on the other hand we got a countable doctors who are working at the grass root level with utmost loyalty to their job and the nation. Dr.Omkar Hota(MBBS) is such a physician for whom it is not only Odisha, but entire India should be proud of.
   
Poplur is located in the tribal dominated area of Malkangiri district of southern Odisha bordering Andhra Pradesh. It is somewhat a dense forest area. Even in 21st Century aboriginals live over here. This region languish in every field be it roadways, education, supply of potable drinking water, sanitation, electricity or be it public health system. At Poplur there is a Primary Health Centre(PHC) that has been setup  in the year 2002. But unfortunately no doctors joined over here because this region is cut off from the mainstream of life. But 15 years later it was only in the year 2017 Dr Omkar Hota(MBBS) joined here as an Asst.Surgeon.

Dr.Omkar Hota was born at Sahajbahal of Balangir district. On getting the first job posting he had to travel Malkangiri. From Malkangiri he had to travel 92kms to reach Chitrakonda. But over here the modern civilization come to a halt. From Chitrakonda there is no road ways farther. He had to walk 31kms all alone lifting his luggage on his shoulder. He climbed through two mountains of Bonda hill region and crossed Silur river. He recalls on joining medical college how his relatives had complimented him saying in future he would lead an alluring life, but he found the reality is in sharp contrast to such hypocrisy.

On reaching Populur he was dumbstruck to find half naked people all of whom are malnourished. The majority of these people belongs to Bonda, Dumba, Kaya, Paraja and Konda Reddy tribes. These people are the native Indians and does not carry the DNA of Aryans. These people are illiterates and know nothing about the existence of modern civilization beyond the forest, mountains and the Silur river.


The Primary Health Centre of Populur is made of a one room shed. During the day hours this shed is his clinic, but at night it turn to be his bedroom. Over there itself he cooks his morsel of food. There was no toilet and he need to go to the open field so as to attend the nature’s call.

Dr.Omkar Hota observed, when somebody falls sick with the symptoms of ordinary body aches, cold, cough or be it fever these tribal thinks the person has been victimized by some evil spirit. They calls a tantric(black magician) to cure the ailments. The tantric would perform some rituals instead of administering the patient with the medicines. The tantrik would ask to buy a chicken to appease the Goddess. To break the   blind faith of tribal people Dr.Hota walked from one village to another to create public awareness about health and hygiene.


There does not exist either a medicine store or a pathology lab. He had to test the blood or urine of the patients all himself. He found malaria was the primary cause of diseases. He made people aware about the benefits of using mosquito nets. Initially only 15 patients were coming to his dispensary in a day. But Dr Omkar Hota started visiting other villages.  Over the period of two years he won the confidence and the trust of these innocent tribal people. Now as many as 130 patients are turning out every day to get the cure from different diseases. In the weekly market day there the scenario outside his hospital is like a mini fair called as jatra in Oriya.

Over the last two years Dr Omkar Hota has gathered immense confidence of these tribal people. People pay utmost respect to him. This doctor does not accept any consultancy fee from his patients. However these forest dwellers out of affection brings forest products be it honey cumbs, forest fruits say mangoes during the summer, mushrooms during the rainy seasons.
During July 2017 one night it so happened at around 10PM a person hurriedly came saying a young woman is profusely bleeding and unable to deliver the baby. Omkar Hota the doctor on call 24X7 packed his bag and went along with the person. Together they walked for 16kms and reached Sadre village at around 12.55AM at the dead of the night. It was a case of obstructed labor. Our Dr Omkar Hota asked the female members at home to boil the water and in next one hour he did the safe delivery of a baby girl. The mother was safe so was the newborn baby.


At around 1.30AM Dr.Omkar said he have to return Poplur. The family members of the patient asked him to stayback for the night as it won’t be safe to travel back. The father of the new born baby girl prepared to accompany this doctor to drop him back at Poplur. But Dr.Omkar asked him to stay back as the mother needs his presence by his side. Those people alerted it may not be safe as bears might attack and tear him apart. But this doctor said at morning when patients arrive they would be helpless.


All alone he dared to walk back to Poplur. After walking some kilometers in the forest he sensed some commotion behind the trees. He stood still silently. Instead of a bear or a cheetah there appeared around 30 to 40 armed rebels. They gathered him around. One of them asked “tu ko bahinir ta?” which means “To which armed forces you belongs to?”. On the other hand another lady brigade caught hold of his hand and asked “Tor naam kaen ta?” But Dr.Omkar Hota unable to understand the events that happen in such a quick succession over the split of a few seconds.

Omkar said he is just a doctor, but the red rebels did not hear him. They beat him on the chest, abdomen and shoulders with sticks. They grabbed his beg and inspected it. All they found a stethoscope, thermometer, cotton, bandage, a bottle of spirit and few strips of tablets. The leader of the gang lifted his gun, but pointed it towards the sky and fired three round of bullets.


The leader said we honor you doctor for the services that you render to our poor people. The leader bag pardon to Dr.Omkar Hota and asked one of his young accomplish to drop the doctor safely at Poplur. But Dr.Hota feared to go along with the rebel, because if security personnel encounter on the way than he will be killed along with the rebel. Dr.Hota smiled and asked them to excuse him. He walked back home all alone. He reached his   home with body aches somewhere around 3.15AM dead of the night.


This doctor is immensely popular in his area that people calls him as “Bhagaban Daktar” which means Godly Doctor. Our nation India is healthy neither because of the doctors who are working in the corporate hospitals in the metropolitan cities, nor for those scrupulous doctors who are working in the government hospitals. A handful of doctors like Omkar Hota are working in the grassroot level of the nation to keep the common man healthy.
Apart from attending the patients in his clinic this  doctor has taken the welfare measures as well. Government of Odisha started constructing a roadway  from Disariguda to Poplur a distance of 15 kilometres. But the red rebels disrupted the works as they did not want this place to be connected with the rest of the state. They were found if roads would be constructed than police would reach this remote place and they would no more be able to rule the area. but Dr Hota mediated on behalf of Government of Odisha to a appease the red rebels to lay the roads.  He defended saying the ambulance would be able to reach the remote settlements of tribal people and they readily agreed.


On the occassiono of World First Aid Day has been felicitated by the Governor of Odisha his Highness Shri Ganeshi Laal at RAJ BHAWAN, Bhubaneswar.

 The Bhubaneswar based civil society Yes We Can has felicitated this doctor as a Change Agent of Odisha in its Third Convention held at Sambalpur on 23rd January 2018.


Post script: Based on the life of Dr Omkar Hota in the year 2022  an Oriya movie with the title DAMaN has been released. Its  written and directed by Debi Prasad Lenka and Vishal Mourya and produced by Deependra Samal. The film stars Babushan and Dipanwit Dashmohapatra in the lead roles.
E Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D
Main Road, Near SBI,
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India





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Barpali, Orissa, India Burla, Odisha, India

Dec 20, 2018

10:46 AM

Monkey myhem


As such Barpali is a town where peace and tranquility prevailed over Centuries. Over here seldom we witness any crimes. But once a while, our town is invaded by foreign intruders. They are none other than gangs of monkeys who cause mayhem so long they campaign over here. These monkeys are of Rhesus macaque (Macaca  mulatta) species which could be identified for  their red faces. Basically these species of monkeys are aggressive by nature, even though smaller by physic as compare to their counterpart black faced monkeys of India.

When so ever they invade Barpali they go on a rampage at the vegetable market. They loot vegetables be it brinjals, cabbages, cauliflowers, beans and so on which are stockpiled openly on the ground. They even snatch away the polythene bags from our  hands while we carry fruits. That apart those primates invade the narrow streets of Barpali. They target each individual homes and loots whatever eatable they can snatch in the broad daylight.

At home we got plenty of fruit trees. Each of them bear fruits as per their season. Be it guava, berries, mulberry, mangoes and custard apple. And these monkeys raid our residential complex. Seldom we the family members ever get aware when so ever they enter the complex as each of us are preoccupied with our own work. It is always our two pets Dany and  Diana who raise the alarm by barking loudly near the trees. When so ever they bark for couple of minutes while leaving apart her daily household errands, my mother goes to the lawn to check what the issue is. My mother yells at these monkeys but seldom do they pay any heed to her. Every summer those raucous monkeys destroy the raw mangoes. I would not be hurt so much only if they eat them. But instead they drop half eaten fruits on the ground, because these are freebee for them. Neither I nor any other birds could eat such touched fruits.

The felony of these monkeys does not end here. Once a while, they do surgical strike in our residential complex. When so ever they invade our house they mostly leap from the zizaphus tree to asbestos of the shed. One afternoon when Daina barked I went to drive away the monkeys while carrying a stick. I was helpless as my stick could not reach the height where they were at. When I waved my hand one of the elderly monkey showed its teeth as if it wants to bite me. In the meanwhile a youngster was started jumping with aplomb. It hanged on the aluminium wire where the wet clothes were dried. I was worried as it was leaping on my new red colour underwear that I had purchased by paying 150 INR. When I ran towards the baby it jumped away while carrying the red under garment. All the monkeys jumped outside the wall. I went to the backstreet to chase the prankster. I found few children of the street jumping, pointing their fingers and shouting “a mankad, a mankad…..khoo….. khoo”. I was helpless as the youngster was on top of a house while holding my underwear in its mouth. It would have been an embarrassing situation if I shout at the young monkey, so I returned home losing yet another possession of material life.  

WhatsApp# +918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road, Near SBI,
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India

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Dec 4, 2018

7:07 PM

Education Express published news about this blogger E Kiran Mohan


Education Express which is circulated with the Monday edition of The New Indian Express has published a full page news about the creator of this blog Epari Kiran Mohan(click here). This paper has got a daily circulation of 3.1 lakh copies in Odisha alone. 

Date of publication 3rd December 2018
http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/m5/1920301/Edex-Odisha/03-12-2018#dual/2/1

This blog is obliged to their reporter Seema Rajpal for taking this initiative. 


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

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Nov 4, 2018

9:00 AM

Rita Satpathy: Serving the society while unveiling the black coat


Most of us are uncomfortable on the presence of a lawyer around us. It is not only for the black coat that he or she wears, but these set of professionals are of remorseless species. Their nature of job makes them cunning. Though they fight for the justice, yet in personal life they unable to do justice to their family members. Their nature of job is so dull and dumb that makes them such spineless creatures. Seldom there is any creativity or charm in their work. Yet there are a chosen few exceptions to this set of professionals.

When you meet Rita Satpathy a human rights and family court lawyer  practising at the High Court of Cuttack, Odisha you would love to get in touch with her to discover how charming our life could be even while we are entangled in our sluggish daily work.

Rita was born in the year 1959 at Sambalpur.  She is
the daughter of Late Sashibhushan Satpathy the renowned judge of Odisha. Being a daughter she was very close to his father and even followed his footsteps to opt law as her profession. She was brought up in Pension Pada of Sambalpur. During the Hindu Muslim riots of 1964 her father played a pivotal role in doing fast court settlements. Her father was the founding member of Lala Lajpat Rai Law College of Sambalpur. He has even donated 30 decimal of his own land to the law college, where today the new tower of the college is standing. The other two promoters of this college were Late Manbanjan Bohidar and Late Sradhakar Supkar.

Rita studied from nursery to Class 5th at Brookshill School of Sambalpur. On passing out her primary school she joined Lady Lewis Girls High School located at Kunjel Pada. It’s an heritage school of Odisha that was built by the Britshers in the year  1947 itself. In 1976 Rita joined BA at Govt. Women’s College. Afterwards she did her MA in Oriya at Sambalpur University. Her subject was “A literary criticism between Radhanath Ray and Wordsworth”.  Radhanath was an Oriya poet known across Odisha for his poetic works like “Chilika”, whereas Wordsworth was a Nineteenth Century British poet known across the globe. His famous poetic works were Julius Czar; Hamlet; London; Prelude; Daffodils; We are seven; Ode to Duty; The Solitary Reaper; The Intimations of Immortality and so on.  

Rita got a soft corner in her heart for the destitute
and the deprived people. Early in life she had shown the signs of being an angel for the destitute. While she was a student in school when her mother would serve her roti(whole wheat Indian bread), that girl use to hide one piece and give that hidden piece to either a beggar or to the street dogs. While doing so once she was caught red handed and her mother told her to partake her share of rotis and in case she wants to feed someone else, than to ask for extra pieces. Her mother was the role model in her life. She was the one who inspired Rita to work for the society.

In India every male person earns money so as to support just his family. But Rita Satpathy since herself is a working lady thinks, after meeting the basic needs of the family members the surplus amount should be used for the needy people of the society. In the year 2007 she setup Jaymala Socio Cultural Trust. The basic objective of this trust is to look after the welfare of the poor peoples of Sambalpur and Cuttack. They are providing free education to the deprived children of slum dwellers. That apart they are taking care of old age people by providing daily food and weekly medication facilities.

When she was staying at Mangalabag, Cuttack one night while searching for her two girls reached her home. They cried and said they have fled from one religious ashram at Cuttack, because they were being physically exploited. Rita consoled them by serving dinner and giving shelter for a night. Next morning she took those two girls to the police station to lodge a complaint. Afterwards those two girls were relocated to a different place.

Almost twenty years back yet another incident had happened. As usual one evening she hired a rickshaw to return home from the High Court. On the way while the man was pulling the rickshaw he started expressing his sorrow. He said his wife is under the attack of tuberculosis(TB). But he unable to impart the right diagnosis, because of the high cost of medicines. From there she asked the rickshaw puller to take her to his house. On reaching their hut, Rita met the sick lady who was lean and thin and was bed ridden. Over there she met their two daughters. In a couple of weeks the lady expired. The rickshaw puller unable to cope with the situation and took shelter of the alcohol. Finally he either fled or went missing. Rita take possession of those two girls and admitted them in Basundhara Ashram. The good news was that after a couple of years one American couple visited this shelter at Bhubaneswar and they adopted the elder girl by the name Sujata. Now Sujata turn to be an adult and married and happily settled in England(UK). It is just one act of benevolence by Rita Satpathy which rehabilitated many lives.  

Rita firmly believes whatever she is today is the mere grace of her loving God Shiridi Sai Baba. She had gone through many upheavals of the life. In the year 2003 soon after the gruha  pratistha her husband fell terminally sick. He had a heart ailment called arrhythmia. Because of the disease entire family was disturbed. One night when her husband waked up from the  sleep and narrated a miracle that had happened. He said from the frame of Shiridi Sai Baba photo there came a ray and covered his body from tip to toe of his body. On getting to know about this miracle Rita got relieved thinking there is nothing to worry about her husband and Shiridi Sai Baba will take care of him. Subsequently her husband recovered his heath after taking proper medical treatment.


During the devastating super cyclone Phailin that struck the coast of Odisha in October 2013 as many as 45 lives were perished despite minute preparation to confront the situation due to advancement in the technology to monitor the weather. But that cyclone destroyed public infrastructure, civil properties and paddy crops to the tune of a hoofing $655 million USD. Soon after the Phailin Rita Satpathy along with the volunteers of Jaymala organistion reached Aktiarpur a remote village on the sea coast of Baleswar district.
                                              
That apart every year in its annual function Jaya Mala social cultural trust felicitated people of Odisha whosoever has contributed in their own field to build a stronger and vibrant Odisha. They are very particular while scrutinizing the right candidates to be felicitated with the Sunakhadika sanmman.

                       
[While singing along with Hollywood play back singer Akshaya Mohanty】
       
Rita is a professional singer of Oriya songs. She delves her mind in to music, so as to put some charm in the dull and dumb profession that she has undertaken in life. Until now Jaymala has traced many persons from Oliwood film industry and felicitated them.

Nuakhai Bhetghat Samman at Barpali given by Bijepur MLA Rita Sahu 

Until now across Odisha she has been felicitated by twenty-two different organisations for the humanitarian activities she is carrying. In the year 2018 itself Life Line, Barpali felicitated her with Nuakhai Sanman. Earlier to this she has been felicitated with Bharat Gaurav Sanman in a grand function organised at Hotel Kalinga Ashoka, Bhubaneswar. The Chief Guest in that fuction was Prasanna Kumar Patasani a multifaceted personality of Odisha known for being a philosopher, Oriya poet and lawyer.
​





http://barpalidays.blogspot.in/p/ekiran-mohan.html
Mobile # +918249314972
E. KiranMohan(The Writer)
C/o. Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist. Bargarh, Odisha, India

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Barpali, Orissa, India Cuttack, Odisha, India

Oct 22, 2018

6:35 AM

Mitrabhanu Gountia: The epitome of Sambalpuri culture


Mitrabhanu Gountia is a Sambalpuri lyricist whose contribution towards the upliftment of cultural heritage of Western Odisha is immense. He was born at Bilung village of Sambalpur district during the pre-independence era that was on 17th March 1942. He recalls he started composing poetry in Sambalpuri vocal language when he was as young as 12 years old and had just passed out of upper primary school. In the year 1971 he got the approval certificate as a lyricist from the All India Radio(AIR) station of Sambalpur. Then television was unheard in this pocket of India. Radio was the only source of information and entertainment for the illiterate mass of Odisha.


So far Mitrabhanu has composed over 1,000 Sambalpuri songs. Rangabati is a song that has been composed by non-other than Mitrabhanu Gountia. It was a chartbuster Sambalpuri song. In the year 1978 this song was recorded in the special Surmalika programme at Sambalpur Radio Station of AIR. Even after 40 years this is the all time popular song of entire Odisha. No barat of any marriage procession move forward unless and until this song is played on the street by the music band. The music of this song was composed by Late Prabhudatta Pradhan while the male voice was of Jitendra Haripal, whereas the female voice was lent by Krishna Patel. 



In the year 1983 he explored all together a new field of art discipline. He started writing geeti natya which means the lyrical plays. "Bhai juntia" was his first gitinatya. It was played in All India Radio. Based on the popular tradition of sisters observing a religious penance for their brothers similar to that of Rakshabandhan which is observed by girls of North India. This lyrical play was well appreciated by people. By watching this  lyrical play on the stage people used to be enthralled. Mitrabhanu got good reviews and feedback from people of villages and towns wherever this lyrical play was staged. Followed by its success he composed many other Sambalpuri lyrical plays like  Krushna Avatar, Mahisa nasini, Gambhiribije, Khaiunjula, Kelikadamb, Rangakeli, Gujuna based on tribal culture.

During the late 80's of the last Century due to overpopulation, rampant mining activities and industrialisation in Odisha there started deforestation. While observing the alarming situation of damage to the environment Mitrabhanu composed a lyrical play write by the name Jharbania(dense forest). Social Forestry wing of Government of Odisha hired Mitrabhanu and his troop to perform the lyrical play of Jharbania in the hinterlands of Odisha so as to create public awareness for social forestry. The impact of this gitinatya in the society was enormous as a result in the year 1991 the social forestry department of Sambalpur Forest Division of Odisha bagged the prestigious Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award.

The two mythological playwrights that he has composed are Draupadi Haran and Tripura Sundari. The names of other two  social  plays  are  Sunar sakal(Golden morning)  and  Mantri asbe(Minister will come).

Because of the enormous success of the literary works  of Mitrabhanu Gountia the local administration of this small hamlet Bilung has been renamed as “Rangabati Bilung”.


Mitrabhanu Gountia is a man embossed with the rich Indian values. He says due to the massive commercialisation of education system now the values  and culture of our children has been completely depleted. Now students are taught on the subjects which does not carry cultural values. Apart from the computer science our children need to be taught on subjects like art, dance, music and sports.
           


kiranbima@gmail.com
WhatsApp # +918249314972
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
http://barpalidays.blogspot.in/p/ekiran-mohan.html
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India

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Barpali, Orissa, India Barapali Town, Odisha 768029, India

Oct 18, 2018

2:57 PM

Sushil Kumar Bag: Where literature supersede TV broadcast media


Often in the Bollywood movies a villager is shown migrating to Mumbai with an empty hand, but he become successful on reaching over there. Likewise there are several instances across Odisha, where youths from our villages went to Bhubaneswar. Despite confronting  several hardships for the survival, finally able to bloom out in their life with flying colours. 



Somewhere in the mid 80’s of the last Century Sushil was born to a humble family to the Secretary of Lenda Panchayat. That boy was brought up in the rural atmosphere while being deprived of the basic amenities. Sushil attended his primary and upper primary school in his village Lenda. On passing out Standard 7th his father made his admission at Govt. Boys High School, Barpali. In order to attend school every day he had to walk four kilometres to reach Barpali. Likewise at evening it consumed almost one hour to walk back to his village from Barpali. Under such hardships our children were brought up in the villages of Odisha. 
[His house at Lenda where he was brought up]
Sushil was fond of riding a cycle, but never dare to touch the cycle of his father, because while learning to ride the cycle, the tube of the rear wheel busted and he got a thrash from his father. Replacement of a cycle tube burdened his father with an additional expenditure of Rs.30/- which was a difficult job on the part of his father to bear. His father was rearing his four children with an abysmal income. His father was a man of strict discipline and Sushil used to fear him a lot. At evening on returning from school, Sushil used to play with children on the village street. But at dusk hour when Sushil would spot his father returning from his Panchayat office he   would run home and sit on the floor with his study books as if he was doing his homework. He recalls at home they had 60 watts bulb and due to low voltage at evening he was studying with low luminosity of a kerosene lamp called baitha. Sushil passed 10th exam even without taking any private tuitions. It boosted his spirit. He was motivated to excel further in the studies.

Sushil took admission in +2 Arts at Barpali College. His father bought a second-hand cycle for him so as he could reach his college conveniently. 



During his graduation in Arts at Barpali College Sushil was inclined towards writing stanzas in Odia. For two years his writings were published in the college magazine. But when he submitted a feature article to Ganaistahar a Odia weekly newspaper, it was published. He was overwhelmed when he saw his article was printed in the newspaper. He carried it to show one and every family members at home. Next day he even carried it to his college. Those days there was neither Facebook nor the WhatsApp so as he could have shared his achievement with his friends.  


(while felicitated with Katha Nabapratibha Puraskar)

On graduating he joined MA in Odia at Sambalpur University. All the while he undertook the job of a sub-editor of two local newspapers by the name Agnisikha and Dakra at an abysmal monthly salary of Rs.750/- from each of these two assignments. During the year 2001 while doing Master Degree in Odia, he was felicitated by the acclaimed international writer Manoj Das with the “Katha Nabapratibha Puraskar”. On acquiring doctorate he joined as a reporter of Sambad at Sambalpur. It was where he came to the mainstream of Odia print media. 
With his Odia professor Dr Manindra Kumar Meher the great grandson of swabhaba kabi Gangadhar Meher

At Sambalpur he made an investigative journalism on the infant mortality rate by collecting data from the Chief District Medical Officer(CDMO). When this news was printed in Sambad, that  made a hue and cry in the entire region. The District Collector of Sambalpur called the CDMO to take stock of the situation. During this spell of time the print media of Odisha started recognising the dexterity of this budding journo. All the while Sushil kept on writing in Odia. He even went on to reading his short stories in the All India Radio(AIR) Station of Sambalpur. He was paid Rs.250/- for each of the ten story telling programs that he conducted in the radio. This is how he got acquainted with the electronic media. 



Subrat Sahu the Sub-editor of Odia newspaper Prameya consider his own self to be the Arjuna and he learnt all the tricks of modern day warfare of journalism from his guru Sushil Kumar Bag. He says in the epic Hindu mythology of Mahabharata Ekalabya had to sacrifice the thumb of his right hand even when he learnt archery while hiding himself beyond a tree. Whereas Sushil Sir is the modern day Guru who has chosen able disciples and imparted training of the highest order to produce lot many Arjuna’s to work in the press. There is rampant cut throat competition in press media. And you never know, if at all you would be in the payroll of the company, until the next edition of the newspaper is thrown by the boy at your doorstep next morning.  


By the mid of the last decade Sushil shorted out the limitations of print media. He found his works able reach only to the Odia literate people. Whereas a major segment of the society is deprived of his journalistic works because they are illiterates and cannot read newspaper. He found television broadcast industry is reaching more people across all the segment of the society. Through TV he could reach even the illiterates. In the year 2008 he got a big leap  in his career when he joined OTV as a News Executive at Bhubaneswar. It is the prominent regional television broadcast company of Odisha with an estimated 7,526GVTs(Gross Viewership in Thousands). OTV is a media venture of Mrs. Jagi Mangat Panda. She is wife of Ex-MP Baijayant Panda. Over here Sushil produced  many episodes on different religious and cultural festivals of Odisha like Ratha Jatra of Puri, Dhanu Jatra of Bargarh, Bali Jatra of Cuttack, Thakurani Jatra of Berhampur or be it Sital Sasthi Jatra of Sambalpur.

Despite being on the centre of the limelight, he used to have a sense of hollowness in life. And to encounter the monotonous job he resorted to take shelter of his fort i.e. Odia literature. Over the time he had written four Oriya books. The first one was a biography on the life of writer Hata Kishore Panigrahi titled “Nirmala Nirjhara”. 
The second book was on the life and works of a poet titled “Brajanath Ratha: Kabi O' Kabita”. The third book was a comparative study on the literary works of Saint poet Kabir along with that of swabhaba kabi Gangadhar Meher of Barpali titled “Santha Kabir O' swabhaba kabi Gangadhar”.
He says when he is working for a company he need to be loyal to his profession. Seldom has he got any freedom to break the high standard of discipline that is needed to observe in his professional work. So to ventilate his inner and personal views he resorted to take shelter of literature. But the irony is that, Sushil don’t get any royalty from the publisher of his books. The publisher in exchange of the copyright fee gives him 30 to 40 pieces of paperback books to sell them in the market and to earn money. Ironically instead of selling the complimentary books in the market Dr.Sushil is always tempted to gift those pieces to his well-wishers so as to get loyalty, instead of royalty.

He is a member of Odisha Sahitya Academy and is holding this position consecutively for three terms spanning over nine years. It is obvious one who works for the society let in whatever form, he ought to get the acknowledgement. Over the span of past 15 years he was felicitated by different organisations across Odisha and India. So far there are a bunch of awards in his kitty.
In the 2017 Bhubaneswar Book Fair he was felicitated with the Literature Award by Shri Ramakanta Ratha(IAS). Later he bagged "Ashok Chandan Smruti Sanman" at Patnagarh. That apart he got "Kanduri Charan Smruti Sanman" at Cuttack. The boys of western Odisha living at Bhubaneswar have a organisation of their own by the name Sambalpuri Folk Academy. And they have felicitated Dr.Sushil Kumar Bag with the coveted title of “Juhar Sanman”. And he was felicitated by Shri Prabhas Singh the MP of Bargarh at a grand event conducted at Bhanja Kala Mandap of Bhubaneswar.

Sushil says it is only literature that has made his life wholesome and he will keep on writing so long he survives. And the day he halt writing, he is likely to breathe his last.



kiranbima@gmail.com
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E.Kiran Mohan(The writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India
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