The Barpali Days

Oct 22, 2018

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

E Kiran Mohan 6

Oct 18, 2018

personalities 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 7^th 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 10^th 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

Mobile# +918249314972

http://barpalidays.blogspot.in/p/ekiran-mohan.html

E.Kiran Mohan(The writer)

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

E Kiran Mohan 4

Oct 11, 2018

social service 3:47 PM

Helping Hearts, Barpali

Helping Hearts of Barpali is a Charitable Trust that has been setup by Satyananda Pandey. Satya was brought up under the adverse situations of life as his father rearing his family of seven members with a mere salary of Rs.1,200 a month. Since Satya himself was deprived of a wholesome life, he decided to work for the betterment of the society. He had the urge to serve the people especially those who are being oppressed. In the year 2017 he started a social organisation by the name of Helping Hearts, Barpali. In the past one and half years this organisation has helped a score of destitute people who are deprived of availing benefits from the government, either because they are victim of illiteracy or lack the knowledge of how to avail the benefits that are provided by the Government.

The modus operandi of Helping Hearts is to answer the difficulties and need of each individual instead of community as a whole. In the past two years it has attended to the need of many sick and handicap persons of different villages across Bargarh, Sonepur and Balangir districts.

Om Bania an eight years old boy of Badipali village had a congenital disability. Since birth he is immovable. His father is an illiterate person and he was not knowing how to avail aid from government. Helping Hearts approached the Block Development Officer(BDO) of Barpali and filed the needed application. Finally this destitute boy got a tricycle. Likewise Sunita Seth a twenty years young woman of Babupali and Srabani Sahu an eight years old young girl of Krushakapali as well got wheelchairs.

Ganesh Deep a destitute man of 26 yrs old has been paralyzed in both the legs since 2014 due to a road accident. Timely intervention of Helping Hearts made Ganesh to avail a tri-cycle.

Amit Kumbhar is a three and half years old boy from a very poor family of Bandupali village of Bijepur block. He was suffering from a congenital deformities/disease of "imperforate anus". When Helping Hearts intervened in this issue the District Collector of Bargarh sanctioned Rs.5,000 from Redcross Fund for the treatment of this child. Helping Hearts of Barpali delegated a volunteer of it to take the child to Sishu Bhawan,SCB Medical College at Cuttack. Finally Amit has successfully undergone a major surgery. Now this little boy has been rehabilitated.

A baby girl of Bandhpali village by the name

Subhashree Sahu was suffering from eye cancer. When Helping Hearts of Barpali has been informed they raised somewhere Rs.5,000/- for her treatment. The girl was taken for treatment to L.V.Prasad Eye Institute located at Patia, Bhubaneswar.

Ranjan Mahanand a student from a poor

Schedule Caste family qualified in NEET exams and allotted a seat for admission in MBBS at VSS Medical College, Burla. Though he qualified, but did not had the money to take admission. Helping Hearts of Barpali made the awareness in the social media. Finally the entire requisite amount Rs.47,000 has been collectively raised by the good Samaritans of Barpali. Unofficially Ranjan Mahanand took the oath when he pass out as a doctor he will serve the poor and destitute people of Odisha without any selfish means.

Manas Bariha a baby boy of one and half years old from Harda village was suffering from a congenital eye diseases which was deteriorating day by day. His father Surendra Bariha is a small time farmer. The mother of this baby is under a paralysis attack. When the father of this baby approached Helping Hearts of Barpali they delegated a volunteer with Rs.5,000/- and sent the baby for treatment to LV Prasad Eye Institute located at Patia, Bhubaneswar.

Madhusudan Dharua a destitute and a poor person of Kadlipali village is a physical handicap of both legs. His family having two girl children of 6 and 8 years is being looked after by his wife. Helping Hearts of Barpali procured a tricycle from BSSO(Block Social Security Officer) of Bargarh.

Neetu Bag is a destitute eight years old girl

of Barpali. It was June 2017 a mishap was waiting to happen for this student of Standard Three. While playing with her friends, unfortunately she entered into the danger zone of a 11,000KV electric transformer. She came in contact with live electricity wire. Though she survived out of this mishap, but her hands need to be amputated. After that fateful incident her alcohol addicted father fled while living her alone. The volunteers of Helping Hearts took this child to Handicap Rehabilitation Centre of Sambalpur. From there the doctors referred her to SCB Medical College,Cuttack.

Brundabati while mentally retarded

Brundabati return to normalcy after treatment

Brundabati Patra was a mentally handicapped girl of Kainsir. She hails from an absolute poor family. Dr.Saroj Seth(MD,Gynaecology) of CHC, Barpali referred her to VIMSAR, Burla. The volunteers of Helping Hearts with financial aid from Pragati Seva Sangha took this girl to VSS Medical College(VIMSAR) at Burla. When she undergone treatment over next two months she returned to normalcy.

Until now Helping Hearts, Barpali has

conducted two health camps for the women folk. The first one was at Barpali, where as many as 51 ladies participated and the second one was at village Remta where 93 ladies actively participated. It is to be noted district Bargarh is reporting innumerable cases of cancer due to abnormal use of pesticides and fertilizers in the farm lands. More to it the ratio of feline afflicted to cancer is more than their male counterpart. Dr.Susmita Dash Tripathy (MD, O&G) conducted these two workshops exclusively for the rural women surrounding villages of Barpali and Remta. At Barpali around 51 women attended the workshop where as at Ramta. Our society is conservative in nature and most of the rural women veil their faces under their respective sarees. While respecting the dignity of our rural women Satyananda Pandey made it sure to call a female gynaecologist instead of a male doctor so as the rural women would be able to interact without encountering any shyness and the social stigma.

Partha Sarathi Dash the Founder Member

and the General Secretary of Dalkhai Foundation Trust, Bangalore says Satyananda Pandey has dedicated precious time of his life for the welfare of the needy, instead of earning money for his own family. And during the Nuakhai Bhetghat 2018 celebrations at HAL Auditorium, Bangalore Dalkhai Foundation felicitated Satyananda Pandey while acknowledging the selfless services that he is rendering to the society.

kiranbima@gmail.com

http://barpalidays.blogspot.in/p/ekiran-mohan.html
Mobile # +918249314972

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

E Kiran Mohan 6

Oct 10, 2018

personalities 9:25 PM

Surendra Nath : The modern-day literary protagonist

Surendra Nath was born in the steel city of Rourkela, where his father was working in the SAIL steel plant. He did his primary education in D-Souza English Medium School, Rourkela. On joining Sainik School, he set ambition to join the armed so as to serve this great nation India. In those formative years of schooling itself he was inclined towards reading and writing stories in English.

Soon after passing out he qualified to join the premier

[While graduating from NDA]

National Defence Academy at Pune. It is to be noted only those crème de la crème academically topper students with physical fitness could only qualify to join this premier school. On passing out from the NDA he joined Indian Navy. He saw his share of action during the Sri Lankan crisis when he was in a ship that ferried, to and fro, the Indian Peace Keeping Forces(IPKF). Over the time, he rose to the rank of a Commander and altogether commanded a vessel loaded with missiles.

While his stint with Indian Navy he got the opportunity to travel across the globe. While cruising in the high-tide of the oceans, the crew didn’t get to read the newspaper. There were neither smart phones, laptops, Facebook or WhatsApp to dissipate the information. Surendra altogether started a news bulletin service in his ship itself. It got readership among the crew members of the ship. He use to gather the latest global news by tuning in to the local radio stations where so ever his ship was voyaging. He use to draft the text and typed them in paper and use to cyclostyle in the ship itself. It was called Ranvijay Flash. This news bulletin use to publish exciting anecdotes of the voyage, occasional interviews of crew members and humour in the lighter vein. Every morning Ranvijay Flash was looked forward by the crew members of the ship to read.

Way back in the year 2000 he took voluntary retirement(VRS) from the Indian Navy and joined an international school in Dubai. There, Surendra Nath realised writing was his second calling and wrote many short stories and articles which were published in a few magazines. With the advent of internet he joined a couple of online writers’ forums. He was a subject to face criticism from the fellow writers online.

After a spell of seven-years in Dubai in the year 2007 he returned to India. By then he was already fifty. Without considering the age factor he took to serious writing. He thinks the skill of writing is a wisdom that can’t be either taught or learnt in any school, college or Universities. One who gets the grace of Ma Saraswati could only compose the stanzas of literature let whatever the language may it be. Over the the decade he wrote several short stories that were published in mixed anthologies by multiple authors.

[Surendra Nath Mohanty with Ruskin Bond]

[Surendra while addressing at KIIT's Children’s Literary Festival ]

In the year 2015 while working with KiiT International School, Bhubaneswar, he released his first full-length novel titled “Karna’s Alter Ego”. At Kiits he came in contact with Mr Ruskin Bond. Surendra started a national children’s magazine titled Kloud-9. Surendra was the editor, while Mr Bond was the chief editor of this magazine. In the year 2012 Surendra undertook a massive project to organise a National Level Children’s Literary Festival in KIIT, Bhubaneswar. In this mega festival students from across the country participated. It was a huge success and kept on celebrated every year until now. In these literary festivals, he came in close association with renowned authors like Mr Ruskin Bond, Mr Manoj Das and Mr Chandrahas Choudhury, all of whom were of great inspirations to him.

[Late President of India APJ Abdul Kalam could be seen along with Achyuta Samanta the founder of KIIT on the left and writer Surendra Nath on the backdrop]

Sometime during early 2016, he chanced upon a social media post in Facebook. It was about a person cladded in white dhoti and vest. That person was barefooted, but receiving fifth highest civilian Award i.e. Padma Shri award from the President of India. It was none other than Sambalpuri poet Haldhar Nag. Surendra got curious to know about him while looking at his awkward appearance.

Soon afterwards, Surendra watched him being interviewed on the TV. While the host was questioning in Oriya the guest Mr Haldhar Nag was answering in his mother tongue i.e. Sambalpuri dialect. It was evident none out there in the audience understood what the guest was speaking. Haldhar recited two of his Sambalpuri poems on the show. Intriguingly the host herself missed the depth of this man’s literature. It was then Surendra realised the poetic works of Haldhar Nag deserves to be read by a wider spectrum of audience. The dialect of western Odisha, in which he writes, is a different tongue even for the majority of Odias to understand. Surendra decided to translate Haldhar’s poems into English.

In April that year, he visited Mr Nag in his village, Ghess in Bargarh district and sought his permission to translate his works. To his pleasant satisfaction, the poet promptly agreed. Thus, was born Kavyanjali in October 2016.

Surendra firmly believes poet Haldhar Nag is a wizard of

Sambalpuri literature. Due to the neglect of this language his poetic works have been ignored by the world. So Surendra has undertaken the noble job to translate the poetic works of Haldhar Nag in to English so as it could be read and appraised by the world audience. Surendra undertook the voluntary job of translating Haldhar Nag’s poems. Under the series of Kavyanjali Surndra Nath is publishing the English translation of Haldhar Nag’s poetic works.

The first volume of Kavyanjali was released in October 2016. Now Surendra Nath got back with the second edition of Kavyanjali. While Volume-3 of Kavyanjali is on the midway. Surendra has completed the sequel to his earlier novel “Karna’s Alter Ego” which is scheduled to be published before the end of this year. Both his books are centred around Karna, his favourite character from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. But Surendra’s stories are not to be confused as mythological ones. They are set in the present-time context. Surendra Nath Mohanty is a modern-day literary protagonist who idolises Karna and is much as like him.

You may please buy the two editions of Kavyanjali from Amazon from the following links:

Buy Kavyanjali Volume-2

Buy Kavyanjali Volume-1

Book release of Kavyanjali-2 at Tapaswini the District Auditorium, Sambalpur

kiranbima@gmail.com
Mobile # +918249314972

E.Kiran Mohan
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

E Kiran Mohan 0

The Barpali Days

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Oct 22, 2018

Mitrabhanu Gountia: The epitome of Sambalpuri culture

Oct 18, 2018

Sushil Kumar Bag: Where literature supersede TV broadcast media

Oct 11, 2018

Helping Hearts, Barpali

Oct 10, 2018

Surendra Nath : The modern-day literary protagonist

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