The forgotten legacy!

Legacies matter! I grew up in times when kids were beaten up as punishment. My mother was an exception. She had told me stories of the mighty Odias (people from my state of Odisha in India) and how they had conquered a huge kingdom once and how they used to trade with far-off lands like Java and Sumatra. And when I would make a mistake, she would just say, "is this the way you are going to maintain your heritage?" That was enough to bring me to tears! Heritage matters! I shall tell about the maritime legacies of my land of Odisha/Kalinga/Utkala.

In October 2019, I was in a conference and met a Sri-Lankan researcher. As usual, people ask me which part of India I am from. Most people would not know where Odisha is. This guy knew it! And he told me one of their legends. Apparently, Singhalease legends say that long time back a prince from Kalinga was ostracised. He left with hundreds of his followers and settled in Sri Lanka and that was the beginning of Singhalese civilisation. That is why they know about Kalinga or Odisha. This means that the maritime culture of Odisha existed since ancient historical times. (PS: Ashoka the great sent his son and daughter to Sri Lanka to spread Buddhism in around 200BC. This means Kalinga's maritime culture has been there before this).

Stories tell a lot about the culture. Characters in stories tell a lot about prominent personalities and trades from history. (E.g. The famous Sanskrit play Mritchakatikam tells the story of love between a trader and a rich prostitute. This shows that prostitutes in ancient India were respected and powerful personalities.) Stories from Odisha/Kalinga will mostly have a character named "sadhaba". Sadhabas are people who used to do maritime trade. They would be rich, powerful and would usually leave home for half the year in their ships. This is very unique to Odisha. Stories from no other state tell about such a class of people.

Lastly, I will tell about the festival of boats celebrated in Odisha on the full-moon day which marks the end of the Hindu month of Kartika (falls in November). This festival is called Bali-jatra (literally "voyage to Bali")! People would go to the nearby water bodies and float small boats made from banana-plant-parts. This festival is NOT celebrated in any other state in India. BUT, this is a big celebration in all the South Eastern nations, celebrated under different names! In Burma it is called Tazaungdaing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tazaungdaing_festival), in Thailand it is called Loi Krathong (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loi_Krathong) and in Laos and Cambodia it is called Bon Om Touk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Om_Touk). These are the places the erstwhile Kalinga-Sadhabas used to sail to.

We Odias need to know our heritage and stories. Heritages matter! Legends matter! Stories matter.

Mao's mentoring!

(The following story is biographic. Only the names of the persons and the places have been changed.)

Dr. Atul Dash finished his medical studies in 1961. The economy of India was slow and not enough number of jobs were there (even for a fresh doctor). Dr. Dash kept applying for jobs. Applications, interviews, and rejections kept him busy. Before he had realized five years have passed since he graduated! One evening, having tea with his uncle Bamadeva, his uncle suggested why does not he open a clinic in Bamadeva's village? Bamadeva was a communist leader and was trying his best to improve the situation of his tribal village. (It can be noted here that those days a major tribal belt of India had significant Maoist-communist activities. Those were the days when the communist movement was fermenting in India. Soon, in 1967, things went really violent starting from the village Naxalbari. From this has come the current word of Nazalism.) With the support of Bamadeva and his friends, Dr. Dash opened his clinic. He would charge 2 rupees as consultation fees. That gave him just enough money to maintain a hand-to-mouth life. 

One day, a villager named Kashu visited Dr. Dash's clinic. Kashu had some problem in his leg. Dr. Dash diagnosed it as an incurable disease. However, Kashu had been advised by some people that getting a few injections will sort things out. He insisted on getting "some" injection. Dr. Dash had to inject pain-killers against his own judgment. Kashu would come once in a few days to get another injection. After eight shots, he was furious. He shouted at Dr. Dash, "what kind of doctor are you? You can not cure a simple pain even after eight injections. Did you do your studies using black money or stolen money?" This was the last straw on the camel's back. Dr. Dash lost it and slapped Kashu! 

Kashu lost no time and rang the village emergency bell! All the neighboring villages used to have such bells to organize a mass in case of an emergency. Soon a crowd of 400 villagers surrounded Dr. Dash's clinic. He was bound to a tree. The leaders (including Bamadeva) sat down to decide on the case. Dr. Dash was found guilty and was fined a sum of 800 rupees. Either he would pay the fine or be tied to the tree till he dies! Dr. Dash did not have that amount of money. He gave up and thought if this is the day he was to die, so be it. Bamadeva intervened and talked to the leaders and other friends of his. Amongst themselves, they collected a sum of 200 rupees and Dr. Dash took some loans and the fine was paid. 

This made Dr. Dash think. He thought people could "demand" cure because they have "paid" for it. He took a vow to never ever take a single rupee as consultation fee from anyone. He did find a job and became a successful cardiologist. Currently, at the age of 82-82, he keeps working as a doctor at a charitable dispensary. If anyone invites him to spend a few hours in some dispensary, his first condition would be the non-payment of any consultation fee by the patients. For, he was well mentored by Maoist movements!!