Memories of The Gambia, West Africa

For quite sometime, I have been trying to put together a travelogue sort of a thing stringing together my memories of our stay at The Gambia, West Africa. Here is an excrept of the same. I need your valuable suggestions and feedback for me to make it more readable and interesting.

"We shifted to our house at a place called Latre Kunda which was about 4-5 k.m from the school that my parents were going to teach. The house was a typical upwardly mobile West African House which had a tin roof and in side there was artificial ceiling. The house was inside a complex which had 2 other houses on either side of it and a drive way leading on to it. Initially we were the only occupant in the complex and alter joined by two of our other neighbours. We were at last happy to settle down in the house which we really liked a lot. The house was all furnished by the Jamat (community) and also had utensils and kitchen ware all purhased new and installed. The area market was just opposite to our house which had temporary as well as permanent vendors selling their stuff. The market resembled a typical African market where the temporary vendors had there products spread across a mat on the earth and most of them had clustered their product in to small heaps and sold those heaps at a given price. Very few people at all (only a few permanent shop had weight system). The market had a vegetable section, a grocery section, a fish and non veg section and a stationery and miscellaneous section. The market used to open at about 9 a.m in the morning and used to go on till 1 p.m in the noon. To avoid the mid day heat, the temporary vendors will shut shop at 1 p.m and will resume at about 5 p.m in the evening. The market had atypical smell of its own which used to be hot, humid and a peculiar characteristic smell – the smell of dried fish, groceries, palm oil etc all mixed up to give way to a heady smell. Here also people put up small road side stall selling minced beef balls soaked in palm oil and local condiments which used to be served with French loaf all for 50 Bututs (1 Dalasi = 100 Bututs). Besides there was grocery shops storing fresh French loafs directly from the bakeries which used to be treat for us because of its taste when taken with meat or chicken peas curry.

Whenever, we used to enter the market or go outside, small kids would rush to us shouting ‘Tubabs’ ‘ Arabs’ etc. The term ‘Tubabs’ meant foreigners and some people also mistook us for Arabs. My brother used to study in a nearby primary school and his fan following was to be seen to be believed. Initially we used to go and pick him up at the end of his school but later we just gave up as his journey from his school to our school used to be another freedom march of the Mahatma Gandhi where numerous school kids would accompany him and he will be there right in the centre smiling gloriously."

Gone are the old sweet days of childhood !

Childhood was such a nice joy ride for all of us. Those were the days when Television was just making its foray in to the still regulated Indian market. To have a television in one’s house was considered to be a real matter of pride. It so used to happen that in a given area or colony there was rarely a television set found in anybody’s house. Those who could afford the large, heavy black and white set were treated with respect and people used to make friends with the owners and tried to be in the right side of their humor.

It so happened that we were the few people who were treated with such respect.

The reason being that my Nana’s house had a big black and white television which was recently bought by my younger uncle and what frenzy that created…We waited with bated breath each time Sunday would approach as that would be the day when we would go bag packing to my Nana’s house early in the morning. The whole of our family would travel in hand pulled rickshaw and it used to be a long way from my house to my Nana’s house. We would reach their much to the joy and happiness of our uncles, aunties and cousins. My mother’s grandfather's’s house was just across the boundary wall and my special friends were the sons of my mother’s aunt. I would immediately jump and go to their house which will put my grandma in a fit. Once I am on the other side, we would have a whole lot of game laid out in front of us from which we had to choose. There was kite flying by my young uncle Nasir, or marble playing by my buddy cum uncle Papu.

However, television programme used to be the winner hands down!

What joy it was to see Star Trek, Spider Man , Vikram and Betal etc on a Sunday along with home grown serials like Hum Log, Buniyaad etc which were quite in demand during the early days of television in India. The special attraction came in the evening in the form of Hindi feature film at 5.45 p.m . before that they showed a sports based programme called ‘ World of Sports’ which my uncle watched keenly as he himself was a national level badminton player.

Our Nana’s T.V room used to be filled up to full capacity by evening time as the entire neighbourhood will pour in to watch the movie. People will watch through advertisement, umpteenth announcement to be able to watch the movie. Advertisements and other announcements was considered as a necessary evil, an useless distraction in the noble pursuit of watching the much awaited movie.

Those were the days when the only channel used to be the state sponsored channel Doorodarshan which did not have lots of programme and also the number of T.V transmitting stations were few in number. So people used to have long. Spooky T.V antenna’s being supplemented by T.V Boosters all in an effort to enhance the T.V signal. Due to lesser number of programmes the T.V channel used to work only at specified time. People would switch on their T.V much before the programme started and would also watch through the agriculture related programme ‘Krishi Darshan’ just to be able to see their film song based programme ‘Chitrahaar’.

One of my favorite programme used to be Spider Man, which is the old cousin of serials like Shaktimaan. But unlike the newer generation we never used to jump off buildings thinking ourselves to be ‘Spider Man’!

The ultimate fun was on festival days when they would show a good movie related to the occasion or the religious background.

The most boring time were the National Days when the channel used to invariably show Richard Attenbrough’s “Gandhi” which even a kid could guess if asked about the movie that they will run.

There used to be lots of anticipation among movie freaks during election days, as the whole day used to be filled with Hindi movies and they also showed latest movies too.

In those early days of television, renting a VCR (Video cassette Recorder) was a matter of dreams for youngsters like me. We used to have VCR along with Video cassette of latest movie rented during festivals at our Nana’s house. Thing used to come to such a pass that, because of the demands of such commodities in the rental market, it had to be returned on time failing which (even a delay of 5 minutes) used to result in the penal of actually paying for the entire next days rent too. To avoid such a situation, all of us cousins used to watch all the movies throughout the night and the determination with which we did was unparalleled compared to our efforts in studying for exams too!

In today’s era of multiple channels, each competing and vying for viewers attention and TRPs, our childhood seemed a distant story located in some fairyland where innocence had its place under the sun and the mind was still unadulterated...

Varun Gandhi and the politics of hatred

Recently joined a discussion forum on whether we should ban Varun Gandhi for his inflammatory speech or not. Here is what I had to say:

If we as a country pride ourselves on the rich democratic tradition and secular values, then in my opinion Varun Gandhi should be banned immediately.The reason being that Varun being young and highly educated, the people of this country had a lots of expectation from him and the least they expected was for him to behave in the most irresponsible way that he has done in the last few days.

Before people rush and start supporting Varun Gandhi, lets just go back in history to the time India got independence. At about the same time two nations emerged - India and Pakistan with dreams on their eyes and hope for a better future than what their lots have had till date. In Pakistan the government and people of that time opted for Pakistan to be an Islamic republic while India opted to be a democratic secular republic. It is not that in India there was no pressure from fundamentals group to give precedence to religion over state. But great leaders and visionaries like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and others stood their ground and weathered the conflict to preserve the secular nature of India. Hence the India which all of us see as the great melting point of all culture and all religion is due to the perseverance, tolerance and foresight of the people of this country which makes it such a great nation.

The very fact that we are sitting calmly in the nice confines of our homes and discussing this issue threadbare goes to prove the secular and democratic nature of this great country. otherwise we would have been dodging bullets of terrorist, or the army or bombs triggered by some militants if we were like Pakistan, which has lost all originality and sovereignty as a country being hemmed by all sides by Taliban, the military, U.S, the corrupt selfish politicians etc.In such a scenario if we have to preserve our secular fabric and culture and the very freedom which we pride ourselves with, then we'll have to curtail the advance of extremist forces like Varun Gandhi coz he represents not an organisation but a thought process which is very dangerous to the very existence of our great country.As we brace up to curtail his fundamentalist march, India remembers with dread what Varun Gandhi Sr. did in his hey days some 30 years back. May we never see such a day coming to pass."

As an Indian who is trying to unravel the mystery of my own country thru readings by great author like Ramchandra Guha or William Darylmple, I occasionally get alarmed by the sudden rush of extremist wind over this country which fundamentally (through ages and centuries) been secular in nature. It has silently weathered ravages of numerous foreign invasion but in the end ended up being the victor in culturally assimilating what is good in these races and cultures. The United States may pride itself for being the oldest democracy but in my opinion India had in built democratic values from such a time when the nationhood of the U.S even did not see the light of the day.

' Ashante Tanzania' !

I was away the whole of last week on an official visit to Tanzania. While the previous week was spent running around for yellow fever vaccine and other formalities, the journey itself took nearly 1 day (considering the domestic flight time, nearly 10 hours of flight time from Mumbai to Tanzania with the transit waiting time and the time difference). The actual destination was Moshi near Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

We arrived last Monday in Kilimanjaro airport at about 2.30-p.m local time and were picked up by the organiser's vehicle. It’s about 1 and a half hours drive from the airport to Moshi. Traveling on the way brought back nostalgic memory of an era long gone by. Of our stay in The Gambia, West Africa when I was barely 9 years old. Everything seemed the same... not touched by time or space.. The houses seen on the side of the road was few and far between and the roads looked deserted... It was the dry summer season in Tanzania and the country was waiting for its rainy season to set in..

We arrived at Moshi at about 4 p.m local time and were taken to the Hotel Bristol cottage where we were warmly greeted by a middle aged Indian man along with a lively chirpy Indian girl behind the counter.. They were expecting our arrival.. It really surprised us to see familiar faces in the far flung distant land... We were shown to our room where we rested till late in the evening... We came out for dinner and were greeted by Dharmesh Bhai who worked as a part time manager doing evening shift... from him we came to know that their forefathers had come as early as late 1800s to early 1900s... they all have come to adopt the language and the land and now have made it one of their own... Dharmesh Bhai has never seen India but hopes to visit it one day soon in future... We looked at the menu and saw most of the items were Indian in nature... I ventured out to order a mutton curry which was not really 'Indian' in taste but was ok for me as I was feeling very hungry...

The next day the organisers came and took us along with their team to their outreach camp which they had organised in a place called Ngongokare. It was situated near the foothill of the beautiful Mountain Meru which is the second largest after Mt. Kilimajaro.. Initially we did not see any patients but slowly we started seeing them coming in ones, twos and dozens.. Suddenly the primary health centre was over flooded with lots of patients who had come for their eye screening... In the meanwhile we decided to look around the place and to our surprise found a school in the vicinity... we saw lots of school children playing near the school.. we went near them and seeing us coming they also approched us in curiosity... however, their curiosity was short lived as once we took out our cameras out they backed off in fear.. they had great fear all over their expression and would not come near us no matter what.. it seemed to us that as if we have taken out some blcak magic wand to cast a spell on them.... Thats when we met Obama...

"Hi, I am Obama.. not the president Obama but Obama from Ngongokare.... May I help you'... We turned around to see a huge and burly man towering above us and smiling quite generously... We shook hand and he asked us if we would like to visit the school... we said that we wanted to take pictures of the kids but somehow the kids were afraid of the camera... then Obama turned to them and spoke something in Swahili and also demonstrated to them practically that clicking picture would not harm them.. There after the kids grew quite friendlier with us and allowed us to click their picture.. Thereafter they grew quite ecstatic and held on to our arms and some of them even hung at the end of it! They accompanied us right in to the health centre and thus we ensured that we contributed to almost 50% of the entire patient that day ;)

While all the commotion were going on inside, I sat down and had a chat with Obama.. He told how life is not easy in this part of Africa and how AIDS has become a curse which they have not been able to shake off in the last few years... He was really saddened the state which the people of the country find themselves... it was unbelievable for us to hear from him that the highest mortality for HIV/AIDS is in the age group of 15 - 18 years and is the single most killer disease in the country.. Then suddenly Obama's eyes lights up and he look really excited..

'You guys are from India... right...' 'Yes' we said.. 'Well I have heard that the Indians have big doctors and medical institution' ....'Why don t you guys do somethign for our people'...' why do nt you come and set up hospitals in Tanzania and help these poor people who even do nt understand what they are dying out of' ... he seemed really excited on this idea and was smiling corner to corner on his ingenuity... then he looked at us... suddenly the light dimming in his eye... suddenly the fear of the fact that none of his idea may see the light of the day.. Suddenly realising that we are occasional tourist who may never come back... However we told him that we would try and see what we can do.. as we were an eye care institution, there may be very little we can do in this regard.. However we will give it a try... ' You guys, if any time u want to come just lemme know... we will provide all land and everythin that you require'

It was nearly 2p.m and the stream of patient have now thinned and have become a mere trickle.... the staff were in pack up mode and we were ready to leave... On the way we stopped at a local market and the sight of lush green vegetable which was of a much more larger size than average, filled our senses with delight.. We were told that the vendors came from up the mountain each day to sell their merchandise and leave by evening. Whatever they were able to sell they sell and the rest just gets thrown away or sold at dirt cheap cost.... We came back to Moshi by 3.30 p.m and were dog tired and as such slept in to late evening....

Dharmesh Bhai was smiling when we came down from our room... ' aur batayee ye... kaisa raha aap logon ka trip..." he asked. 'bas thik thak raha'... we said 'so how did you like the food' .... That brought out the agony inside me and my colleague who have been struggling with the food for a good amount of time since we arrived.. Seeing our predicament Dharmesh Bhai asked us to come with him... 'chaliye, appko aaj ek accha Indian resaurant le kar chalte hain'... he took us to the 'El Rancho' restaurant which was about some distance from the city and in the night had very few diners around.. Dharmesh Bhai dropped us and told us to call him back so that he will come back to pick us up as there are no taxi available in that part of the city at night... My colleague and myself had a hearty dinner of Indian delicacies prepared by a chef from Dehradun... We simply relished the food and the ambience...

The next 3 days were used for the official activities and we got very little time for any sight seeing and other activities... On the end of the official activities on the 3rd day we hired a taxi and the driver's name was Richard... Richard took us around the city and took us to shops having collection of local crafts and products... I was totally taken aback by the beauty of the product and the sheer simplicity and richness filled me with delight.. Have got quite a handful which will fill up all the shelves in my drawing room..

During the excursion we were taken to a local handicraft industry called the 'Shah Industry'... infact anywhere you go you see shops like ' Patel's groceries' or 'Shah's bakery' etc... Anything Indian or to do with India has got in to the local culture quite well.. Each hotel or eateries will invariably have aloo stuffed samosa and chapattis... Infact when we were in the Shah industry we met the owner Divy Shah and we instantly strike off a conversation... according to him, his grandparents came to Tanzania in the late 1800s and since then they have been living there.. All the Indians speak beautiful and fluent Swahili... ' As a general question for discussion I asked Divy whether he misses home (India).. He had an incredulous look on his face and he said 'but this is home'...

One of the members of the official trip had come from London and was a British.. I think he put the entire phenomenon quite beautifully... Said Phillip ' people the world over blame the British for invading through force and establishing colonialism and help in expanding the empire... but nobody has noticed the silent cultural colonialism that Indians have been involved in... Since last 100 years Indians have spread all across the world... slowly, insidiously but surely.. Through their culture, food, the way of life they have had a profound influence on people across the world.. Right now where ever you see people opting for Indian food, Indian yoga and Indian way of life... infact in London most of the Britons prefer Indian food than others... even though 90% of the Indian restaurant are run by Bengalis from Bangladesh..People throng these restaurants to get a flavour of India...' To this I remarked that things which are done through love and in a manner which is non threatening tends to linger for longer time than the use of coercion in instilling cultures and values... and also as such India as a country has this inherent quality to absorb any thing foreign and assimilate it in its culture and processes it to present its own version .. Which is so lovable and adorable to one and all..

The next day our flight was at 4.30p.m. We reserved a taxi which will take us to a water fall (i forgot its name) and to the foothill of Mt. Kilimanjaro... The waterfall visit was great and while returning we had great view of the Mt. Kilimanjaro (lovingly called as Mt. kili by the locals)... We returned to the airport and caught our flight back to Mumbai with memory of a beautiful people and place which also carries the fragrance of our own country in more way than one... While returning our pilot declared that he will be flying very close to Mt. Kilimanjaro and if we wanted we could take photos... the view outside was majestic and truly spectacular... Kili stood proud and tall in all its glory... with a reminder of the great country and the great people of which it is an integral part.... While returning on my flight back I remembered all the beautiful landscape, the courteous and beautiful people. To all of them in the end I could only say.........

' Ashante Tanzania’! (Thank you Tanzania)...

P.S: Chk out the pix at http://www.flickr.com/photos/imtiguy/)

We The People.....

I have not written for quite some time and one of the reason being the 26/11 attack and followed by the mother of all scam coming from a firm which literally means truth and integrity.... May be I have grown cynical or may it is the reflection of the times we live in....

To start off, a miserably failed country in our neighbourhood manages to slaps a nation of a billion people on 26/11 and lo and behold ! what do we do after nearly 45 days of the shame... we just sit around creating dossiers (about god knows what) and showing supreme restraint to please Uncle Sam... did Uncle Sam showed that type of restraint when the twin towers came crashing down... No Sir... Never... they actually went all out to 'smoke out the rats out of their hole'.. where was this beautiful sermon about showing restraint and not escalating the situation...

I saw candle marches... people giving vent to their pent up anger.... the media goin all out to lambast the perpetrators.... but then what has come about out of all these... i guess we are pretty much in the same stage as we were before...things have cooled down a lot... frayed tempers have been allayed.. now we are focusing more on the golden globe award... or on whether Ghajini or Rab de is the best movie...

I guess as a nation we have some how grown used to calamities, disasters and loss of life.. for us lives in India are the cheapest commodity on the offer... we see umpteen scandals, ghotalas and scams each living day of ours which initially starts off with the front page of news papers only to be reduced to a small column (many years later) printed somewhere in the last page informing the audience that so and so scamster has gotten away scot free after so many years and wasting so much of taxpayers money...

talking about tax payers money, there is talk about governement rescuing Satyam from the current crisis.. all from yours and mine hard earned money.. for a firm which cheated the living daylight out of all stakeholders with so brazen a lie of such mammoth proportion that it will put the greatest liar on earth to shame... and all that the company does is to hold a press conference... and hold on.. its not to apologise to the common man whose faith they had betrayed but its about how to save their own skin and that of the company with no remorse shown on their face... and what happens next... the government comes rushing to rescue Satyam and the chief minster of the state making pleas with action plans on how it can be saved....
I just wonder if such leniency would have bee shown to a pickpocketer who is caught red handed on any given day...

strangely there has been a eerie silence from the political class regrading the Satyam crisis... such unequivocal support for the firm is unparallel in the history of Indian politics... cutting across party line all parties have kept mum on the situation... a BJP functionary who demanded a CBI probe was shooed down by his own party quite stringently... and the reason is for everybody to guess...

I think as a nation and the middle class which is one of the largest group that matters in India have somehow chose to have a selective amnesia about everything.. 'as long as it does not affect me why shud i stick my neck out'... That has been our motto of ours for ages... at the end we end up name calling the politician and start blaming everybody about the mess that we are in... I think as a class we the middle class have rarely asserted ourselves when it comes to giving direction in the march of a nation.. I just wonder how many of us vote when it comes to voting time... all of us avail of the chutti and go out bag packing to picnic... not strangely we get the leaders we deserve... hence let us not get irritated by politicians throwing shoes at each other.. or at a callous transport minister who smiles and cut jokes at a time when the transport strike has entered its 7Th day... coz for us everything is 'chalta hey yaar' till it does not affect us personally...

I guess a great reawakening needs to happen and more so in the middle class - that is us who should awake and realise that while we were asleep in the reverie and impression that it is not affecting us, the rot has gone so deep and wide that it now stands at our own door step and threatens to engulf us and our entire being... We 'll have to realise that in a democracy and a pluralistic society as ours we should get up and exercise our rights to ensure that not only our family is protected but that we initiate a process which will lead to ripple effect and engulf the entire nation leading to a brighter,safer, stronger, self resilient and happy India.... 'Let my great country awake in to that heaven of freedom' Amen

The pathos of Mirza Ghalib

I have been an avid fan of Jagjit Singh and thru his gazals have come to know about the literary prowess of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib... (quite a reverse route I must say...)
I have been a great fan of all the gazals from the T.V serial 'Mirza Ghalib' .... The one in particular which appealed to me was ' yeh na thi hamari kismat...'
Rcently I happened to read the transaltion of the entire sher which goes something like this...

Yeh na thi hamari kismat ke visaley yaar hota,
(It was not in my fate that I should meet my lover)
Agar aur jeetey rehte, yahi intezaar hota
(If I had continued living, the same anticipation would have existed)

Tere vade pe jiye hum, toh yeh jaan, jhoot jana,
(That I am living because of your promise, then know this to be untrue)
Ke khushi se mar na jaatey, agar aitbaar hota
(Would I not die out of happiness, if I had any faith in you)

Koie mere dil se poochchey tere teere neemkash ko,
(If somebody asks my heart about your half drawn arrow)
Yeh khalish kahaan se hoti, jo jigar ke paar hota
(Where would this prick (or sting) come from, if it (the arrow) had crossed my heart)

Yeh kahaan ki dosti hain ke baney hain dost, naseh,
(What kind of friendship is this that my friends have become strangers)
Koi chaarasaaz hota, koie ghamgusaar hota
(How I wish someone would have been healers, someone would have been confidantes)
Huey markey hum jo rusva, huey kyoon na gharke dariya,
(Why have I died so notorious, why did I not drown in the river)
Na kabhi janaaza utatha, na kahin mazaar hota
(Never would my funeral (coffin) have been lifted, never would there have been a tomb )

I was moved literally to tears seeing the deep pathos and sorrow in the entire poetry... In this poetry Ghalib talks about the never ending wait for his beloved and the treachery meted out by her to him for the overtures made...
The disillusionment of Ghalib emanating from his failed love leads him to also doubt the sincerity of his friends and a longing for friends who would heal his bleeding heart.
The poem ends with a sorrowful note in which Ghalib evn predicts his death and the ultimate neglect to him even after his death (Na kabhi janaaza utatha, na kahin mazaar hota )...
In real life , Ghalib's journey has been marked with poverty, lack of recognition and neglect...

History has been witness to the lives of great poets who have left behind golden letters to hold on to and express yourself with... but on a personal front most of them went through turbulence in their relationship, financially and also in terms of getting recognition from the contemporary society.. Most of the great wriers and poets died a pauper and it is only after their death that the society recognised their great work and honoured them... (O' Henry, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Rousseau, Paul Gauguin, Johannes Vermeer etc etc)

I sometimes wonder if as a society we are so insensitive to work of creativity of such great man, that they have to spend their entire life in poverty and misery only to die for us to recognsie their work...
Even today art as a full time profession is looked down upon as a 'non paying' job and not able to sustain one thru the rough and tumble of life.

Recently I had a chance to meet such a veteran who had done soem beautiful oil paint art which he showed to us. This gentleman had worked as makeshift artist in various magazines and newspapers. He was narrating of the difficult time that he always passes through in order to make both ends meet. Talking to him I saw the fire in hsi eye... the sort of creative energy which is desperately looking for an avenue to express itself... but then I also saw it being temepred by the harsh reality of our times which has somehow subdued the fire within....

The reverie of Baliyatra

Yesterday when I was channel surfing, I tuned in to the Oriya channels of Doordarshan and E TV on which they were showing the formal inauguration of the ancient Baliyatra- an ancient festival of Orissa celebrated with much pomp and show all across Orissa and beyond.
Every Oriya has fond memories of the baliyatra which used to be held over a span on a week or more with fair and fun all the way....
Doing a bit of searching for the ancient history of Baliyatra, I came across the following facts- some of which I knew and some which I did not..

"Baliyatra literally means a 'Voyage to Bali'.
Brave and adventurous Kalinga sailors were making daring voyages to different far-off lands of the world and had maritime contacts with Roman Empire, Africa, Persian coast, Arabian countries in the West and China, Japan, Siam, Champa, Burma, Ceylon etc in the East. Besides, the countries with whom the people of Kalinga maintained enduring commercial and cultural relationship were the islands of Java, Sumatra, Bali and Borneo collectively known as Suvarnadvipa or modern Indonesia. Orissa's glorious maritime past has been proved from the excavated materials like Roman coins, Kushan coins, Chinese ceramic shreds found from different parts of Orissa in the recent past.

Some socio-religious festivals prevalent in coastal Orissa also provide vital information about Kalinga's glorious maritime heritage. Festival of Baliyatra on Kartika Purnima (full-moon day of the month Kartika ie. Oct-Nov) is one of them on which 'Boita Bandana' (ceremonial send off to the merchants sailing in boats) festival is observed throughout Orissa. Even now toy boats lit up with candles are floated ceremonially by the women-folk of Orissa on all available water courses in the same fashion in which the ladies of yore used to send their men on voyages wishing
them well.
Large number of men, women and children attired in colourful costumes throng all water bodies carrying tiny boats made up of banana peels or paper or solapitha with lighted lamps inside to launch them on the gentle waves accompanied by blowing of conch, ululations by women and occasional burst of
crackers. Oriya women perform the rite of 'Boita Bandana' to evoke the memories of the voyages
of adventurous Kalingans of yore and create a truly romantic mood.

Apart from other places of Orissa, Baliyatra is celebrated with much pomp and grandeur in the historic city of Cuttack for seven days from Kartika Purnima. Some opine, Oriya Sadhabas (sea traders) were sailing off to Bali on this auspicious day at the end of the turbulent monsoon season for which it is named as such.
Others say, Sri Chaitanya, the great Vaishnavite Bengali Saint, first landed in the soil of Cuttack after crossing the sand-bed (Bali) of Mahanadi river on his way to Puri on this auspicious day.
Lakhs of people congregate in the famous Baliyatra festival of Cuttack city where innumerable varieties of goods are bought and sold. People also enjoy boating on the river Mahanadi with friends and relatives in the moonlit night during this festival." (Baliyatra : Reminiscence of Orissa's Maritime Glory by Prabhukalyan Mohapatra)

My earliest childhood memory of Baliyatra in Cuttack used to be that of accompanying my family along with cousins et al and visiting the Baliyatra ground (opposite the barabati stadium). In those days the fair was only limited to the 2 large field opposite the stadium. It used to be filed with all kinds of vendors - from daily utility items to decorative pieces, books, stationaries, cloth, automobiles etc etc...
The part which I used to love the most was the 'thunka puri' (popularly known as chhole bhature in the north).. besides the ladies used to love the 'alu dum and dahi bara' (a specialty of cuttack, alu dum is a chtapata mix of potato curry with curd and 'bara'.... do nt know the exact translation of bara though) along with 'gupchup' (pani puri)...
it has been nearly 5 years since i last saw baliyatra... i now hear that it has grown larger in scale.. it now occupies about 5 times its own space as compared to what it used to occupy during during my childhood.... it has got even more colourful with MNCs putting up stall in it too with all techno gizmos....
even then I will closely cherish the sweet memories that I carry from a an era old gone by... the thought of baliyartra, dussehera and other festivities make me nostalgic even today... reading the proud history of my state makes me want to go back and do something worthwhile to ensure that my state makes up for the lost years in development..
whenever i call up some of my cousin now a days, i find them inevitably in Baliyartra.. while i heave a long sigh of regret I wish them a very happy baliyatra 2009....