We may not be having world class roads !
We may not be having world class roads!
Many of you must be having near and dear ones living abroad. I do not know whether you love or hate your “phoren” cousins. But I have a very dim opinion of the tribe !
The moment they leave the motherland, they undergo a major metamorphosis quickly shedding their character and attitude to everything in life. The deep change is glaringly apparent when they return after a couple of years.
A cousin of mine had come visiting us the condemned “natives” who continued to cling to their roots in Orissa, (Mind you that is their feeling, not mine!) We went on a trip to Puri and Konark. My cousin who makes at least 10 times what I earn forgot his wallet! Bhabiji though did have her purse, only had large notes which she ofcourse could not use to pay sundry expenses.
I had to shell out money for everything……..from parking tickets, food bills to the temple bhog ! NROs love to hoard their hard earned dollars!
The Lord’s temple was apparently too dirty for Bhabiji! She wrinkled her nose and went on complaining about the wet stones on which she had to walk with her bare feet. I dropped a bombshell to amuse myself! I revealed that even leftovers of meals people have at Anand Bazar are considered as holy prasad and is gladly eaten. She protested with wide open eyes: “How unhygienic!”
And the best part is that the lady who did her graduation at Bhubaneswar had left India the previous year only after getting married. See the change!
The biggest shock to the erstwhile importance of NROs is the total lack of requests by country cousins to bring them goodies. Nobody pleads with them nowaday to bring a much coveted pair of Raybans or Nike or the prized bottle of Scotch!
With liberalization hitting India, almost all phoren goods are now available here starting from zippy cars to Nina Ricci perfumes. In the distant past, when they did take the trouble of getting a Rayban or a Canon camera, they handed it out as if they had brought a piece of the moon!
I sometimes, wonder how can these guys for the sake of a career forsake their aged parents to rush off to the big Apple. As health care costs are prohibitive abroad, the ageing parents are usually left behind. The parents stare at blank walls and school memorabilia of dear son in the vast empty house pining for their dear progeny. Dear son, whom the doting parents educated at the best college is busy fattening his bank balance!
In fact, I pity the miserable lives the NROs live abroad! Behind the glitter of swanky cars and plush apartments is a life of toil and hardship and zero social life.
They will never tell you that the dollars they earn fetch much less than the rupees they would have spent in India. A cup of coffee costs 3 dollars or almost Rs.135 ! They can’t even dream of engaging a maid, or get a driver. A gardener in London will charge you 10 pounds (Rs.850) for an hour’s work. They have to wash their own clothes and iron them since laundries are prohibitively expensive and it is cheaper to buy a new shirt.
Even they have to learn hair cutting, since a visit to a barber shop in even a suburb in any US town will put you back by at least $ 30 or say Rs. 1200! And everybody expects a tip abroad! From the taxi driver to the barber to the hotel attendant!
NROs invariably look for a homely and docile Oriya bride for their lads since a gori bahu will never make coffee for the parents or be a home maker!
And the latest fad among some techie NROs is running websites where grandiose ideas are discussed by neo and semi literates who have the slightest idea about the state’s problems or issues. Many of them issue naïve appeals to the idiotic Chief Minister urging him to do something or the other. I have seen some of these websites and cannot but be amazed at the total lack of depth about our problems. I guess they indulge in this to satiate their innate desire to do something for the state without ofcourse signing any cheques or volunteering time here!
They never realize that unlike Chandrababu Naidu, the Queen does not know how to open his e-mails! And the minions who do so promptly trash them since they are not MOU related!
True we may not be having world class roads or airports. Again true that our officers are lazy and corrupt and the system fails to deliver unless you pull strings. However, we lead tension free lives without having to deliver according to deadlines. We have families and friends to fall back upon in times of crisis. Meet with an accident and ten friends will come rushing and do everything from getting you admitted to the hospital, donating blood and buying medicines. Unthinkable in New York or London !
We have cheap food, clothes and medicines without which life is impossible to live. We can definitely afford to keep drivers, maids or gardeners and not go broke!
So dear friends, I am in serious love with Orissa and am sooooooo happy to stay here!
posted by Kalinga Sandha at
7:57 PM
71 Comments:
Clearly a case of Sour Grapes for the KS.
Better luck, KS, in your next birth.
dear NRO stay away from Orissa and Rest In Peace
Most of the NROs I met with recently in Bhubaneswar appeared to be jokers. Some of them suffer from a pathetic degree of inferiority complex which they try in vain to hide behind their patronising self. And their accent is the funniest of all the traits they have managed to ape in that country. I agree with last Anon that they would be better advised to stay away from Orissa and enjoy rubbing shoulders with the white morons that dominate the population of the US of A.
Dear Kalinga Sandha,
Great Posting...but this applies to NRIs too. Same story across the country. But, not all NRIs are such, most are though. Actually depends on the way one is brought up. Parents play and vital role in planting values on their siblings. Those who change overnight are condemned to.... even if they come from Pattamundai and settle in Bhubaneswar. Your cousin's parents may feel wretched now but what have they (not) done to deserve this ? Ask them....
What crap!
As if all those who live in Orissa (having failed to migrate) are saints.
The point is you have bad apples everywhere. So stop making sweeping remarks.
Look at the Orissa Bhainas...and you would know what Bad Apples are....
I am desparate to go to the US. Willing to be a cab driver. Or a plumber. Or even a cook.
Anything there will be better than my present here as a failed Bhaina.
Can any kind NRO help? I will be ever grateful. I swear on my bald head.
Any NRO groom for me ? Would love to marry one and fly off to London.
To Pratap M
Actually there is a vacancy in the US. Want to join as the media adviser to Bush ?
If you do not get it, at least you can wash the Whtie House cars!
After seeing the treatment meted out to our dear Shilpa Shetty, I hate all firangis. Bloody Brits with their word swallowing accents!
They have an accent,not us !
I fully agree with Anon.
Most NROs are jokers, terribly out of touch with the state's affairs. Wonder why they come here to preach us ! Let them stay in London and bear the taunts of the racist Brits!
To NRO
Yes, they maybe sour grapes for me but don't want to migrate just for a waiter or cabbie job!
To the nakli Oriya Toka & to the Kalinga Sandha :
The first comment was from me but definitely not the 2nd one which was addressed to Pratap M. Why should someone use by blogger/alias name ? Fail to understand. Is it that some people are always happy to pirate and dont mind riding on others back ? Have no identity ? Now this nakli Oriya Toka could have used any other name ...right ? Puzzling really. KS : Can you not protect a name ? Example- anyone can write as a Jhia and write anything...how will you know that it is the same person ?
Sandha,
You dont need to wash cars or be a waiter.
Leave them to Pratap M
Jhia
Marry Pratap M, an aspiring NRO.
He will take you to Guantanamo Bay for honeymoon. Wowwww
To Asli Oriya Toka,
I am really at a loss to check the real identities of the people who post the comments. There is no way of knowing if 100 people post comments with the same name!
However, rest assured that no comment is being dropped whether by asli or naklis !
Hi,
Well, first of great postings in this website.love them.
Well, I agree somewhat to ur comments,but not everyone is like that.Well it is a shame for those who ave lived in Orissa and change drastically,act as if they dont know how to speak Oriya anymore(only English). They behave as if they are totally different and are Hi-fi compared to their fellow Oriya people in Orissa(India).I dont blame the ABCDs, because they have never lived in Orissa, and have never been exposed to our culture as frequently as the ones in Orissa(or India).
I feel that no Oriyas or Indian (excluding ABCDs)should ever forget their root,their matrubhumi.
Will I have my honeymoon with Pratap M or the Yankees?
By the way, who is Pratap M? Pardon my ignorance !
To last Anon,
Well there are two kinds of NROs ... ...the ABCDs and the OBCDs. I hate the OBCDs since they migrate from here and promptly start running down our state!
There are many NROs who think they are the best brains alive.
Just because Infy or Sify selects them for working in their slave shops as bonded labour!
They think they have made it in life and are eminently equipped to advise us on everything from politics to industries,etc.
Clear case of Sour Grapes for all those griping about the success of the NROs.
Given an opportunity, all those cribbing now will make a dash for the US. Now dont claim you wouldnt. I am sure you would.
Jhia,
Ask Pratap M for his CV. He is an illustrious Bhaina.......
Yeah.
Pratap M is so illustrious that no newspaper/magazine was good enough for him for a regular employment.
So he remains a stringer for an agency, hanging by his Paan-stained teeth.
His trackrecord is blank.
But in a bankrupt state, he is a frontrunner for awards/felicitations as the Best Journo.
Jhia should be impressed.
Sorry, I hate pan chewing guys! Definitely Pratp M is taboo for me!
Nobody cribs about the success of the NROs .........i.e., if you equate success with a fat bank balance!
However , we hate their snobbery.
Some idiot who must have passed out from Salepur and is lucky to get into Infy or Sify, thinks he acquires the right to sermonise us!
Why does everyone have a grouse against Pratap M?
He is not a bad guy. Wish you guys stopped sniping at him!
Who decides whether Pratap M is good or bad ?
Let the jury be out.
Let us vote for or against Pratap M.
Any job will do for me in the US. Wonder if Bush will hire me as the White House gardener?
I want an honest answer. How many of the guys and gals reading this blog are sambadikas?
I am a journo.
am a journo
How can Anon demand an "honest" answer from Orissa Sambadikas?
How can dishonest ppl give honest answers?
The Orissa Election Commissioner objected to the Union RD Ministry's ad that carried a photo of minister Chandra Sekhar Sahu because it was seen as a violation of the Code of Conduct which is in operation in Orissa. Why is that gentleman silent about the so-called IBN-Hindustan Times Poll (conducted by a hired agency )that hailed Naveen the Patnaik as the No.1 Chief Minister in India ? Wasn't it covered on page one of all Oriya newspapers ? Does it not violate the Code ? And wasn't it carefully timed ?
That's why one must not have retired IAS officers in sensitive posts like the Election Commissioner. Not at least a day after he retires. You know what that implies !!! No wonder this is a state where a retired (retarded ?) IAS officer rules the roost.
Last anon's argument against the election commissioner is flawed.
RD Ministry is part of the govt and therefore cannot flout election code.
IBN-HT and Orissa newspapers dont belong to the govt. So they dont come under election codes. Understand?
Pls be better informed before shooting off your mouth next time.
Last Anon is right. The code of conduct does not apply to a survey/ poll by the media. Therefore I withdraw that part of the charge. But I stick to my observattion about the present election commissioner whose imaprtiality should be under a scanner on a number of counts.
Last anon must give his views on whether appointing bureaucrats to such posts a day after they retire is a good and transparent act.
What is the CMO's stooge doing out here ?
Jual Oram too is very unhappy with the Commissiner and has dashed off a memorandum to the Governor against him for behaving in a partisan way. Oram is part of the BJD-BJP alliance. Looks like dal mein kucch kaala hai
I am madly in love with Pratap M
My would-be hubby is a blackmailing pan-chewing pot-bellied Journo
Dear Sandha Bhai
So Gaya Kya ?
Ab Gaai logon ka kya hoga ?
Uttho Uttho. Likho Likho.
This pertains to appointment of bureaucrats:
well, we must decide case by case which is good, which is bad.
To chair administrative posts, you need experienced officials with proven trackrecords. Who else do you think can step in?
Though I hold no brief for the IAS fraternity -- many are crooks, at least this particular choice was known for his honesty. So let us not describe all of them as devils.
As for government's appointing pliant officials, thats what government's run by politicians are meant for. To what extend the officials can stand up to the government depends on the strength of their spine.
Kalinga Times has fallen on bad times!
Nalco and Sowsti ads have been taken off. Only Vedanta remains.
The plate is less than full. The Bhaina has reasons to be mad.
This is about last Anon's views on about the desirability of bureaucrats occupying the post of state election commissioner.Surely the present incumbent is not an exception. Successive governments have been appointing retired and pliant IAS officers to such posts.
But it's definitely a very bad and unhealthy tradition.
If you have a well-oiled polling system in place ( I bet we have one ) why would you require a person with administrative experience ? Although that is something our bureaucrats keep harping on all the time.They want a retired IAS officer because (a)
they want more and more of post-retirement posts for their ilk and (b) because they think no one other than IAS officers have the "experience" and " authority" to run a system or issue commands to the IAS collectors.Both are dubious and unconvincing grounds.
And finally about the honesty part.
You say XYZ is honest but some one who knows the man would say XYZ puts up a facade of honesty but is as crafty and corrupt as his "exposed" colleagues.
Any way honesty is not all about not taking bribes. You are surely not honest if you bend backwards to please the Big Boss and many of our so-called honest officers have done it a number of times. It's another matter that most people dont know about it.
But perhaps last anon is right in not attaching much importance to who is posted where. No point really cribbing really when you realize this state has been ruined by the IAS fraternity and yet the people of the state including thw present chief minister and many of our mediapersons still think they are a bunch of angels who have descended on our sacred land to lead us from darkness to light and ultimately to lead us to the "promised land."
Bhaina is furious at whom?
How about appointing Pratap M as the state election chief?
Mr M has no gainful employment. So he has lot of spare time. It would also give him some much needed identity too. And who knows, Jhia could be impressed and agree to marry him.
Am floored by the excellent observations made by last Anon. The IAS of Orissa! Apart from the Queen who has tremendous trust in them, show me one man (apart from the usual lot of supplier chamchhas) who truly likes and admires a babu in our state.
If a police man retires he can head a security outfit.If a forester retires he can head the environment wing or plantation activity of a corporate.
If a babu retires, he is fit to head another sarkari outfit in his post retirement phase and extend his life by another 5 years!
He can never hope for employment otherwise! Ofcourse, some are taken in by shady corporates like Reliance ,Sahara who have favours to repay. But they are usually out after a year!
True with their vast admin experience, they know very well how to.......
stop good things from happening.
work against public interest.
plz netas and make a neat pile in the process and ofcourse
behave like perfect bloated regents!
Just see how the appointments to the Information Commission were made!
A polythene purchase scam accused who was investigated by the CBI and managed to pull the long Bhaina connection to escape is our Chief Information Commissioner!
A dubious "professor" who was never promoted from his Reader post was made the Information Commissioner. He had to run to Uncle and lobby hard since he is an old acolyte of Uncle and thus manages to push himself into all govt. committees and Boards!
See the lousy orders these two idiots pass ! Not a single officer is punished though they usually harass the applicants.
Hey Jaga kalia!I hope you save the RTI Act in Orissa!
I hope Pratap M makes it to the Election Commission!
I am willing to marry him! Wow ! What a kick I shall get to see my friend's faces when I zip past them in hubby's red light car!
Why is everyone after me? What harm have I done?
who are you pratap M ?
mohanty/maharana/mardaraj/muduli...???
I fully agree with you Sandha Bhai.
The IAS of Orissa should be thrown into the Chilika lake so that they can live with the crabs and bury themselves in the mud !
Wish them a happy crabby life!
Actually, the state should stop providing cars to all its officers!
Why can't they use their own cars to come to the office? We can save the driver's salary and the misuse too!
Any other state, this Information Commissioner would have gone to jail.
Had read a detailed report on the polythene scam in a book written by a journo on the Orissa Cyclone.
Hoped the crooked-IAS will have to pay for his misdeends. On the contrary. The state is now paying for his wellbeing.
Are you mad Anon?
With the Queen in deep love with the babu fraternity,how can you expect this to ever happen in Orissa ?
Everyone knows he trusts them more than his pyjama nadis!
Pratap M,
I am after you because you are so cute.....
Previous Anon : No quarrels with what you want to say about the state Info Commission chief. But to refer to that "book written by a journo on the Orissa Cyclone" is horrendous to say the least. That journo was the greatest IAS boot-licker and as one gathers, because of an extreme level of inferiority complex. He loved to rub shoulders with people with the 3-lettered suffix and look for any opportunity to curry favours
Don't go by what the book says for the simple reason that the man who wrote it is highly untrustworthy and quite a liar.
Last Annon:
About the journo and the book: its your complex thats showing now.
The book was terrific. Got reviewed in Time magazine. Was a bestseller.
You obviously hate the book and the author because you are jealous. We understand your compulsion. You are sick.
Journalists are a bitchy-envious lot. They hate fellow colleagues who do well. They themselves cannot write a paragraph correctly. But criticise those who write critically-acclaimed books.
IAS boot-licker???
phew!
He is the only guy who dared to write against them, at least the dishonest among them.
You guys never wrote anything. If you have, why not show us? Assholes.
Why do journos spend so much time backbiting? Wish they could some serious reading and polish their skills.
The cyclone book was a bestseller. The hack who wrote it also never hesitated to kick the guilty babus who bungled up everything!
Good at least to know that some people are grateful. Those hit by the Anon's comments are ones who owe the man the jobs they hold today.The rest that they say about the book is bullshit ( Shandha Shit to be precise). And by the way any journal would surely review any book on a catastrophe of the kind of Orissa Supercyclone. 'Have read the book. It's simply as mediocre as the man who wrote it.It is poor on insight, research and quality.Period.
About being jealous ? Ha Ha Ha.
Critical Anon:
Care to give one example of how and where the book-author proved to be untrustworthy?
Or, one example of when he lied to be dubbed a liar?
I hope you furnish the examples. Or, is it just a case of sour grapes for you?
u see guys....our pana-chewing old journos are 'J' about someone who dared to write against some corrupt officials...this jealously clearly indicates that our bhainas who have all the time to post comments here as anons are boot lickers themselves.
grow up u oldies
do somethin n then comment
dnt just write fuckin shit about somebody who dared to write
To Mr. Anonymous No. 27
U called the book 'horrendous'...man ur so sick..the entire comment shows how insecure u urself r....its so easy man, just hide urself under the 'anon' cover n say whatever shit u wanna say.....such an ass-hole....just fuck off man...get a life
If the book on cyclone was bad, then how come one of our barishtha sambadika who was never gainfully employed in his entire career translate several chapters to Oriya and pass off as his own investigations. Last Anon who is getting vicarious pleasure in villifying the author of the well-writen book on cyclone should first find out one journalist who has exposed the corrupt IAS officers as much as the said journalist(whom he is crucifying) has done during his short stay in Orissa.
How can the book's author be an IAS boot-licker?
He is the guy who exposed how IAS wives in the state are monopolising plum academic postings. In one article, the journo exposed atleast 10 senior IAS officials.
As a journalism student, looked upon this journo as a role model.
Those accusing him now have never written a line themselves against any IAS.
His critics are simply jealous. He is a better journalist. Earns more. Better established.
Would you guys plz stop posting any further comments on this post?
I shall not put them up. Hence desist plz !
i completely agree with young journalist......the author is just few in orissa who could dare to do somethin...results..hes well established unlike many of our paan chewing bhainas
Dear Sandha,
why the gag order? the censorship?
let people have their say....irrespective of whether you agree or disagree with what they say.
To for free speech,
I agree with you. No unwarranted censorship!
But we have to move ahead. If you want to post comments, do so in the new post, not in the old one. You may continue
Any comment is welcome, but do so in the new post.
Dear Oriyas,
I am a native of Cuttack and since my father works in Koraput district, I was there till my graduation. We have stayed in the remotemost place in Koraput that even people of Koraput are not aware of. Every drop of my blood is truely Oriya. But then, one day I was asked a question I had no answer for: Where do I belong to?
Not Cuttack, since I was born and brought up in Koraput.
Not Koraput, since I am a native of cuttack.
But did it really matter????
For so called Koraputias I was a Kataki who had flown down to grab their land. I got the better share of ragging in college, had tough time making new friends, and list goes on.
When I went to Cuttack, I was bullied for being a Koraputia, my accent was made fun of and, the list goes on.
Once I was beaten up by police officers for no reason just beacuse I was from Cuttack and what he said was "Tu Kataki ma*** eithi gunda heichu?".
So who I am?
If I dont belong to a place, how can I belong to a state?
Now I am working in a sofware firm in Banagalore, making five times the money what other oriya fellows are getting here (the ones who bullied me). And I plan to go to the US very soon. I hate Orissa, its people and I am keen on going to US.
AM I WRONG?
Bangalore Tech guy
My sympathies with you! Hope the world treats you better.
Sad that we have so much feeling inside the state itself!
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