Bhuabaneswar has been the center of Orissa administration and culture for several thousand years. King Ashoka from the north invaded Kalinga in third century BC (this date is debated now) and the battle happened on a field on the banks of the Daya river, to the east of the city. The field has a view like the valley at Gettysburg, with the notoriety of the American Civil war. King Ashoka's forces won and the Kalingans suffered heavy casualty. Tens of thousands were killed and several thousands were maimed. It is said that the warring heart of Ashoka softened in compassion and he assumed Buddhism as a path for the rest of his life. King Ashoka was instrumental in sending emissaries out of the country to propagate Buddhism. Buddhism was popular in Kalinga. Apparently Kalingans in those days had developed the techniques of stone carving. The first archaeological artifact of India is preserved in the stone monuments near the Kalingan battlefield. With the rigor of rigid evidence, Ashokan inscriptions are labeled as the first writing in India. While this is true for stone carving, one has reason to believe that bark and palm leaf writing could be prevalent in the country before. Documents could wither through the weather. More digging and search might unearth older historical documents. Invention of writing in India has been a part of political debate in scholarly circles.
Temple building in Bhubaneswar began around seventh century AD. By about thirteenth century, Bhubaneswar must have been the most beautiful city in the world. Hundreds of temples of various sizes made with sandstone and igneous rocks were ornamented with exquisite carvings. Large water tanks and wide roads completed the rich story. The engineering of the construction of the temples is not well researched. The only supposition has been that the foundation must have been very well leveled such that temple structure remained vertically stable. Most of these carved structures dot the city landscape reminding us about the prosperity and the superior taste of the older Kalingans.. During the time of Islamic rule, the administration did move to the nearby trade center Cuttack, The latter had the added defense of being sandwiched between two massive rivers. Cuttack was the capital of the newly formed Odisha state in 1936. After India's independence, the Government decided to construct a new planned city in Bhubaneswar through the help of a German architect. There were new roads, trees and well designed buildings. Government offices moved to Bhubaneswar through the '50s. A new transient population developed. With its growth in time, there is competition by the developers to occupy the temple lands. The modern ailments of smog and automobile smoke are eroding the treasures of art. In my view, the choice of Bhubaneswar as the modern capital was a blunder by the Government. The Archaeological survey of India is doing some damage control, but the human beings are the worst predators of the art. Much of archaeological remains have been smuggled to the west. There is a rampant black market aided by the foreign "art collectors."
One of the ruins on the local hills is identified as an old amphitheater that was used for the cultural productions. The caves and the construction are dated to first century BC. Dance and drama had been popular in Odisha. I wrote plays and did some acting in my youth. I have developed interest in the movies as an educational tool. I had been dreaming about depiction of the life story of the fifteenth Oriya poet Sarala Dasa in a movie. Not enough information is known about this genius. We have thought of a fictional reconstruction based on his writings. I suggested to my sister if we could go to movie in Oriya language in the evening for me to evaluate the state of the Oriya cinema craft.
My sister got in touch with her husband who knew more about the film showings and the movie houses. He suggested that the Oriya language movies were not featured in well-known theaters and recommended that we go to a newly released movie called Bahubali which was advertised as a "record smashing box office hit." I agreed with the popular opinion. We scheduled to leave for the 8 PM showing. "Good" movie theaters are tucked in large multistory commercial complexes. A friend of my sister's husband owned a set of movie theaters in such a complex. My sister's husband had procured the tickets.
We were escorted to our seats. The movie began after the usual commercial trailers. The movie appeared as a computer graphics triumph celebrating the technical skills of the Indian software engineers. The material was similar to the movie "Avatar" in the west, except the scenes were much more fast moving. The story was thoroughly violent. There was risk and drama every second. All obstacles were created to make an oversize hero of the character. It was apparently based on an old Tamil mythological story. The movie was dubbed and was simultaneously released in half a dozen languages in thousands of theaters worldwide.
While I was getting distracted with the repetition of computer graphics scenes, I was hearing loud outbursts of joy in the auditorium. The Indian movie audience can be exuberant in their emotional expression. The long three hours were a source of pure excitement to many. In the Indian movie industry, an entry has to be a mode of entertainment first and then cater to any other taste like education or social analysis. The Indian movie distribution supports a wider viewing public in Middle East, Central Asia, Far East, even Russia and China.. The producers throw in various segments of forced scenes to serve different audiences. Arbitrary dance and song sequences appear. In the current movie, they had fighting sequences, a man against a million. A pure "art movie" rarely succeeds in the box office.
The marathon movie finally ended about 11 PM. We had thought of picking up some supper on our way home. It was not clear which stores would be open late in the night. Bhubaneswar is not a safe place for night travel, the law and order having deteriorated to an all time low. Stores were closed such that they did not cause attention to the street gangs. We drove by various areas and did not find a single food store open. Finally reaching home, my sister tried to fix some supper for us. The US alternative of bread and milk supper apparently was not culturally admissible. I did feel for a moment about the domestic state of Indian women. I felt internally that a reform was strongly needed. Cooking late night could give an opportunity to talk. We discussed about the political situation in the state and the deteriorating condition of law and order. I learned that The Government had made a political move of offering high subsidy in food grains in order to prevent starvation deaths. The process had helped to create a shorter work day for people. It enabled people to use the newly available free time to use liquor and drugs. There were no public athletic fields or libraries to engage people. The liquor peddlers were the political operatives. The whole process appeared circularly vicious and corrupt. I was delighted to hear that my sister was finally completing her doctoral thesis to be submitted to the University. She was expedited for a doctoral degree because of a professional requirement since her college was being converted to be a deemed University. She had been analyzing the style and contents of mother-daughter teams of novelists in English language. In particular she was looking into a duet where the daughter was raised in a different culture. I was very interested to read her thesis and learn her findings. We set up a time three days later for our discussion.
