Sound Sleep

: Hello! How are you?
Me: Hi; I am fine
: So, what’s going on dude?
Me: Nothing, but who are you and where are you, I cannot see you
: I am God, now in invisible mode
Me: Hey, don’t joke. How can I believe that you are God? Why don’t you show up?
: Cool baby. I am not visible because I have many avatars which are created by human being and I don’t know which one you would like to see. You can believe me as God, as I know you are Parthasarathi
Me: That’s not enough. I am on social networking site and a blogger. It’s not difficult to google up and find me
: Ok, you want proof. Wish one thing and I will fulfill it
Me: What can I ask? I need so many things- money, power, company of beautiful women…
: See, politicians promise so many things, but they don’t fulfill. You wish only one thing, I shall fulfill that
Me: ok, grant me sound sleep every night
: Only sound sleep; nothing else? But why?
Me: See, sound sleep is enough for me. You very well know that without food, clothing and accommodation one cannot sleep. For this you have to make provision of good income for me. Besides sound sleep is not possible without healthy body and mind. So you have to keep my body fit and mind tension free. What else I need?
: You are very diplomatic
Me: My friends say so……….hello, are you there? Disconnected or what….
(My mother asked me to get up from bed as it was very late. Was that sound sleep)

My Tryst with Politics

Being a student of Political Science, I read Aristotle saying that man (human being to be more accurate-I am not gender biased) is a political animal. Naturally I have interest in politics-both keeping a tab on political news and participating in political activities. My friends know that I have unsuccessfully contested in university election.
I was excited from the beginning of this year, as implementation of Delimitation committee report created some sort of opportunity. I downloaded the voter list of my assembly constituency, did some research regarding the procedure for contesting election (this is one reason of being irregular in posting blogs though I have a dozen topics in skeletal form).
But I did not apply to any political party for ticket. You might be thinking which party would have given me ticket! Yeah you are not completely wrong. As there is nothing wrong in trying I should have gone ahead. But I was plagued with the middle class dilemma- what to do next if I failed in my attempt. Anyway I am jobless, so there is no fear of losing my source of income. But here lies the exact reason- as I have no income, no savings and nothing to spend in the election campaigning.
The objective of posting this blog is to make an appeal before my friends and well-wishers. It may sound rude, but moral support is not enough. I need financial support. So I request all of you to save some amount of money for me regularly and I will need that next time. In the meantime you enjoy your life and keep visiting this space- it is free.

Rasogolla And The Myth of Bengali Sweet

I love food. I love sweets. I love ‘Rasogolla’.you ask for mitha(sweet-meat) in a restaurant in Orissa and they will provide rasogolla, although they sell a variety of sweets; such is the popularity of this sweet. Rasogolla is available almost all over India. But regarding the origin one myth is associated with rasogolla. Many people believe that rasogolla is originated in Bengal; though the truth is that it is an indigenous Oriya sweet. Though the exact time period of its origin is not known it is believed that rasogolla is being consumed in Orissa from medieval period.
People who believe that rasogolla is of Bengal origin claim that one sweetmeat maker from Bengal invented it in 1868 when he tried to make something ‘different’. To discard others claim regarding rasogolla’s origin some even say that Indians did not know the use of milk derivatives as rasogolla is prepared from chhena- a milk derivative. They learnt it from Portugese and this knowledge came through Bengal. Such a pity! These researchers forgot that in Mahabharat we get the description of various milk products being prepared in Goppura.
Let us know the actual fact about rasogolla. Among many other variety of indigenous sweets rasogolla is offered as prasad in Jagannath temple. Particularly after Ratha yatra Lord Jagannath offers rasogolla to Maa Laxmi to please Her(as Lord Jagannath is accompanied by His brother and sister to Gundicha temple and Maa Laxmi is left). This ritual is followed every year. So one can get an idea of how old rasogolla is; definitely its origin is not in 1868. Another important fact about Jagannath temple is that; nothing is used as Prasad in Puri which is not indigenous including vegetables like potato tomato cabbage etc.(though these are being used in other Jagannath temples). This proves the point that rasogolla is originated in Orissa.
One might become curious as to how rasogolla is so much popular in Bengal. During nineteenth century many Oriya Brahmins were employed in Bengal as cook who were called thakurs. These people introduced rasogolla in Bengal which became popular for its taste. Oriyas were never interested in publicity. When people in Bengal wanted to store rasogolla for more days they mixed some impurities in the ingredients to increase its shelf life. Then only it could be easily exported. Lack of publicity and marketing by Oriya people led to the wrong notion regarding rasogolla’s origin. To get the exact taste one should try fresh rasogolla if available instead of canned one. Though canned rasogollas are also exported from Orissa it decreases the taste like any other packed food item. Salepur and Pahal are famous for rasogolla in Orissa. Next time you visit Orissa don’t forget to taste the authentic rasogolla.

Disclaimer

Hi viewers.We appreciate your interest in our blog. But a word of caution.As we are and will be dealing with diverse subjects which may have different perspectives we recommend all of you not to use the site as reference for academic purposes.However you may debate and discuss it's content.Your opinion and suggestions are most welcome for improvement.

Oriya Music Album Industry

Hi friends! Welcome once again. In this article I will discuss about the Oriya music album industry. For this purpose I have excluded the songs from Oriya films and songs produced by Aakash Vani (AIR). Scope of this writing includes both devotional (bhajan) songs and modern songs.

Now-a-days we have so many music companies. But in the early days, when there were no music company in Orissa, companies like Gaathani and HMV were releasing records of Oriya artists. Later Oriya companies like JE (now Sarthak) and Samrat produced music cassettes besides geetinatyas, jaatras and comedies.

In the early 1990s album music saw a little degradation both in content and form. Dual meaning lyrics and hindi film music initiated songs made inroad to the industry. Then only audio albums were available. In 1995, Jai Prakash Mohanty (popularly known as JP) made a brave attempt to picturise popular old songs of veterans like Akshaya Mohanty, Prafulla Kar Pranab Pattanaik, Chitta Jena and others. These were being telecast by Doordarshan in the programme ‘Rajanigandha’. Popularity of this programme caught the imagination of the music companies and they started producing videos of their new music albums. Now Oriya album industry has grown in size and the quality of work has improved a lot. Even albums are more popular than film songs in Orissa. Hit albums are being dubbed and released in West Bengal, and response is encouraging.

Here is a list of some of the most appreciated personalities involved with album industry.

Singers: Ira Mohanty, T. Shouri, Sailabhama, Shakti Misra, Barun Misra, Bibhu Kishore, Pankaj Jal, Namita Agarwal, Manasi, Pami, Sanghamitra, Kumar Bapi, Sricharan, Subhasis Mahakul, Govind Chandra, Saurabh, Narendra Kumar, Anasuya Nath.

Music directors: Veterans: Swarup Nayak, Late Saroj Nanda, Amarendra Mohanty, Deepak Kumar, Manmath Mishra. Contemporaries : Malay Misra, Abhijeet Majumdar, Santiraj Khosla, Purna Khuntia, Giridhar Gamang (former chief minister of Orissa), Braja Jena, Gagan Vihari, Prem Anand (real name Premanand).

Lyricists : Nizam, Alekh Biswal, Arun Mantri, Basantraj Samal, Srikanta Goutam, Nirmal Nayak, Panchanan Nayak, Jatindra Pradhan.

Actress : Lipi, Meghna, Kajal, Mithi, Sweety, Deepa, Jina, Lopamudra, Gargi, Susmita, Naina, Soma Hota, Soma Bhowmik, Monalisa(3).

Actor : Deepak, Late Papu, Bulu, Bobby Mishra, Aakash,Salil Mitra.

By virtue of their performance, some of the actors like Anubhav, Sabyasachi, Ameli, Mithi, Kajal have established themselves in the film industry also.

In spite of its success story, album industry is facing some problems. It is alleged that mafia (bhai) and builders are investing money in the industry for other reasons, not for the sake music. Stories are published about the rural girls aspiring to act in the albums are being exploited. Music companies are encouraging cheap lyrics for instant success. Bhajans are lacking devotional feelings. Business wise piracy is a threat to the music companies.

The Beginning...

Namaskar. Welcome to “the Entelechy”; the blogging world of Parthasarathi and Tusharkanti. I am Parthasarathi, writing this introductory piece.
Till the year 2003, I was using internet frequently. For last five years I remained cut-off for various reasons. Recently I joined Orkut. And now I decided to blog. But the question is why.
The obvious answer is to express myself. Anybody in the creative field will say the same thing. It is an academic answer. Then what is the difference? I have no hesitation in admitting that I have a strong desire to get noticed. And this is the space, where I don’t need anybody’s mercy or permission. So here I am.
Besides drawing your attention, I want to provoke your thought process through my writings. If it inspires you a little bit or can change something positively then that is a bonus for me.
I will write personal accounts and on topics of my interest like music, movies and literature. You will get to read Orissa related topics also. Sometimes you may expect funny and non-sense discussions.
Now, something about my co-author Tusharkanti, who is known as ‘tkb’ among his friends. He has special interest in cyber-gaming (Counter-strike). In academics he is inclined to Economics and Finance. So you will get stuffs related to these fields from him.
We expect your cooperation and participation in our endeavor. Wait till our next publication. Till then, take care. Bye, bye.