Silver City

A city that is surrounded by rivers -Mahanadi, and Kathjodi. A city of beautiful silver filigree work that is sold all over the world. A city that celebrated all religions. A city where Bali Jatra (The Sand Festival) one of the biggest trade fairs happens every year. Yet, the city remains obscure on its own.

It's been more than two decades that I have moved out from Cuttack, yet, you can remove me from Cuttack, but not Cuttack from me. The language, laced with swear words, that we use in both happiness and well in anger, is ingrained in me. But what I carry with me is the community feeling. Growing up I have always seen the whole community celebrating together festivals, irrespective it belonged to which religion. I have seen if there are people fighting on the road, there is a whole community trying to separate them, then egging them on. Always helping someone somewhere unknown to them.

There are festivals, especially for girls. Rajo, harvest festival, where whole city smells of flowers and desserts. Women and girls were celebrated, until they were not. I think, this may be the right time to also tell that we all women of Cuttack knew how to handle men, the disgusting, slime of the world kind. We have grown tougher by warding these pests off. But that doesn't make Cuttack any less attractive for me. It makes me who I am. It has toughened me up.

Talking about my city, I need to talk about the food. Dahibara Aludam ranks as the top food. We can eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack as well. It is poor man's food as well as the rich man's grub. No one can scorn upon a good lentil fritters dripped in yogurt with some spicy curried potatoes served on a leaf plate. It is a MUST in my city. Then there is the temple food. We have various temples and each of their food surpasses the other. So we don't compare them but relish them with all our might. And last not the least, Bali Jatra (The Sand Festival ) food where Thunka Puri and chena tarkari stands out. These are the food of my Childhood that still makes me drool.

Cuttack is more than 1000 years old, and there are some beliefs that are even more regressive than that. It has missed out on updating itself to new version. But it is still home. With its quirks and tricks, it is still the place that I have learnt to be me, though I update myself every year to unlearn , learn, relearn and repeat. The umbilical cord may have been snipped, but I still smell of the river soil that surrounds my home.