Tag: Bhubaneswar

That the holy cow is central to the BJP’s brand of politics is public knowledge. Everyone also knows that BJP backed think tanks have discovered many hitherto unknown virtues of cow dung and cow urine. But one never knew that among the myriad virtues of cow dung is its usefulness as a political weapon. Until […]

On a stroll in the park near my home this evening, I was struck by the number of young, smartly dressed, lovey-dovey couples in the crowd. They were all over the place: walking together holding each other’s hands, occupying the many games and exercise facilities inside and sharing the warmth of each other’s body while […]

The organisers must have been pleasantly surprised. With rains lashing the city almost all day on Friday, empty stands at the Kalinga Stadium, the venue for the ongoing Hockey World League (HWL), would have been entirely along expected lines notwithstanding the fact that it was the semi-final of the marquee event. Instead, it was a […]

The media thrives on tragedy. That’s the nature of the beast. But does it follow that the media person has an inalienable right to violate anyone’s privacy and be crude, rude and grossly insensitive in the quest for that elusive ‘exclusive’? Most media persons, especially of the television variety, seem to think they have. The […]

As the Naveen Patnaik government completes three years of its fourth term in office, the point to ponder is whether it has done enough in these three years to lay the foundation for an unprecedented fifth successive innings. To put it another way, has the combined Opposition done enough to chisel away at the BJD’s […]

The fight has now begun in right earnest. Ahead of the BJP national executive meet in Bhubaneswar on April 15 & 16, the battle of attrition between the saffron party and the ruling BJD has sent the political temperature soaring in the state. With both sides determined not to give an inch, things can be […]

By Sandeep Sahu Some time at the beginning of the 1990s, an acquaintance offered this author a piece of land near Bahai Bhavan, close to the already bustling CRPF Square, for Rs 10, 000. Even after making allowance for the fact that the ‘offer’ was made over two and a half decades ago, this was […]

By Sandeep Sahu What a turn-around it has been! In five days flat, the BJD, which deluded itself – and persuaded many others to believe likewise – that it is destined to rule till eternity, has been yanked off the high pedestal it had perched itself on and brought down to the ground with a […]

By Sandeep  Sahu Think of transgenders and the images that come flashing across the mind are those of garishly painted wannabe women landing up at your place for the customary bakhsis whenever there a birth in the family, seeking to fleece unsuspecting people in trains, bus stops and other public places with their nauseating antics […]

By Sandeep Sahu Having announced to the snooping landlord that I would be checking out the next day, I was determined not to return without finding a new accommodation, but did not know where to find one. Early next morning, I went to the Vani Vihar campus and was sitting at my favourite place in […]

By Sandeep Sahu Suddenly, there are few takers for houses on rent in Bhubaneswar. Just about everyone in the city seems to have a house – even those who squatted on public land till a few years ago. And everyone is busy adding floors or extending the constructed area on the lone floor to make […]

By Sandeep Sahu Come election time and suddenly, cine stars are in great demand. As per a well-established tradition, the most sought after among them invariably head for the party in power with the opposition having to make do with second and third rung stars and starlets from tinsel town. It was no different when […]

  By Sandeep Sahu It is an arrangement that suits no one other than the mandarins of the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA). The players of the Indian and visiting team have to undergo the eminently avoidable hassle of commuting some 35 kms not just to play the actual match but also for net practice at […]

By Sandeep Sahu Nothing sells like sleaze. But when sleaze combines with crime and politics, it makes for an explosive concoction. And that is precisely what we have been witnessing for four days at a stretch now. The sex video allegedly featuring BJD leader and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena and its […]

By Sandeep Sahu The lengths – and depths – to which the state government went to foil the farmers’ rally proposed to be held in Bhubaneswar today by the Navnirman Krushak Sangha (NKS) make one wonder if it was really worth the trouble. The heavens would not have fallen if the farmers had been allowed […]