During the all country review meeting last week (Shraavan Purnimaa), over breakfast, a senior colleague from some remote part of Pakistan asked, “Snigdha ji ! Which part of India are you from?”
“Odisha.” I replied prepared mentally with all supplement narratives to answer related queries that I happen to encounter in India after this answer … “Err.. What is that?” …” Which part of India?”… Blah … Blah…
But to my surprise, the response to my answer was, “Ohhh… Odisha !! Netaji’s (Subash Chandra Bose) birth place !!”… Now its my turn to be surprised as I have seen many Bengalis simply not accepting or trying to ignore the topic and most of the Odias are unaware of this fact …
“You know about Odisha ?? … and about Netaji’s birthplace?…” , I was curious…
“Ohh yes… Cuttack. Is not it? He also completed his initial schooling there… You are forgetting Snigdha ji, we were one country before partition (1947) we fought together as one nation … I know some freedom fighters from my village and nearby localities who joined Netaji’s Azad Hind Fauz ….”
After some time the discussion on Azad Hind Fauz some how got diverted to another brave heart from Odisha, ‘Son of the Soil’ Biju Pattnaik, his daring works, particularly rescuing the Sukarno, the President of Indonesia and how he pedaled 4,500 miles, all the way from Cuttack to Peshawar in Pakistan…
He shared how people in Pakistan respect these heroes.
Now I have an answer to all those Indians ignorant about existence of my State Odisha.
“Keep on exhibiting your idiotic ignorant. My state is acknowledged with respect even beyond border.” 🙂
For me, this brief reminiscence of history will always remain a wonderful memorandum of reverence to Odisha from Pakistan.
Source: Facebook Post | Image Source: MourningtheAncient.com
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