Being from the land of Lord Jagannath, Orissa which stands tall as an epitome of Hindu piligrimage (India's haven for FDI, unexplored charisma of landscapes, temples, lakes, beaches, flaura, fauna and so on) makes me feel proud to have a strong connection with my nation Hindustan or India. In fact, every Oriya accross the world is proud to be an intrinsic part of one of the worlds most diverisfied and culturally vibrant democracy.
But do the nation and the caretakers, intellectuals or so called responsible citizens of India are even aware of it. Not surprisingly, Orissa is more known as the land of cyclone, flood, corruption and extreme poverty. In Nothern India, people mistake Oriyas as South Indians or Madrassis following our colour, as Bengalis following our names and so on . The frustration among we Oriya's grow further when one finds news of flood relief in Bihar, Assam & Bengal spread over eminent newspapers and TV Channels while Orissa is also mercilessly drowned under the wrath of the rain God.
Moreover, adding to our identity woes are films like 'CHAK DE' which create sensation in the name of all state representaion of Indian national game where the 16 member team formed in the film was developed keeping in mind the scenario of Indian hockey over a period of time. Then how can the director and the writer speak logic while ignoring the core strength of Indian Hockey i.e, the likes of Dilip Tirkey, Ignace, Prabodh etc.Is the whole nation chasing virtuality by ignoring deep rooted facts of Oriya girls championing women's junior national hockey, Orissa men winning bronze in Senior Men's Hockey. Are we going blind in the face of commercialisation?
Incidentally, this is not the only occasion where Orissa has been misinterpreted. Another piece of blunder was the Shahrukh Khan starer (Asoka) where most of the shots from Orissa were edited in the final version of the film and the director made all efforts in diverting history by showing Asoka romancing with the princess of Kalinga which had rose furore among the Oriya's accross the state leading to a ban of the film in some parts of Orissa.
Such repititive ignorance of our state even if it is not deliberately done hurts the nationalistic feelings of Oriya's accross the country and is an apparent set back in the process of nation building advocating the oneness of India. So, the responsible citizens of our nation must handle such sensitive issues with care and proper research work. More importantly, we oriya's must realise the urgency of these issues and contribute not only towards the economic upliftment of our state but also in establishing the original identity of Orissa. Hence,not fueling the culmination of inhuman anti-national feelings like naxalite extremism and violent protests that is wel witnessed rising in the north-east and southern belt of our country.