Kshatakta Aitihya, Swasharudha Sahitya, Nisata Prashasaka ebam Esabura KIchhi Abekshaniya Satya
Bishwajeeban Mishra
Time rolls on with unpredictable and unanticipated changes each and every moment. The erstwhile Ravenshaw College became Ravenshaw University which is striving to become the first-of-its-kind university in the whole country as well as at the international level.
Ravenshaw has produced innumerable illustrious personalities like Mayadhar Mansingh, Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, Baikuntha Patnaik, Rama Chandra Behera, Godavarish Mishra, Sadasiv Mishra, Akshaya Mohanty and many others. The list is virtually endless. It has also shaped international leaders like Biju Patnaik, renowned scientists like Dr Prana Krushna Parija, noted diplomats like Lalit Mansingh and many other great personalities. Notably, most of these eminent persons were boarders of East Hostel and West Hostel who brought pride and recognition to not only just Ravenshaw or Orissa but also to the whole country.
Needless to mention, the hostel magazines of West Hostel and East Hostel namely ‘Urmi’ and ‘Jagaran’ respectively have been playing a seminal role in creating and shaping many poets, writers and scholars of twentieth century Orissa since the early 1920s. Eminent poets like Mayadhar Mansingh, who was the first editor of Urmi, and many celebrated litterateurs of Orissa had been editors of these historic hostel magazines once upon a time during their stay in these hostels as boarders. As boarders of East Hostel, Lalit Mansingh, Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, Annada Shankar Ray and Baikuntha Patnaik created history in Oriya literature by launching ‘Jagaran’, the mouthpiece of East Hostel. Similarly, ‘Urmi’ was also launched by a group of dedicated students who later earned cult status through their invaluable contribution and stupendous achievements. But they never forgot the East and West Hostels which provided them a home away from home and nurtured them intellectually. Former chief minister Late Biju Patnaik was so proud of West Hostel that despite his busy schedule he never missed a single function of West Hostel. Once he had even visited the hostel to just inaugurate a tube well in the garden.
But it is a matter of great misfortune that the two glorious hostels, which serve as the epitome of Oriya culture and literature, are no more functioning as full-fledged hostels like before. As a direct consequence, the two hostel magazines, ‘Urmi’ and ‘Jagaran’, are out of print for two years. While the West Hostel is housing the residential Ravenshaw Management Centre (RMC) in collaboration with Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), the East Hostel is closed for repair and renovation. Though students of RMC and international students are staying in the West Hostel, the hostel does not look the same as it used to look earlier.
This historic institution should certainly strive for progress and prosperity but it should not do so at the cost of our glorious past. Of course, change is inevitable but the foundation stone of a change should not be laid over the burial of a glorious heritage. The ethos, magnanimity and spirit of a heritage should not be ruined. Rather it should be carried forward. Our competent successors and inheritors should concentrate on how to maintain the continuity of the institution for the noble cause of Oriya culture, literature and heritage. We should all come forward and extend our active support and selfless cooperation in this regard.
It will be a welcome step if the West Hostel and East Hostel are restored to its original state. The RMC can be shifted to the unused buildings inside the sprawling campus or to the second campus under construction at the western end of the city. With the restoration of the two hostels, at least we can see the two historic magazines, ‘Urmi’ and ‘Jagaran’, in print again.
Erosion of a tradition
Bishwajeeban Mishra
Time rolls on with unpredictable and unanticipated changes each and every moment. The erstwhile Ravenshaw College became Ravenshaw University which is striving to become the first-of-its-kind university in the whole country as well as at the international level.
Ravenshaw has produced innumerable illustrious personalities like Mayadhar Mansingh, Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, Baikuntha Patnaik, Rama Chandra Behera, Godavarish Mishra, Sadasiv Mishra, Akshaya Mohanty and many others. The list is virtually endless. It has also shaped international leaders like Biju Patnaik, renowned scientists like Dr Prana Krushna Parija, noted diplomats like Lalit Mansingh and many other great personalities. Notably, most of these eminent persons were boarders of East Hostel and West Hostel who brought pride and recognition to not only just Ravenshaw or Orissa but also to the whole country.
Needless to mention, the hostel magazines of West Hostel and East Hostel namely ‘Urmi’ and ‘Jagaran’ respectively have been playing a seminal role in creating and shaping many poets, writers and scholars of twentieth century Orissa since the early 1920s. Eminent poets like Mayadhar Mansingh, who was the first editor of Urmi, and many celebrated litterateurs of Orissa had been editors of these historic hostel magazines once upon a time during their stay in these hostels as boarders. As boarders of East Hostel, Lalit Mansingh, Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, Annada Shankar Ray and Baikuntha Patnaik created history in Oriya literature by launching ‘Jagaran’, the mouthpiece of East Hostel. Similarly, ‘Urmi’ was also launched by a group of dedicated students who later earned cult status through their invaluable contribution and stupendous achievements. But they never forgot the East and West Hostels which provided them a home away from home and nurtured them intellectually. Former chief minister Late Biju Patnaik was so proud of West Hostel that despite his busy schedule he never missed a single function of West Hostel. Once he had even visited the hostel to just inaugurate a tube well in the garden.
But it is a matter of great misfortune that the two glorious hostels, which serve as the epitome of Oriya culture and literature, are no more functioning as full-fledged hostels like before. As a direct consequence, the two hostel magazines, ‘Urmi’ and ‘Jagaran’, are out of print for two years. While the West Hostel is housing the residential Ravenshaw Management Centre (RMC) in collaboration with Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), the East Hostel is closed for repair and renovation. Though students of RMC and international students are staying in the West Hostel, the hostel does not look the same as it used to look earlier.
This historic institution should certainly strive for progress and prosperity but it should not do so at the cost of our glorious past. Of course, change is inevitable but the foundation stone of a change should not be laid over the burial of a glorious heritage. The ethos, magnanimity and spirit of a heritage should not be ruined. Rather it should be carried forward. Our competent successors and inheritors should concentrate on how to maintain the continuity of the institution for the noble cause of Oriya culture, literature and heritage. We should all come forward and extend our active support and selfless cooperation in this regard.
It will be a welcome step if the West Hostel and East Hostel are restored to its original state. The RMC can be shifted to the unused buildings inside the sprawling campus or to the second campus under construction at the western end of the city. With the restoration of the two hostels, at least we can see the two historic magazines, ‘Urmi’ and ‘Jagaran’, in print again.
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