Different places, distinguish culture and people which has its own beauty in itself. The journey of exploring new places has remain unending for me. I was leaving Nagpur, the city which is other wise known as 'The Orange city'. Life in Nagpur was quite and pleasant, after spending nearly two years in the city I was moving to a small city in Odisha. With lots of questions and wonders I reached the city called Rourkela in Odisha state. Rourkela in the local tribal language of Sadri means 'Our village', the city was also otherwise known as Ispat Nagar situated in Sundargarh district of Odisha. The place which used to be dominated of adivasis, apparently Rourkela was named after the Roulia indigenous population in this place. After living in most of the metropolitan cities, I was not very happy to come to this place. Due to the misconception I carried about the city that it lacks good communication, having no good place of entertainment, no night life etc. As I started exploring the place I tend to fallen in love with the town. I find the city to be well planned, the roads are widely constructed, the markets and street food stalls has a separate lanes, everything was so organized and beautifully placed. The city appears to be less crowded. There are better and quite places for entertainment. The educational hub NIT has big name in the city. The student from all across the county studying in the NIT, makes the place all the more cosmopolitan. There are few good tourist places inside the city such as Vedvyas, Hanuman Vatika and Khandadhar. One of the most fascinating thing about this place is the mark of the Germans who introduces Rourkela Steel Plant in 1950s. There is a club named German Club still exist in the city. Another interesting thing I noticed in this place was that the people who work here are not from Odisha rather from near by states. Every shop vendor I visited, I found them to be a non-Odiya person. The population are less Odiya than a mixed culture population. This could be due to Rourkela Steel Plant that has attracted many faces from all across the county to earn bread and butter in this city.
As I started with my academic life in NIT. I find the atmosphere more student friendly than typically teacher dominated place. One good thing I like about NIT is that the place is giving opportunity to the students to hunt their own talent by organizing number of events in the campus. The student and teacher relation is more friendly than restricting them to the strict exams and exhausting curriculum. The Teaching Assistant system of giving opportunity to PhD scholars to take lecture is the best way to understand the fellow juniors academic problems. There are many other academic things making NIT a outstanding institute in the country and Rourkela NIT happens to be on top out of all NITs in the nation, this itself makes big difference in a small city like Rourkela.
Exploring of different places and culture will continue for me, as I am a voracious traveller, extrovert than a introvert person. The travel certainly has helps me to openup my mind and vision towards everything thing I do in my personal and professional life. Nonetheless, I disagree with those people who think small cities has less opportunities, has no good education system and has no life to live in. One must have the art to relish the beauty each place has and admire the lesson it teaches us to think one step ahead to broaden our vision.
