Two eminent Oriyas, settled in Delhi, had one question for me when I met them recently. How do I find Bhubaneswar as a place to live in? In fact, one of them after retirement, had shifted back to Bhubaneswar but after a brief period, returned back to Delhi. The reason may sound silly to many, but his family had a serious problem - no domestic help! They choose the option to go back to their comfortable cocoon in Delhi’s suburbs.

Both persons genuinely take great pride in being Oriyas and they never miss their social functions back home. I was amazed to know that they subscribe to Oriya newspapers —- courtesy the age old “Book Post” (the postal department charges less for sending printed material by regular post) and they are compulsive viewers of the two or three Oriya channels that are available outside the state. They have always had a part of Orissa in their Delhi lives. Yet, they were not comfortable living in Bhubaneswar - the city that is growing at a very fast pace and where even the recession did not have any impact on the booming construction activity in the city.

Contrast this.

I have had three non-Oriya neighbours in my apartment complex in Bhubaneswar. One of them was a South Korean who left Bhubaneswar following uncertainties over his company’s prospects in the state. Needless to say that he was working for Posco. We hardly interacted because of an unpleasant encounter between us (thanks to the friendly neighbourhood dogs who climbed up four storeys to rummage through my garbage and spread it outside his door!!).

Though we were companions in our flat’s lift several times, we never exchanged pleasantries. He, I guess and suspect, always gave me dirty looks through his lowered eyes because I had kept my dustbin outside my flat at night, which had attracted the dogs in the first place. Though I cleaned up the corridor that day and apologised to him profusely, good neighbourly relations never quite picked up after that.

I watched the gentleman and his family vacate their flat in two-days’ time after the Posco project was stalled. I had never seen their dustbin being kept outside. Nor did I ever see domestic help frequenting their house.

I was really impressed with the meticulous arrangements that they had made for their departure. A professional packer took an hour’s time to empty the flat. Now that Posco project has been cleared I am sure he would be back in Bhubaneswar soon, but not as my neighbour because the flat has already been occupied by another family.

The other two families I know are a Punjabi family and a couple from Maharashtra.

The Punjabi family is well clued to the local culture. They are not only assimilated, the family has become part of local social networking. On Mondays, I see the entire family walking barefoot to a nearby Lord Shiva temple without fail. All of them speak Oriya, Hindi and English with equal ease.

The Mumbai-based couple, who are working in private sector companies, can’t speak a word of Oriya. But, they have no problems in adjusting in Bhubaneswar. They say it’s the most happening place and they love Bhubaneswar. For them, language is no barrier and they say that most of the people speak Hindi. They seem to be enjoying their stay in Orissa.

A friend of mine, a senior bureaucrat from Delhi, who has made only three trips to Bhubaneswar, all during the last one year, has fallen in love with the city. He’s from Himachal Pradesh, a nature lover, and cannot stop talking about the emerging new Bhubaneswar; its cleanliness, its greenness, its natural beauty ...

Bhubaneswar is growing at a rapid pace and the character of the city is changing equally fast. In another couple of years, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack will become one city. I am told by old timers that when the Capital was shifted from Cuttack, many government employees preferred to stay in Cuttack and commute between the two cities because the new Capital “did not have a life and was devoid of an energetic soul”.

But Bhubaneswar is no longer a city of just Babus. People from different walks of life and different places of the state as well as the country are settling down here and reaping the benefits of a growing city as it provides many opportunities and holds hopes for many. The city’s aspiration is ironically, evident in its burgeoning slums. One finds slums being named after districts and even states!

Language is no problem. Go to any school or college or for that matter any market compex, the lingua franca is Hindi. Kids are at ease with Hindi.

They do not blink their eyes while watching dubbed Bengali or Telugu films in Oriya. They are ready to assimilate whatever they feel is the best. The desire of the younger generation is to be part of the national mainstream. There is aspiration for all, a desire to grow and do something. The city no longer goes to sleep at 7pm.

Yes, the city is growing. From being a temple town, it became a city of Babus and now the city of temples is surging forward to acquire the status of a metro. The streets of the city that were until recently, dominated by cars with red beacons, are now aflash with luxury cars and their owners too have an identity. Will the city ape the model of Delhi or Mumbai or Chennai or will it have a character of its own - only time will tell. Its emerging structure is too young for anyone to make any prediction.

It’s not that everything is rosy. Bhubaneswar is a young metro and it has its quota of urban ills: rising crime; lack of traffic sense, challenged infrastructure that cannot adequately serve its growing population.

If the city’s youthfulness and associated energy is not channelised, there is the danger of the city developing into a wayward concrete jungle.

Coming back to my friend’s question: Is Bhubaneswar livable? It actually depends on what one wants. If you are a status quoist and love a static place - everything around you and within your reach - Bhubaneswar is not the place. If you want to be part of a young city bustling with energy that may even verge on the chaotic, you will see it with different eyes.

So, am I hoping all this will convince my friends to move back to Bhubaneswar? No chance I think, unless I can find them a bit of Delhi in their backyards here.