Puri: The coastal town of Puri has lost its pristine charm, of late, slowly becoming an ugly distortion, said OrissaPOST and Dharitri Editor Tathagata Satpathy, Saturday.
Speaking at the 2nd edition of Walking Bookfairs Travel Writing Festival at the iconic Z Hotel in Puri, Satpathy took the audience on a nostalgic journey down the memory lane of Puri in the 1980s, sharing anecdotes from his observations.
Satpathy said back then the heritage city was in its most undulated form. “One could easily spot the sea waves right from the Chakratirtha Road. The nooks of this street invited the likes of film auteur Satyajit Ray, poet Allen Ginsberg, and many others,” he said.
However, the old charm of the City was lost in the following decades owing to rapid and mindless urbanisation, he said.
Shedding lights on the inception and evolution of Z Hotel, which he owns, Satpathy said the initial days of running the property were fraught with painstaking struggle – from financial shortcomings to gathering trained manpower. “Topping it all was to make the hotel accessible to the public,” he said. Satpathy said the hotel was earlier commonly referred to as ‘European Hotel’ since it was popular among foreign tourists. “Back then, amongst the handful of luxury hotels in Puri, ours had the best ambience,” he added.
He said earlier, the National Cadet Corps (NCC) took the hotel on a rental basis. “We gained the ownership of the hotel in 1979. Following meticulous renovation, the hotel was thrown open to visitors February 16, 1980,” Satpathy recalled.
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“The air had a strange, and yet, strong sense of excitement February 15 night. It was a solar eclipse and it was a pitch-dark night. Everyone was on their toes for the hotel’s grand opening, scheduled the very next day,” he added.
He said on the inaugural day, the hotel opened to a reservation capacity of 27 beds. “Forty-two persons lined up on the first day,” Satpathy chuckled.
The day-long event riveted with stirring discussions around food culture practices associated with literature.
PNN