Travel to Northern India: Cuttack

Cuttack sits at the apex of the Mahanadi Delta, upstream on the right branch of the river about 15 miles from Bhubaneshwar--twice that from Puri, on the coast. The city is crowded between the two main branches of the river, which is less than ideal for a growing town. Growth here was further impeded in 1948, when Cuttack lost its status as a capital city to Bhubaneshwar.

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Back in the days when Orissa and Bihar were a single province, Cuttack was the seat of the circuit court of the Patna High Court. From 1930, when Orissa became a province in its own right, it inherited what is now its High Court.

Interior hall.

From a subordinate building.

It's early; the office hasn't opened yet.

The judge's car, a fine old Ambassador.

Corridor. The nizarat is the administrative office of the court.

A still more minor judicial office, this one is for traffic offenses.

It's in this building.

Another Raj relic.

The sign says "Old Medical Ward," but the building has a much longer history than that. It sits on the site of the Lalbagh Palace and was occupied for decades by British officers, including (after 1930) the Governor of Orissa.

It's a busy place, now functioning as a hospital and postgraduate institute of pediatrics.

We've come around to the back side of the hospital, which has this large circular bay whose view is now blocked by the main road.

It's a nursery, full of cribs.

Across the road, the mostly dry right-branch of the Mahanadi, the Kathjuri River.

On the other side of the peninsula, and facing the left branch of the Mahanadi, the old Church of St. Michael and All the Angels is locked tight.

The Cuttack Baptist church.

Christ Collegiate School.

In the hallway, a photo worth a thousand words.

A local wedding hall.

On the wall, another picture worth a thousand words.

A later generation, not quite so toughened-up.

And still later, Nandini Satpathy, a Communist-turned-Congress firebrand, long-serving member of the Orissa legislature, and twice chief minister of the state. She died in Cuttack in 2000.

Cornerstone.

Back in town: an old mansion.

More typical buildings.

Streetside occupation: bicycle repair.

The city's Balu Bazaar is famous for silver filigree.

Newer technologies have arrived.

Newer dreams, too.