POSTAL REGD. NO. BN/237/20-22 RNI REGD. NO. ODIENG/2013/51524 Vol-8, Issue-10 january, 2021 BhuBaneswar PAGES 40 PRICE `20 MOVING AHEAD...TOGETHER FLASH B CK THE YEAR IN WHICH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HELD THE WORLD IN A DEADLY GRIP HAS ALSO LEFT BEHIND SOME MEMORIES to CHERISH FOLLOW @MyCityLinks @MyCityLinks @MyCityLinks.in @MyCityLinks www.mycitylinks.in CovER | STORY www.mycitylinks.in MOVING AHEAD...TOGETHER Vol-8, Issue-10 january, 2021 BhuBaneswar EDITOR'S DESK Group Editor: Sandeep Mishra Consulting Editor: Vinay Jha As 2021 Beckons, Some Positive Takeaways Editor: Satyabrat (Sanu) Ratho From A Year That One Would Want To Forget Senior Associate Editor: Dikhya Tiwari S one looks back at 2020, nothing Swasti Singh has been pedaling her way to Associate Editor: defines the year better than what glory since she burst onto the cycling scene in made headlines more often than 2015. From making a mark at the state level to Monojit Dasgupta not - the COVID-19 pandemic. winning her first national title in 2018, her early Publisher : Yet, there were moments, includ- years in the sport laid the foundation for what Sameer Hans ingA several even as the pandemic raged on, that would soon turn into an impressive career. The Chief Content Supervisor: make one believe that the year was not entirely 17-year-old sensation is our Sportsperson of the Debi Prasad Sahu about doom and gloom. In our Cover Story, we Month. look at some of these moments which made Odi- The Kalinga Stadium Sports Complex has Reporters: sha and its people proud. been giving a sense of purpose and direction to Jyoti Prakash Sahoo Like many other sectors, the Odia entertain- sportspersons for some time now. Read about Debamitra Mishra ment industry also bore the brunt of the pan- the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance Cen- Design: demic’s fallout - only three feature films were tre, in City Sports. MJ DESIGN released during the year. There were, however, With people beginning to move out of the safe significant achievements in the digital entertain- confines of their house, we thought this was a Consultant Marketing: ment industry - from videos to shows to short good time to take a close look at the fashion Bikash Kumar films. Read more about this in our Cover Story trends this winter. From classic and chic to bohe- Roy Choudhry package. mian and sporty, our Fashion section brings you Consultant Pandemics and diseases that claimed a large the lowdown on everything that’s hot this winter. circulation and Sales: number of lives have found a way into works of Elsewhere in this edition, we also bring you some BY DEBI PRASAD SAHU Ashok Sahani literature over many centuries. From incidents in handy tips for a healthy winter. early Greek history to the Black Death in Europe Ranjeet Rajwada’s musical journey began at Executive (Sales): and the Spanish Flu in the last century, there the age of five and he has now reached a stage Subhasmita Jena have been many books on these outbreaks. As where he is referred to as the ‘Prince of Ghazal’. 020 has been a watershed Himani Das a year completely dominated and controlled by There have been awards and accolades aplenty year in more ways than one. Subscription & Circulation: COVID-19 comes to an end, this edition takes a along the way, and he tells us all about it in a The year began with much Rashmikanta Pradhan look at some of these literary works. free-wheeling conversation. hope and joy as it marked the beginning of the second Social Media & decade of the 21st century. Everything BY RAKESH KUMAR ROUL 2 Content Executive: seemed normal,but a pandemic was Megha Mohapatra brewing in the backdrop. IDIot OF MY CITY There was a faint noise of a viral outbreak that had begun in Decem- Printed & Published by Sameer Hans on behalf of PNV Ventures Pvt Ltd, 108/B, Janpath, Unit III, Bhubaneswar – 1. 2020 ber 2019 in Wuhan in China’s Hubei Phone: 0674-2394586/87 province. By the end of January, the Editor : Satyabrat (Sanu) Ratho [email protected], www.mycitylinks.in virus had spread to more than a dozen Printed at Perfect Print & Graphics Pvt. Ltd., countries around the world and Italy 154-Sector-A, Zone-B, Mancheswar Industrial Estate, Bhubaneswar - 10 was bearing the brunt of the deadly virus which is now known as SARS- CoV2. The novel coronavirus was first de- tected in India on January 30, 2020 and it reached Odisha on March 16. The atmosphere in Bhubaneswar was PHEW! electrified as people watched the de- velopments unfold on their television My Mantra: WHAT A YEAR screens and digital devices. Mask on, On March 23 Odisha entered an Helmet off!! unprecedented lockdown that would last till the end of May. Life came to a standstill as Odisha worked rapid- Disclaimer: While all efforts have been made to ensure the correctness IT WAS of the content compiled for this publication, PNV Ventures Pvt. Ltd. ly on building COVID infrastructure. assumes no responsibility for the effects arising therefrom January 2021 | MY CITY LINKS 3 COVER | STORY COVER | STORY www.mycitylinks.in 2020 2020 www.mycitylinks.in As the lockdown came to an end there was a rapid influx of migrants BHUBANESWAR HOSTS DEBUT from all over the country and from EDITION OF CoRPORATE ICON across the world and the number of AWARDS COVID positive cases spiralled out The beacons of the corporate world of control. and some stunning creations by Masks, hand hygiene and phys- the best fashion designers in Odi- ical distancing became the new sha were feted at the 1st edition norm. Since then life has been of the Corporate Icon Awards and slowly limping back to normalcy, 3rd Bhubaneswar Runway Week but 2020 has been a year of years. hosted by My City Links at May- Whether the virus infected some- fair Convention in Bhubaneswar. one or not but it touched and af- The Corporate Icon Awards 2020 fected everyone’s life in one way or honoured industry leaders and the other. path-breakers in the world of busi- However 2020 was not only ness in Odisha. These leaders were about the pandemic. This year has felicitated by Chief Secretary Asit given us some bittersweet mem- Kumar Tripathy, who appreciated ories to remember and has made them for their dedication to excel- us realise the importance of little lence, innovation and commitment things in life that we took for grant- to take Odisha ahead in the corpo- ed. My City Links takes a look at rate world. some of the moments; the good, the bad and the ugly that brought BHUBANESWAR WITNESSES Cyclone Amphan us to where we are now. FIRST PARK UTSAV From the first dedicated COVID After the success of Patha Utsav, hospital in the country to the dalgo- denizens of Bhubaneswar wit- while also experiencing art at its Odia leader and hero Biju Patnaik performing arts of Chhau Dance Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi. na coffee, from a last moment Rath nessed the first Park Utsav hosted best at the curated festival. More titled ‘The Adventures of The Dare- and Ravana Chhaya represent the Saraswati’s family could not reach Yatra in Puri to the death of the leg- by Bhubaneswar Municipal Cor- than 27 restaurants, 19 organic devil Democrat’ was released by rich cultural heritage and diversity Delhi to receive her mortal remains end Bijay Mohanty, from Nijigarh poration (BMC) and Bhubaneswar produce vendors, three fashion de- Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on of Odisha. While Manabasa Gu- as the country was at the height of Tapang to money heist. Odias and Development Authority (BDA) at signers along with ghost kitchens, March 6 during a function in Bhu- rubara was included in the practic- a strict lockdown. Odisha went through the entire twocity parks. More than 3,000 artists, beat boxers, dance troupes, baneswar. A Delhi-based publish- es, rituals and festive events cate- spectrum of emotions in 2020. Here people gathered at Indira Gandhi & rappers participated in the event. er, ‘The Creative Workshop’, has gory, the other two traditions were SUM HOSPITAL CoNDUCTS are some of the highlights. Sona Mohapatra and Ram Sampath at EAT Fest Park and Madhusudan Das Park published the comic. The book is included in the performing arts cat- FIRST LIVE LIVER TRANSPLANT and participated in various info- AJAY KUMAR PATNAIK GETS available in both English and Odia egory. This came as positive news In a first for Odisha, the Institute ODISHA RECOGNISED FoR tainment activities. To motivate SAHITYA AKADEMI AWARD languages. With excellent illustrat- while the state was grappling with of Medical Sciences (IMS) and HAVING THE CLEANEST people to be a part of the ‘No to FoR TRANSLATION ed comic artwork, the book nar- the lockdown. SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar CoASTLINE Plastic’ campaign, BMC distributed Writer Ajay Kumar Patnaik re- rates the various adventures of Biju successfully conducted a liver According to a report released by more than 1200 cotton bags. ceived the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Babu. HUMANITARIAN GESTURE transplantation from a living do- the National Centre for Coastal Award for the year 2019. He was Former Indian cricketer and MP, nor. The path-breaking surgery Research (NCCR), Odisha has the ODISHA INTRODUCES CLIMATE selected for the award for his book CULTURAL HERITAGE Gautam Gambhir cremated the was conducted on 55-year-old least polluted coastline while Puri CHANGE BUDGET ‘Shrestha Hindi Galpa’, a compila- HONOURS body of Saraswati Patra in April, Jayanta Biswal, who was suffer- beach was adjudged the second In a first for the country, Odisha tion of Hindi stories translated into Odisha’s Manabasa Gurubara, Ch- who had been taking care of his ing from cryptogenic cirrhosis of cleanest beach in the country.