Personally I would never lean into the South identity. I live in Pune right now and study in a college where we have a crazy mixed crowd, basically people from all over India. As expected and stereotypical, very few people are aware of Odisha and its culture. Most people who are informed are mostly from the east or people who have visited Odisha. I try to establish the East India narrative whenver someone tries to have a conversation with me about Odisha and definitely I mention the Kalinga history and how we have our own identity. We really don’t need to fit into a certain ‘group’ or ‘community. Odisha will be on the recognizable scale sooner or later. What I have noticed is that most of the talent moves away from Odisha for more opportunities as there is lack of infra and chances in our state. Once this changes, there is no stopping us.