Jatni or Khurda Road is a town and a major sub-urban area of Bhubaneswar, the state capital of OdishaThe majority of population in Jatani are Odia . Others like Telugu, Marwari, Gujarati, Bengali, etc. are also present in good numbers. It is also the home of highest number of Anglo-Indian people in Odisha. A variety of communities live here because Jatani has been a very important railway station since the British rule. A major chunk of people living here are railway employees.
Jatani is famous for its celebration of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. Jatani is very crowded during Ganesh Puja as people from nearby places visit in huge numbers for the occasion.This celebration continues for about a fortnight. People of Jatani maintain communal harmony. Eid ul-Fitr & Christmas Day are also celebrated with religious fervor.
Diwali and Holi are celebrated here with much fanfare. The firework shops in Jatani draw a large number of buyers from nearby places like Bhubaneswar, Khurda, Puri etc. .These fireworks are manufactured in nearby villages, like Padanpur. Apart from being sold in huge quantities in the makeshift shops during Diwali, these fireworks are also sold throughout the year in wholesale shops, mainly supplementing to the fanfare of marriage processions.
Several communities residing in Jatani, keep alive their own traditions, be it the Anglo-Indians celebrating Christmas in the open or the Marwari's Garba in closely guarded community atmosphere or the Muslims carrying out Mourning of Muharram.
Several week-long festivals for the goddess Bhagabati Devi are also celebrated mostly in Railway settlement areas esp. Loco Colony and Retang colony. On the last day, the procession is carried out in public, followed by a carnival depicting stories from Hindu mythologies like Ramayana, Mahabharat etc.
The town is spread across various Railways settlements akin colonies like Traffic colony, New colony, Accounts colony, Retang colony, Loco Colony surrounded by private townships like Gajapati Nagar, Madhusudhan Nagar, Nuagaun, Hata bazaar, Raja bazaar, Bali Chakka Sahi, Mundia Sahi, Railway Market, Kudiary, Sitaram Chhack, Thaana Chhack, Bacharapatna, Rathipur, Kusumati (chhack is the local equivalent for Cross, similarly bazaar is the local equivalent for Market).
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