Durga Pujo and I


I liked pujo because I like getting gifts, especially nice clothes. I remember a couple of pandal hopping experiences as a kid, that were all-night affairs. I don’t remember particularly enjoying them because pandal decoration and lightworks were elusive topics, I never liked crowded places and used to get very sleepy.

We used to make a customary trip to an old neighbourhood, where my grandmother was staying at the time, every Ashtami. We stood in long queues for bhog lunches, which I remember enjoying- not the wait but the lunch :)

Slowly that was also cancelled out as my grandmother had started living with us or it was too much of a trouble driving all the way to north Calcutta on a pujo-day. To be frank, I think we started not identifying with the people living there and a lot of the people we knew had either passed away or moved to a different place.

I also remember one year we drove to Puri. That was a very enjoyable trip and the Oriya protimas were amusingly cute to look at, not half as ostentatious as Calcutta ones.

We moved to Tollygunge which marked an end of a phase. We didn’t have a ‘parar pujo’,

My dad refused to go out into the crowd, so did I. So one night my mom and sister decided they would go pandal hopping in the area. This was a time when we used to go to 66 palli pujo beside my mamabari(kalighat) to give anjali. It used to be a coveted journey because my granny would cook awesome food for later. It used to be a ‘ekchala’ traditional simple pandal, now it’s an award winning designer one-- one year the protima was bought by an NRI. My grandma now lives with us. We have no reason to go there anymore.

For the last few years we’ve been having a ‘parar pujo’, it is simple but reassuring. I have gone back to give anjali and eat bhog and have a chit chat with the people. To hear the announcements and the priests’ chants from inside of our home is welcoming.

Last year I didn’t let myself feel bad, although I had come back from India one day before Pujo. But this year I have given up on the control over my emotions. I am missing it. I am missing dhaker awaj, dhunor gondho, the sweet autumn sun-shine, I am missing my family. I am missing walking with my dad around mudiali, lake place, shib-mondir, samaj sebi and ballygunge cultural.

Even if I am sitting inside my house doing nothing, not even particularly enjoying it, I want to see the pujo-chaos and prettily clothed people when I look out my window, because it means that everything is alright, just the way it is supposed to be.

Sharodiya priti o shubhechha to all my readers. Hoping that your pujo is slightly more exciting than mine :)

Comments

Kuntala said…
shubho bijaya Raka, amar anek shubhechchha ar bhalobasa niyo.
October 18, 2010 at 1:07 PM
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