The Eternal Spirit of Durga Puja

The broadcast of “The Mahalaya” on the AIR during the wee hours into dawn.  The hypnotizing fragrance of the  Chhatim (Chethuang) flowers flooding the  atmosphere around us.  The breathtaking pandals of different shapes and sizes, dedicated to different themes imaginable and unimaginable. The absolutely tantalizing and unavoidable street food and the special bhog on the Ashtami. Last but not the least, the sheer happiness of wearing new clothes on all the four days of this much awaited festival of the year.  Durga Puja to me has always been a strong stimulus to all the five senses, bang on at a time. Ever since I have been a child, the idea of Maa Durga coming to earth (and I thought specifically to Kolkata) to her maternal abode and we celebrating her arrival with so much fun and frolic, was exhilarating. The streets would be flooded with people all with the sole purpose of pandal hopping and hoping that they can cover as many pandals as possible in those four to five days. Along with the new clothes came new footwear that would bring along with them unbearable foot sores, but nobody would really bother about them cause they were on a mission altogether. Hopping pandals relentlessly and eating out as much as possible.

It has been over three years that I have been staying away from Kolkata, all I could enjoy was the four days of celebrations sans the fun of shopping (which would start months in advance) and waiting for the pandals to get built to completion.  In these three years, I started feeling that I was all grown up and was growing indifferent to the hype of the Pujas. This was particularly not a pleasant feeling. In fact I felt very pensive. Slowly as the days passed by and the Puja days came closer, one day my husband suggested that we should go to Kolkata and celebrate the festival with family. This would be his first Durga Puja celebration in the Shaabiki (traditional) way, as he does not come from a Bengali background.  I was pleasantly surprised by this proposition and immediately started planning what to shop for and from where, which he took as a nod of agreement.

We reached Kolkata on Saptami. The moment we landed in Kolkata, the beautiful fragrance of Chhatim filled my lungs, like air floods in after holding your breath for too long. Moments into the city, we were fighting heavy traffic, but I was all lost in those small decorative light bulbs, making different patterns and shapes, wrapped all around small homes to big buildings and giving the effect of a city immersed in lights. Twenty minutes into the city and nostalgia was settling in me. I could not wait to start pandal hopping, eat some delicious Shorshe Chingri (Prawns in mustard curry) made by mum, and most of all my ears yearned to listen to the Dhaak Beats. Soon after we reached home, and immediately after a sumptuous dinner, we set out for some Puja special sightseeing. It was around 3 a.m.  and the streets were flooded with people. Being an old city, you get to see a lot of old buildings in Kolkata along with a number of new apartments mushrooming here and there. The lights that covered them brilliantly hid the age factor for them.  The narrow lanes were cramped with people of all ages, kids with balloons and cotton candies, teenagers taking mug shots in front of every pandal,  the elderly, looking intently into what has gone into the magnificent pandal architecture. The by lanes filled with the fast food and street food stalls, peddlars of different kinds of wares, henna tattoo artists, astrologers with green parrots in cages,  it’s an absolute hustle-bustle of activities. Pandals depicting themes like the Sistine Chapel, the Louvre, Kashmiri Shikara, made with captivating detailing amazed everyone. All this along with the ethnic rhythm of the dhaak made the ambience ethereal.  A few hours spent in admiration of the Puja and the essence made me feel much better. I was back to want I longed for.

My hubby too, was mesmerized by the lights, the fragrances, the pandals and specially by the number of people on the streets, pandal hopping at the wee hours into morning. I served as a guide to him, explaining every ritual, every sign and symbol we came across, and every conversation threw me back to the time I had first learnt about each one of them myself.  I relived all the Durga Pujas I had celebrated till date. The feeling it left in me…Inexplicable & Priceless. I realized just like the puja essence had grown into me all these years, however far I am from my city, its people, its traditions and culture, I am still strongly rooted to it. Inseparable!