Durga Pujo '09

I was back to Calcutta during the pujo after a gap of one year. In fact, both of us had taken the decision to be in Calcutta this time for the pujo right after the durga pujo last year. Last year we had celebrated Durga pujo in Bombay, and sorry for saying this, it can nowhere be close to Calcutta, even after leaving out the family aspect out of the whole equation.

Durga Pujo, in the life of a Bengali, is far more than a religious occasion. It's a part of our culture and a way of life that we celebrate once a year. I guess, religion is the last that comes to our mind when we talk of durga pujo. And the true reflection of this statement can be seen if you are in Calcutta during the festivities. For the five days' of festivities, the city literally goes into a carnival mode and even as an outsider you can sense it as soon as you step into the city. It's all fun and frolic, eating out, wearing new clothes everyday, pandal hopping all night long, and most importantly it is the same routine for people from all religions......I guess this whole experience is so unique that you won't really find it anywhere else in the world. And also worth mentioning the artistic flavour in all this. Starting from the pandals, to the idols and the lightings, I don't think you can see something like this in the whole world. I may sound extremely parochial, but that is how it is.

For me, the major incentives to be in Calcutta during Durga pujo are to be with my parents and family, friends, spending some quality time with my wife and go down memory lanes to recapture our days' of courtship, and last but not the least - food. So literally, even before touching down to Calcutta, my itinerary gets more or less set for the five days of pujo till Vijaya Dashami. And, like in the life of every son, husband and friend, you got to really balance your itinerary to give proper attention to your parents, wife and friends. Otherwise, you know....!!! Hence, in that endeavour, I seemed to have done a pretty neat job, and ended up having a real nice time with all the near and dear ones around.

Meeting friends is always fun. It takes you back to those glory years of childhood and adolescence. There are around nine of us who had been together since school days and we are like family. Although professional life has separated us physically but we always remain in touch on a regular basis and make sure that we come together at least once a year during the durga pujo. This time was no exception and six of us made it to be together. One of the guys I was meeting after 7 years, but never really felt so, since we were so much in touch during these years. But it was always nice to meet face to face. And the best part to be with these set of friends is that you talk uninhibitedly and you really don't care about the world around. This time was no exception. People around wouldn't have really made out whether we were 30 year old married professionals or 20 year old college going brats. We visited all the so called hot spots of pujo, which were there during our hay days and hoped to find the same old hot faces, but alas, we were a bit disappointed in that endeavour. But we never left the hope and went on paying at least one visit every day to those spots. May be we forgot, the hot faces then would be now dutiful wives and daughter-in-laws of some conservative bengali family with a kid to take care of.

It was also a very nostalgic experience to go out with my wife and go to some of the places that we used to frequent during pujo in our days' of courtship. A big difference is that now we can strut around those places as a married couple, unlike those days when we had to be a bit careful to ensure that no one catches us dating.

Apart from all these fun, it is always very relaxing to be at home, just do nothing and be with parents and have some delicious home made Bengali food. The biggest positive to be away from home is that you can really get to decide the menu at home since your parents will always want you to have whatever you like during this period. Also, a realization that comes is that you never grow old in the eyes of your parents. If you are going out in the evening, you have to commit a time when you will return and at least for once they will say that don't be too late and no need to spent the night out.

Lastly, the blog won't be complete if I don't mention about food. It is literally a crime if you don't eat out during pujo and a crime, that could call for some capital punishment, if you do not have sweets (my benchmark is at least 5 during the day). Normally my itinerary is set in such a way that I have a full fledged break fast at home, mostly with puri or paratha and then at least one of the meals will compulsorily have to be outside, not to mention the evening tit-bits. Then, every in take of food had to be followed up by at least one sweet item. Also, worth mentioning in my case, apart from the break fast, all other meals and tit-bits during the day had to be non-veg items. And this typically is how it goes almost in every household during the pujo. This might sound like I have given up on my diet regime. But, it was only for those 4-5 days. And I had a real control on the quantity each time. It was not like 10 years back when I could easily have finished 10 chapatis.

In a nut shell, it was a time spent really well and these are the days for which you can really wait for the whole year. Can't escape the fact that things have changed over the years and somewhere the age has caught up, which really doesn't allow you to do the same things that you would have thought of doing 10 years back. Activities like pandal hopping on foot for the full night are no more priority. Now you just go and visit some of the major pandals, that too preferably during the day time and in areas where you can take your own conveyance easily. Otherwise, it is about spending quality time with the near and dear ones, chatting and having good food.

So, with these thoughts and reflections, we will be hopefully back to Calcutta next year to celebrate Durga Pujo. Bolo Durga Mai ki.....Jai. Asche bochor abaar hobe.....