Goodbye Pujas, hello whoopee

Even as I bid farewell to Maa Durga with a heavy heart, an article in The Telegraph caught my fancy. And I must say, after I finished reading it, the smile, that was evident on my face before Pujo, returned back.
Here goes the article that asks us to “consider 10 things you can do to continue the spirit of festivity”.

Hello, routine
Come, open your eyes. The Goddess is bidding us goodbye and all is well with the world. The loudspeakers are being carted away, the road blocks in the neighbourhood are being dismantled, and the hordes who were camping outside your house are going back home. The mad Puja shopping is over, and you can actually step into a mall without being trampled to dust. All the office babus are getting back to work, albeit a bit reluctantly. Go get all those things done that had been held up because of the Pujas. This is also the time for a good post-Puja bitching session — about what people wore, who romanced whom, lousy gifts and so on. Life interrupted has been resurrected.

Fun galore
But don’t despair — the fun is far from over. Bijoya — with all its wonderful sweets and savouries — starts today, and continues till Kali Puja. If you are a noise-and-light junkie, think of Diwali. Christmas is round the corner, and then there’s the New Year. This is the time for exhibitions — from Lexpo, to the film fest to the event that all of Calcutta waits for, the Book Fair. The first ever Shaadi Vivaha Expo will be held in Calcutta later this month. If you are missing the Puja crowds, traffic snarls and eating dust, just go mela hopping. It’s an extension of the Puja festivity, after all.

Theory of relativity
Was your house looking more and more like an overcrowded railway platform the last few days? No more. The relatives — mashi-pishi-pishey-mesho — are packing their hold-alls. Check the time table and since you can never trust the traffic leave them at the airport or the station well before the expected time of departure. You’ll miss them, no doubt, but how do you measure the pleasure of lounging on a sofa before the television without having a relative tell you to sit up straight?

Brr, it’s fur
Bring out the mittens — it’s started snowing in the upper Himalayas. Those of us trapped here in the near-tropical zone but perpetually pining for our favourite season can gear up for the winter too. The early mornings and late nights provide a foretaste of the season of glory about to start with its mellow sun and notun gur. Let’s hope those of you who indulged yourselves during the pre-Puja shopping spree have left aside respectable funds for new shawls, furry caps and sweaters. For those of us who didn’t, there’s always the credit card.

Howzzat!
Cricketmania couldn’t get any better than in this winter, when Team India are scheduled to bat their way through a choc-a-bloc schedule on the pitch. First, they take on arch rivals Pakistan at home for a five-ODI, three-Test series through November. Then comes their long trip Down Under, where they play four Tests against Australia (again!) and follow that up with a tri-nation ODI series featuring Australia and Sri Lanka. That safely takes care of quality viewing time through January and February. And if you still want more, the Indian Premier League and the Indian Cricket League are both slated to begin sometime in spring 2008, promising plenty of hair-raising domestic action. So grow those nails now, to bite on later.

Play bookworm
Nothing beats the idea of spending idle winter afternoons by burying yourself into the pages of a book you simply can’t have enough of. The first instalment of Amitav Ghosh’s much hyped ‘Ibis Trilogy’, titled Sea of Poppies, will be published by Penguin in early 2008, while HarperCollins is all set to come out with Darlingji: The True Love Story of Nargis & Sunil Dutt by Kishwar Desai sometime next month. Arundhati Roy is working hard at her book in some quiet corner. And while you wait for that to be published, you can always pick up the Puja editions of the magazines that you didn’t find the time to dig into all these days. So make the most of your spare time now, either at home, or at work — when the boss isn’t looking!

Wonder wanderlust
Those extra compartments called ‘Puja Specials’ that they link to the rears of overnight trains will be gone in a couple of days. And gone — along with them — will be the gangs of balaclava-(read: monkey cap) clad, boisterous ‘toorishts’, who are either perennially paranoid about their children falling off the cliff in the heart of Darjeeling or are energetically (and unsuccessfully) on the lookout for ‘rui maachher jhol’ in Gangtok. So book that quiet holiday you’ve wanted to treat yourself to, without any fear of running into a constipated ‘Bultu Mama’ while catching a spectacular sunrise at Tiger Hill. Or read that long unfinished book while lazing on the sands of Kovalam or Goa, with a chiller for company. The bounties of Nature are for you to savour — the shouting brigade has gone back home!

Bye-bye oldies
Youth is in, and let’s celebrate the coming of age of India’s wanna-do lot. This is the year that’s been set aside for our young — from cricketer M.S. Dhoni to new actors Neil Nitin Mukesh, Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. Rahul Gandhi is dimpling away, giving the old, toothless neta a run for his money. We don’t have to watch those tired old faces anymore — young India is on the rise, Rahul Dravid notwithstanding.

That’s the ticket
One mother leaves, another returns. Queue up for Madhuri ‘mother-of-two-sons’ Dixit’s new film, Aaja Nachle. Mrs Nene’s comeback film is one of the much-awaited mega films to be released soon. Om Shanti Om — showcasing Shah Rukh’s spectacular six-pack abs — will be out next month, along with Saawariya. You could go see Rani Mukerji in Laaga Chunari Mein Daag too.

Life’s a circle
Count the days — there are only 350 days before the start of Puja 2008. Before you know it, the roads will be clogged, the markets spilling over with people, the beats of dhak drowning out all sounds, and the smell of dhuno in the air. The traffic, the noise, the colours, the food, the excitement, the chaos — everything will be back. And you’ll love it all!

Aashchhe Bochhor Aabar Hobe!

Today is Dashami... another Durga Pujo comes to an end. It’s the last time that one would hear the divine beats of the dhaak tonight.

A pall of gloom descends everywhere because it is time for Maa Durga to leave, to return to her husband Shiva. This is ritualised through bishorjon (immersion) of Maa Durga and her children in the river Ganga amid loud chants of bolo Durga mai-ki jai (glory be to Mother Durga) and aashchhe bochhor aabar hobe (it will happen again next year).

This is one day that makes me really said. In fact, even as I type this piece I can feel a lump in my throat. The sight of the huge idols being taken away in large processions for immersion sometimes brings tears to my eyes.

There are also certain ceremonies associated with this day that make me nostalgic. They take me back to my days in Kolkata.

First, the Durga baran. Married women wearing the traditional laal-paar saree (saree with red border) bid adieu to the Goddess, adorning her with sindur (vermilion) and feeding her sweets.

They greet Maa Durga in the morning for one last time. They perform aarati, insert paan-leaves in the hands of Maa Durga, put sweets on her lips and wipe the eyes of Maa Durga and her children as one would do to wipe off tears while bidding farewell to near and dear ones. Then the women apply the sindur on Maa Durga’s head.

After this, begins another ritual called sindur khela (vermillion game). Married women apply sindur on each other, praying for the well-being of their husbands, asking the Goddess for her blessings. This is an emotional ritual. The loha (the metal and gold bracelet given to the bride by the mother-in-law) and pala/sannkha (the red and white bangles worn by married Bengali women) are also touched up with sindur.

Sindur khela brings with it a mixture of joy and sadness as it marks the end of pujo. With the time for Maa Durga’s departure approaching, it becomes hard to hold back tears. As children, we were told that on this day one can see Maa Durga’s eyes glistening, as if she is teary-eyed.

Finally, as Maa Durga is being taken away for immersion, the women take some sindur from her head and apply it to the parting in their hair. What is left on the fingers is applied to the loha.

Then in the evening men follow the customary kolakuli (embracing each other), while younger members of the family touch the feet (pronam) of the elders seeking their blesings. Then sweets are distributed among each other amid greetings of Shubho Bijoya.

Nothing, in fact, can be compared to the magic of Durga Pujo in Kolkata. An outsider can never understand what it is that makes Durga Pujo so special.

Being a Bengali, Maa Durga resides in my heart. And this Durga Pujo, I have made a resolution. Next year onwards, no matter where I am in this earth, I resolve to be in Kolkata during these five days. Because I cannot stay away from the chaos, the aroma, the noise, the rhythm of the dhaak, the music, the smell of good food, the brightly illuminated pandals, the traffic congestions and all that is associated with Durga Pujo.

However, for the time being, it’s just Shubho Bijoya!