It’s that time of the year, which a Bengali waits desperately for an entire year. Durga Pujo is the greatest euphoria a Bengali can crave for, a time to rave, revel, reunite with distant family members and loved ones to scour the city admiring all the idols and craftsmanship and enjoying every delicacy you can have from the nearby stalls. But, these things are quite lost when you are not living in West Bengal. In a foreign state like Gujarat, which has its own festivals and revelry, a Bengali might find himself lost and alienated during this time. For a Probashi Bengali, the Durga Pujo is a time to return to Kolkata to savour the city’s delight, but in the present age with our busy schedule it is difficult for each one to visit West Bengal only for the puja. I have been living in Vadodara for the past seven years and although I love the Navratris, I cannot help but miss the puja in all its grandeur.
Durga Pujo in Vadodara is celebrated on a grand scale in places like Kirti Mandir, Subhanpura, Makarpura, Manjalpur, Vasna, Gorwa, apart from other small scale celebrations in various townships and colonies. But, whatever be the size of these celebrations, they have always been a major uniting factor for all the Bengalis. In a foreign land, where each of us goes on with our daily life and work, it’s this Durga Puja which acts as a connector, bringing all Bengalis together. If it was Bengal, we never would have been happier if the person next to us was speaking in Bengali, but here as I sit watching a performance in Kirti Mandir and I hear someone talking next to me in Bengali, it seems so pleasant, like I am back home, surrounded by a tongue so close, a language bringing back old memories, like an old photo album reopened after a long time.
As the number of places where the celebrations take place quite a handful, it is amazing how one connects instantly to a new person, and before you know it they have been talking as if they have known each other for quite a long time. The puja acts a binder unlike anything else, and as one sits watching a performance of Rabindra Sangeet or any play, it is always astounding how two unknown people randomly starts a conversations like, “ei baar natok ta oto jomlo na, aager baar ta darun achhilo. Tobe rabindra sangeet ta khubi bhalo laglo” (This time the play wasn’t that great, last year’s was better. But the rabindra sangeet was really good). And these small random conversations tend to then go to past performances to the various types of food each places have, and suddenly as you look at the time you find that you have been engaged in a random conversation for the past two hours with a person with whom you talked for the first time only a couple of hours ago, yet as the conversation comes to cease you realize that here is a person whose thoughts are so similar to yours and you wonder that if it weren’t for this you would never have known them. This is the beauty of Durga Pujo in a foreign place.
Apart from the regular random conversations, food is another important part of the puja which brings Bengalis together. A proper Durga Pujo is incomplete without mouth watering foods, most of which includes chilli chicken, mutton biriyani, egg roll or any other non-vegetarian foods, and gulping these down ravenously. Thus the favourite haunt for a Bengali during the puja is not the place which has the best idol, but a place which has a wide array of food stalls which can satisfy any Bengali. Half the fun of Durga Pujo for us has always been the food joints near the pujo pandals and for the four days that the pujo continues, this is and always will be the dinner for us.
So, as I end this small essay here’s hoping to meet you in a chance encounter in these places which are a Bengali’s haunt during the pujos, and irrespective of who we are or where we are from, I know we shall connect, for we are Bengalis and it’s Durga Pujo. Shubho Pujo to all of you!
Durga Pujo in Vadodara is celebrated on a grand scale in places like Kirti Mandir, Subhanpura, Makarpura, Manjalpur, Vasna, Gorwa, apart from other small scale celebrations in various townships and colonies. But, whatever be the size of these celebrations, they have always been a major uniting factor for all the Bengalis. In a foreign land, where each of us goes on with our daily life and work, it’s this Durga Puja which acts as a connector, bringing all Bengalis together. If it was Bengal, we never would have been happier if the person next to us was speaking in Bengali, but here as I sit watching a performance in Kirti Mandir and I hear someone talking next to me in Bengali, it seems so pleasant, like I am back home, surrounded by a tongue so close, a language bringing back old memories, like an old photo album reopened after a long time.
As the number of places where the celebrations take place quite a handful, it is amazing how one connects instantly to a new person, and before you know it they have been talking as if they have known each other for quite a long time. The puja acts a binder unlike anything else, and as one sits watching a performance of Rabindra Sangeet or any play, it is always astounding how two unknown people randomly starts a conversations like, “ei baar natok ta oto jomlo na, aager baar ta darun achhilo. Tobe rabindra sangeet ta khubi bhalo laglo” (This time the play wasn’t that great, last year’s was better. But the rabindra sangeet was really good). And these small random conversations tend to then go to past performances to the various types of food each places have, and suddenly as you look at the time you find that you have been engaged in a random conversation for the past two hours with a person with whom you talked for the first time only a couple of hours ago, yet as the conversation comes to cease you realize that here is a person whose thoughts are so similar to yours and you wonder that if it weren’t for this you would never have known them. This is the beauty of Durga Pujo in a foreign place.
Apart from the regular random conversations, food is another important part of the puja which brings Bengalis together. A proper Durga Pujo is incomplete without mouth watering foods, most of which includes chilli chicken, mutton biriyani, egg roll or any other non-vegetarian foods, and gulping these down ravenously. Thus the favourite haunt for a Bengali during the puja is not the place which has the best idol, but a place which has a wide array of food stalls which can satisfy any Bengali. Half the fun of Durga Pujo for us has always been the food joints near the pujo pandals and for the four days that the pujo continues, this is and always will be the dinner for us.
So, as I end this small essay here’s hoping to meet you in a chance encounter in these places which are a Bengali’s haunt during the pujos, and irrespective of who we are or where we are from, I know we shall connect, for we are Bengalis and it’s Durga Pujo. Shubho Pujo to all of you!