Durga Pujo in Kolkata

 

   The statues of Goddess Durga and her family were simply stunning and devotees were coming in from all directions to take a look of the Mother. During these five days the Devi and her family, who came all the way from their heavenly abode in Kailash, lived at her parent's house in the North of Kolkata.

Oh my Gods

The state of Bengal is not a lonely and friendless planet but she has always believed in maintaining an amicable relationship with her neighbours, Odisha, Chhattishgarha, Bihara, Jharkhand and Bangladesh. These are the places where we were born and taken rebirth since ages. We have always believed in the cycle of life and rebirth and always loved to talk about our last life and and have strived our whole life to prove that we not only belong to Bengal, but also our roots go deep into the soil of India which was then undivided without any barriers of border. Sooner or later we will have facts and figures from historians and academicians to claim our point with the evidence of our origin of birth and our right on this land where we were born.  
 

Hinduism is our basic Dharma. We love to see beautifully carved Hindu Gods, we eat Bengali food, we speak the same language of the Bengali Bhadralok of Kolkata. We are sedulous in character and revere Gods and Goddesses of this land along with Sri Jagannath, Sri Balabhadra and Subhadra Devi in Puridham. Hindu Dharma has given us a bounty of choices -- 36 crore devis and devtas save us when we are in double trouble. We try to sit on a mat and have lunch with our right-hand fingers since that is the custom maintained in a traditional Hindu Hindu family. We visit a temple at least thrice a month and offer money to the head priest who chants mantras for the well-being of our family.

We believe in idol worship since figures of Gods when decorated in our homes bring good-luck to our family. Having faith in one God or faith of one member of a family will not the help the entire clan in any way, a whole-hearted and united faithfulness is important for a Hindu family to smoothly sail through this odd period of our life.

We do not talk while having a meal since that upsets our family God who was our dearest ancestor. We neither talk about money nor do we discuss politics at the dinner table. We prefer a round table to a square one. Our holy symbols are Om and also Laxmi Swastik which is mainly used during Laxmi puja.

Our food is a little sweet and less spicy and never too hot. Our non-vegetarian dishes have a touch of green since we love to add coriander leaves in every dish which we make. Our favourite chutney is made from mango and tomato. To add aroma we sprinkle a special kind of rice while cooking certain vegetables with soyabean oil.

But suddenly there arrived a time when we couldn’t maintain all these customs and rituals and failed to follow the rules of our Dharma. We had then started eating outside—be it from a restaurant, a hotel or a Dhaba where there is no strict rule on how to make food for a Brahmin. Food was served on a common plate and juices were poured into not-so-clean glasses. We have travelled extensively since learning from the outside world was our second nature and a part of our curriculum during our growing-up days. That was the time when we have gained knowledge by keeping our eyes wide open, seeing people of India in the North, West and South as well in the East. During that period, we had visited temples of India to give ourselves a chance to delve deep inside our being. All of these places where we have visited time and again speak volumes about our country and leave us with many questions which will remain like an unsolved mystery.

Maya’s favourite table always had a photo of Swami Vivekananda since she became sixteen and cleared her board exams in First Division. A few friends used to particularly visit her flat in the colony where she lived mostly after the Durgotsav on Dashami or Ekadoshi to seek blessings from her parents. Although they had an airy kitchen to themselves but Maya hardly cooked anything for her friends when they came in a group, rather she loved to decorate plates with some Hindustani sweets made with pure ghee like Mihidana, laddoo and son papri. In one glass bowl she had served some Namkeen to get back the salty and natural taste of our mouth just after having those sweets. Besides, there were caramel coconut laddoos which were liked by all the guests who came home when Maya. 

Her friends never cringed to invite her to taste Khichuri bhog especially made at home during Lakhsmi puja, Saraswati Puja and also Kali mata’s festival before the Diwali night. Never did she lose the opportunity to share the table with friends and their acquaintances since it was simple awesome to have received the invitation to taste that special bhog. Her mother was an expert in cooking a thali of khichuri at home and at least a hundred times her love for Khicuri was satiated but the divine feeling in a friend's house made her feel special. Undoubtedly she attended the puja parties and joined the group of friends to enjoy the fun-filled evening. Very interestingly, the khichuri that was served hot on a banana leaf or a plate made of sal leaves added not only a flavor but spoke volumes about the special taste of a particular region of Bangladesh. If the bhoger khichuri was spicy and the mixed vegetable was chilly so you could immediately say that the cook was born in Barishal of Bangladesh. Sometimes the same Khicuri was very dry and served like cakes with a big spoon from a copper-made bucket on our plates and one who have had the chance to savour bhog in friends’ houses or at home could say that it was simply made in Dhaka.

Wherever it was made with the application of a particular cooking formula and keeping in mind the regional recipe, the lady of the house never ever forgot to pour a spoonful of home-made mango chutney to make the guest happy.   

Bengali New Year, Naboborsho or the first day of Baisakh is all about showing off the Bengali babu culture when the people of this state at every rank and file suddenly wakes up with full zest to welcome a fresh leash of life in the scorching summer days of April. As we bid adieu to the month of Chaitra in the Benagli calender, a series of festivals that are very popular in the district towns and villages of West Bengal, are observed in a small and a big scale especially by women. Bengalees worship Goddess Annapurna  and make merry on the day of Basanti Durga Pujo to enrich their harvest. Families unite to worship 'anna' or rice and cook Khichuri bhog, brinjal fry, and appalam or papad, decorates the food items on silver plates and offer to the Goddess. Men and women assemble to purify the ‘thakur dalan’ or verandah with Ganga water and draw ‘alpana’ on the ground with soaked rice powder. Two or three ladies draw flowers and conch shell designs on the floor where Goddess Annapurna and Lord Shiva’s ‘potochitro’ is placed on a ‘pidhe’ or a small wooden plank. Two banana trees are placed in small ‘kolshi’ or pots made of terracotta and pure earth is filled in the pots. Shamiyana or a embroidered cloth is put on top of the Annapurna photo. Ladies do not eat anything while making arrangements of the puja but wait the whole day for the purohit or priest to finish the rituals. He comes to purify the food items placed in front of the photo of the Goddess and sprinkles purified water from ‘kosha and kushi’ and throws petals of rose and mariegold on the plates on which bhog has been served to Annapurna. Small children participate to revere the Gooddess of good harvest. Some make ulu dwani, some blow conch shells while the priest leads them by ringing the bell and slowly chanting the stotras. The priest holds the big lamp on his one hand and the bell on his left hand and moves his hand in a particular direction to perform ‘arati’ and hands it over to a senior lady so that those who were around can take blessings. Everyone who were standing at a distance now comes close to the Brahmin and touches the fire of the lamp. The Brahmin draped in a doti and chaddar again gives the ladies, children and men some holy water from a metal bowl. There is a temple which was founded by the daughter of Rani Rashmoni Devi and the wife of Mathur Mohan Biswas in Titagarh, North 24 Parganas, where locales till date worship Goddess Annapurna with lot of devotion.

Besides this festival, the town of Konnagar in Hoogly district observes Charak and worship the Sun on the Naboborsho day. The Charak mela draws a huge crowd where people from other districts join in to frolic and spend the day in a special way which is as grand as the Durga Puja festival or the Kolkata Book fair.

The giant wheel, electric rocking boat, puppet shows, and Nataraj circus are the attraction of these festivals where kids throw themselves into  temptations and parents join in the fest. Big stalls sell sweets and chat, fried food, toys, jewelleries, clothes, utensils, home décor etc etc which add life to the otherwise humdrum life of the people. People come out during night time to see the roadsides lit with colourful lights and have rosogolla and sandesh before going back home in a happy mood and a new picture etched in their mind forever.

              

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