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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