Durga Puja – The biggest festival in our life – Part – II

Shubh Navaratra.

It’s the time of the year when the unique beat of the ‘dhak’ reverberates everywhere. There is a mood to celebrate the grand nine days of pure joy everywhere. The puja actually begins in the dawn of Mahalaya.

Mahalaya

Mahalaya, is celebrated to usher the Debipaksha lunar fortnight and the Durga Puja. The day starts with the ‘Mahisasura Mardini’ broadcast, a collection of shlokas, devotional songs, classical music broadcast by All India Radio, Kolkata at 4 am, in the dawn of Mahalaya every year since 1932. Just before Mahalaya, we search the old radio set, which might have not been in use since the last year’s Mahalaya day, check or even buy a new set just to tune to the programme. The popularity of this programme remains undiminished even today. The program has also been translated into Hindi set to similar orchestration and is broadcast at the same time for a pan-Indian audience.

 

However, today we can listen Mahalaya at any point of time of the year, but the charm to wake up at 3:50 in the morning with the sound of an alarm clock and switch on your old radio set to listen the programme is a completely different experience. If you have missed yesterday’s Mahalaya broadcast and interested to listen, you can check the following link and enjoy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uwjlI82yzk

It’s also time to remember our ancestors on Mahalaya day. The rituals and rites on Mahalaya day are performed early morning on riverbanks or on seashore. The main offering made on Mahalaya to ancestors is food. It is believed that performing Tarpanams or Tarpan during ‘Devi Paksha’ will bless your ancestors and will free them from all their sins.

You can also consider Durga Puja as a separate Industry and yes, it is a very big Industry on it’s own terms. You will be amazed to see the effort, creativity, money invested in organizing Durga Puja in Kolkata & its’ suburbs or even in rural Bengal, as well as other parts of the country. It’s a well-orchestrated programme from the start to end. The planning of a successful puja or say any Puja can beat business plan of  big corporate houses by miles. There would be thousands of puja pandals, large or medium, with budgets for these pandals ranging from a lakh to a few crores. Every cog in the Durga Puja wheel has become a separate industry – idol making, pandals, flowers, the dhak, restaurants or street foods, transportation and how can I forget garment industry or so many others like artisans from various parts of the country etc. etc.. You may also call it a wastage of money but people look forward to this festival not only to welcome Ma Durga or to enjoy the puja alone, but this madness also gives them the opportunity to earn for their entire year’s livelihood. There are many families whose livelihood completely depend on these three to four months for the entire year, unbelievable but true.

After extensive plannining for a year (read ‘a year’ and not few months only), the execution is always perfect.

Puja shopping (Pujo-i chai [want] natun [new] jama [dress] aar [and] natun [new] juto [shoes])

“Have you done your pujo shopping? I have ____, what about you”. We anxiously ask each other when we meet anyone or even during long distance phone. The other person may be in another part of the world, so what…

Pujo shopping is unique to all Bengalis. Durga Puja is just one such occasions to empty the pockets and we don’t mind…actually we love this.  People literally save money, plan well in advance only for puja shopping. As I mentioned it earlier, this is the perfect opportunity to connect with everyone.  The exchange of gifts is one of the best ways to do so. It’s just like Diwali in Northern India. To make someone feel really special and not the value of the gifts is the intent behind the gifts. There will also be an invitation to visit a friend’s house just to see her new dresses vice-versa.

Every parents, rich or  poor, dream to buy something new for their children during this time. Ma Durga is for all of us and there is no difference. I pray to GOD to give your blessings to all those poor families to bring smiles to their children like always.

‘Sarodia’ Maganizes

Durga Puja is also known as Sarodautsav. It’s also time to buy and read Sarodia Magazines. All the major publication houses in Kolkata publish a special magazine before Durga Puja, which contains novels, stories, fictions, travelogues from all the famous writers. These magazines are also being used as a launchpad for the new writers. Magazines hit the stand before Mahalaya and find a home almost immediately. Everyone eagerly waits for the same.  It’s also a point of discussions during numerous ‘addas’ regarding the best stories, novels of the year or checking out the list of new writers, the best story or how many magazines do you have etc. etc.

Some of the above are essential components of the Puja, without mentioning them this post will not be completed.

So, you have the new dresses and you also have Sarodia magazines in your hand. Sarodia music (new albums released just before Puja) is also in the air from numerous pandals, as well as Rabindra Sangeet and songs from the golden era of Bengali music (Late Hemanta Mukherjee & Shyamal Mitra or our evergreen Manna Dey). Most of us have also reached our home.  The stage is all set to welcome Ma Durga. So what are we waiting for….

Wishing you all a very Happy Durga Puja and have a great time (“Pujor adda” to all my bong friends, readers) during this festival season with your near & dear ones.

See you very soon with the next part and may be also in different pujo pandals…