Durga Puja

As the Durga Puja approaches, as the structures of upcoming pandals start to disrupt the traffic, everything changes in this city. Perhaps this is very subjective, perhaps, everyone feels the same…I don’t know. The air smells different and the colour of the sky changes. Even when the rains play spoilsport, there is something very rosy about the grey clouds, giving the bamboos stocked for the pandals a very quaint, moist smell.
I don’t party every Puja night, nor am I an enthusiastic pandal hopper, but I love the feel of this true blue Bengali carnival! The only ritual I try to maintain is the anjali on ashtami at the 22 Palli Durgostav. The traditional idol of the Devi leaves such a great impact.
I like to take late night walks around my para, just off Elgin Road, to witness the cosmopolitan side of the Puja. The cute Punjabi children running around with balloons and whining for another ice- cream; the Gujarati college kids in their colourful chaniya cholis and kediyus grabbing a bite (and some gossip) before they hit the dandiya –floor; the Biharis in their bightest best teamed with matching jewellery (just out of an K-serial), the sugar sweet didas in crisp red and white sarees struggling to get out of the rented Sumo for devi darshan. I think the spirit of the regional puja along with the national navratra can be felt only in this part of the city…it’s amazing, you have to experience it to believe it!
(I apologise if I’m sounding snobbishly partial!)