This time of the year…

..when the drumbeats announce the arrival of Goddess Durga and the Bong in me gets homesick-again.

Yeah I miss the fun and those friends.

And since some moments do not come back we go forward and create new memories. This is a glimpse of the Dusshera  procession from the southern-most tip of India-Kanyakumari.

So different, and yet the enthusiasm is the same. Isn’t it?

Wishing you a great time this festival season!

Till we meet again

Depending on where we are, it is all so varied-Navratri, Dandia nights (or rather evenings now), Ramlila, Dushera and the Dolls and Ayudha Puja-----but it is also so similar too in the way we blend traditions with having fun and scripting memories. Maybe it’s just one more excuse to come together and celebrate and spread the wishes.

I have missed the drumbeats at Durga Puja this time but am celebrating by taking off for a week with my “Fairytopia”.

Will be back soon to share more moments as we journey to the southernmost shores of India.

Best wishes for the festival time!

Durga Puja countdown begins

I don’t like it.

I am trying my best to be logical, clinical, rational….

I can’t help feeling terribly mushy.

And to make it sillier, it’s about Durga Puja, a festival that I’ve been attending for all five days, with clockwork regularity, for every year of my life.

Yet, I miss each one of those moments.

The exchanging of parcels of new clothes between Jaipur-Siliguri-Kolkata-and where ever Boro Pishi happened to be.

Being emotionally blackmailed into a thorough spring cleaning before Mahalaya by Mom (To ensure each inch of the house was washed, each bit of well everything was kept in the sun for hours and arranged back, she would start the whole process, and end up looking so tired and frails that………u guessed it!)

Rushing away right in the morning for “pushpanjali”, preening up in all finery just to go and watch the cultural functions, the puja, and……… well everyone else. Having friends stay over just so that we all could spend hours at the puja. The Arti, the competitions, the bhog, the evenings-it was an unreal existence for five days, every year.

The best part for me used to be the Bhashan, the immersion procession, where I would always wrangle one of Durga Thakur’s weapons to keep until the next year…

The last “trishul” I kept was thrown away long ago.

High time I grew up. I know!

But I still think my kids are really missing something. 

Durga Puja around the corner

I found a maid who said she doesn’t want any leave during the year.

And then the catch:

She wanted annual leave to go to her parents’ home during Durga Puja.

Yes, even though I would do anything to get out of eating fish and roshogolla, there’s still a Bong in me, who went all mushy about going “home” during Pujo..

I was so glad about her still managing the annual trip that I said yes and turned away to stifle a poignant memories...

I forgot about it as the months went by, till “that time” of the year came around.

She had booked her tickets, and planned to reach her village two days before Shashti, confirm the dates for Kali Puja (Diwali), since it was the only time in a year that she could spend with her family, and then book her return ticket.

I did hit the panic button then, googled the dates for Kali Puja and offered to book her return ticket online…

OK, so if Kali Puja is on 17^th, would you know when is Bhai Phota (Bhai Dooj)???

Ahemmmm (nostalgia definitely has it limits) it should be on 19^th…

Okkk can you book my ticket on the 20^th?

Done

…before she could think about the next event on the festival calendar.

So as my maid completes her Puja shopping and packing, I start getting prepared to wake up an hour earlier in the morning and pack up an hour later for the evening, for the next month and a half.

Although I am dreading this time, I can’t help admire this lady who earns a fraction of what I do, giving it all up to go back to her roots to spend time with her friends and relatives, knowing that many of the odd jobs that she is leaving, will not be waiting for her…

She knows that she’ll lose out on a lot of money but is sure that this is what is more important to her and that she can always get another job.

I envy her sooooooooooooo much!