Diary entry on the day of durga puja
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durga puja is mainly celebrated in west Bengal .I is celebrated for thanking god
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Dhakis and dhunuchi naach – the traditional drummers from Bengal and dancers with incense-filled, earthen pots. Durga Puja season has come and gone, but images from all over the world keep tumbling out -thanks to hectic activity on social networking sites. A heartfelt plea from a friend in Minnesota for video uploads of her favourite traditional puja pandals and ebullient anecdotes from another in Nairobi on how he went all out to procure the proverbial fresh fish for a special community dinner on Mahasthami – the most important day of the pujas – the ardent festive spirit, best embodied, perhaps, amidst the overseas Bongs and Bongettes.
A professor of management at a well-known Australian university divides his time between Melbourne, where he lives, which gives him the flavour of a community or baroari Puja and Brisbane, where he has many friends, which is a more homely affair with lots of spontaneous participation. He volunteers many hours to help with the decorations at both places. A cousin in London boasts about the Camden Durga Puja – the idol of the goddess was created by the legendary Ramesh Chandra Paul of Kumartuli in Kolkata – the famous pottery district. It was a gift to her Puja committee from one of Kolkata’s & London’s best known faces – ArcelorMittal chief Lakshmi N. Mittal. A smorgasbord of scripts – almost straight out of the pages of a Jhumpa Lahiri short story.
Instead of wallowing in nostalgia about Pujas past, spent with my grandparents in Kolkata, I find far greater comfort in connecting with friends and family around the world – the newbies or fresh off the boat types – who usually display more faith and fervour than the very Kolkatans themselves.
Wherever there are overseas Bengalis, there’s a Durga Puja – and most often there’s more than one. Take America’s New York Tri-State or San Francisco and Silicon Valley areas – about three decades back these places had just a handful of Pujas – today there’s a plethora spread all around. Differences of opinion among the leadership of the spirited Bengali community and splits into new organisations – to put it somewhat mildly – and of course the huge influx of new immigrants, are seen as the reasons. A sort of a la carte menu of the Pujas, explains a friend in Princeton, who moved to America more than 30 years ago.
Interestingly, just as back home, overseas Puja events too are marked by an underlying sense of chaos, confusion and frayed nerves, despite the best efforts of the organisers. Idols are made of non-traditional material such as fibre glass and stored away for use again next year, instead of the traditional immersion and evening aaratis are performed under strict fire safety guidelines.
Yet no one’s complaining. In the end it’s about having a good time, dressing up in the best ethnic wear – often painstakingly sourced from designer outlets in India – and above all indulging in traditional Bengali delicacies.
For logistical reasons, most overseas Pujas take place over weekends – starting Friday evenings. The Sasthi, Saptami, Asthami, Nabami and Dashami sequence is squeezed into a simplified two and a half day schedule. And like back home, outside the Puja venue, makeshift shops sell wares as wide-ranging as sarees, DVDs, jewellery and even life insurance. There are, of course, the traditional pujas at temples – such as the one at Toronto Kalibari – which religiously follow the traditional Bengali almanac and adhere to all traditions.
But what really keeps these Pujas ticking – thousands of miles away from Bengal? Poignant nostalgic ties with the home country and a deep-seated longing to remain connected with one’s roots combined with equal proportions of vibrant social ties within the community which get accentuated in a distant land. Durga Puja is not just about religious ceremonies, it’s about cultural shows as well – the evenings in Vancouver, Denver, London, Singapore and Melbourne are embellished with music, song, dance and drama.
The local Bengali community gets an opportunity to showcase talent and better still, well known performers from India are invited to come and perform. So even as one’s son plays the saxophone and one’s daughter displays her skills at creating rangoli designs – the audience is regaled with Tagore songs by well known exponents from Kolkata and Santiniketan.
But deep down, it’s the new immigrant trying to pass on cultural values to GeNext. Some fear that their children may not carry on with the tradition of celebrating Durga Puja and it would always be the new immigrant Bengali who would shoulder the responsibility of organizing the festivities while others fervently hope that their children will be different and more in tune with tradition.
No wonder that the proud Bengali puts all that she can into ‘succession planning’ and giving her son and daughter a really good time during the five Puja days – good times that they’ll look forward to again next year.
A professor of management at a well-known Australian university divides his time between Melbourne, where he lives, which gives him the flavour of a community or baroari Puja and Brisbane, where he has many friends, which is a more homely affair with lots of spontaneous participation. He volunteers many hours to help with the decorations at both places. A cousin in London boasts about the Camden Durga Puja – the idol of the goddess was created by the legendary Ramesh Chandra Paul of Kumartuli in Kolkata – the famous pottery district. It was a gift to her Puja committee from one of Kolkata’s & London’s best known faces – ArcelorMittal chief Lakshmi N. Mittal. A smorgasbord of scripts – almost straight out of the pages of a Jhumpa Lahiri short story.
Instead of wallowing in nostalgia about Pujas past, spent with my grandparents in Kolkata, I find far greater comfort in connecting with friends and family around the world – the newbies or fresh off the boat types – who usually display more faith and fervour than the very Kolkatans themselves.
Wherever there are overseas Bengalis, there’s a Durga Puja – and most often there’s more than one. Take America’s New York Tri-State or San Francisco and Silicon Valley areas – about three decades back these places had just a handful of Pujas – today there’s a plethora spread all around. Differences of opinion among the leadership of the spirited Bengali community and splits into new organisations – to put it somewhat mildly – and of course the huge influx of new immigrants, are seen as the reasons. A sort of a la carte menu of the Pujas, explains a friend in Princeton, who moved to America more than 30 years ago.
Interestingly, just as back home, overseas Puja events too are marked by an underlying sense of chaos, confusion and frayed nerves, despite the best efforts of the organisers. Idols are made of non-traditional material such as fibre glass and stored away for use again next year, instead of the traditional immersion and evening aaratis are performed under strict fire safety guidelines.
Yet no one’s complaining. In the end it’s about having a good time, dressing up in the best ethnic wear – often painstakingly sourced from designer outlets in India – and above all indulging in traditional Bengali delicacies.
For logistical reasons, most overseas Pujas take place over weekends – starting Friday evenings. The Sasthi, Saptami, Asthami, Nabami and Dashami sequence is squeezed into a simplified two and a half day schedule. And like back home, outside the Puja venue, makeshift shops sell wares as wide-ranging as sarees, DVDs, jewellery and even life insurance. There are, of course, the traditional pujas at temples – such as the one at Toronto Kalibari – which religiously follow the traditional Bengali almanac and adhere to all traditions.
But what really keeps these Pujas ticking – thousands of miles away from Bengal? Poignant nostalgic ties with the home country and a deep-seated longing to remain connected with one’s roots combined with equal proportions of vibrant social ties within the community which get accentuated in a distant land. Durga Puja is not just about religious ceremonies, it’s about cultural shows as well – the evenings in Vancouver, Denver, London, Singapore and Melbourne are embellished with music, song, dance and drama.
The local Bengali community gets an opportunity to showcase talent and better still, well known performers from India are invited to come and perform. So even as one’s son plays the saxophone and one’s daughter displays her skills at creating rangoli designs – the audience is regaled with Tagore songs by well known exponents from Kolkata and Santiniketan.
But deep down, it’s the new immigrant trying to pass on cultural values to GeNext. Some fear that their children may not carry on with the tradition of celebrating Durga Puja and it would always be the new immigrant Bengali who would shoulder the responsibility of organizing the festivities while others fervently hope that their children will be different and more in tune with tradition.
No wonder that the proud Bengali puts all that she can into ‘succession planning’ and giving her son and daughter a really good time during the five Puja days – good times that they’ll look forward to again next year.
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