Durga Puja days in the 1950s were halcyon days, with Nirad Chaudhri still living in Kashmere Gate and attracting visitors from far and near. He used to switch over to dhoti-kurta for the pujas, discarding his black suit and tie and matching shoes, which made way for leather chappals. He did look shorter in them but the personal stature of the man continued to be tall. Among those who came looking for him was Nirad Babu, a well-known face because of his daily visits to Maidens Hotel. He had known the person after whom the posh hospitality outlet was named, or so claimed Mrs. Graham. May be Mr. Maiden was a very old man then and the famous writer still a youngster. That was probably the time when two English girls on a visit to Delhi sent a telegraphic message to their parents in London which read ‘Maidens no more” the first word ‘At' having got blanked out in the transmission. You can imagine the anguish of the family on getting this shattering information in an age when maidenhood counted for much.
The Anglos went to the pujas not for worship but to see what sort of image of the goddess was projected during the yearly gathering. There were two other reasons for their friendship with high-profile Bengali Babus, who celebrated Christmas with them with almost as much gusto. Secondly the enjoyment that the dance and music programmes gave them while partaking of the delicious eats offered admirers of the then ruling establishment. But their girls in skirts and high-heeled shoes mixed with the Bongo boys on an equal footing and sometimes excited the jealousy of the girls of the latter's own community, who were certainly not as daring then. Opinions may differ but this is the impression one got.
Living entity
The Bengalis of Mori Gate and Daryaganj also made their presence felt here particularly on Ashtami, and were sometimes joined by the ones living in Paharganj and Timarpur. Among those who used to look forward to Durga Puja were Mrs. Dorothy and her daughter Enid. They had been told by Bannerjee, their driver, that the mage of the goddess became a breathing, living entity after the priest had infused life into it and that Durga was at the zenith of her power before Navami. This belief made the two ever curious to search for matching evidence in the countenance of the pratima. Enid and her friends were therefore not averse to dancing before it with incense containers and getting good applause for their effort.
On the day of Bisarjan the residents of the Civil Lines came out of their bungalows on Ludlow Castle Road to watch the procession of the images being taken for immersion. It was mostly women who lined up on both sides of the road and felt just as sorry as their counterparts at the end of Durga's annual sojourn on earth. Would you believe it that some acquaintances even induced them to take part in “sindoor khela”, as the daubing with vermilion is known?
The community's participation in the pujas was actually an extension of the bonhomie that marked the British interest in the occasion as far back as the 18th Century when the feudal rajas of Bengal first hosted them at Dussehra time in Kolkata, making many of the sahibs and memsahibs nostalgic about the event. In Delhi however that sort of nostalgia ceased after the Anglo-Indians moved out of the Civil Lines.
