To some she is Bhavani. To others she is Mahakali or Chandi. She is Kanaka or Chamundeswari to people down South and Shaarika to those in Kashmir. Some though worship the milder forms as Lakshmi or Saraswati. Be that as it may, but around this time every year, millions express their faith in Durga through unparalleled exuberance, long hours of singing and dancing, moments of quiet worship stolen in crowded pandals and lots of sharing and eating with friends, neighbours and relatives.
From Shashtami to Dashami, puja is held with fervour, culminating in wider celebrations on the 10th day — Dussehra. For the preceding nine days, Durga is worshipped in many avatars with the multitudes behaving like Kartikeya, Durga’s son. Seeking, pleading, beseeching….devout and worshipping.
If such be the passion across India, can Delhi be left behind? Far from it. Well before the Navratra fasting begins, and much before the gigantic cut-outs of Ravan, Meghnad and Kumbhkaran spring up, Delhi is home to images of Durga, usually smiling beatifically from the roadside, from under the tarpaulin of the image-maker in Chittaranjan Park, Tilak Nagar, Aram Bagh, Shahdara, even Noida to the east of Delhi. Many images are of clay and decked up with paints which help not at the time of immersion; others are of dissolvable circumstances, making sure that the devout harm not the environment at the time of final immersion. These idols, beautiful and eye-catching as they are, are not an overnight creation. Artists come from Kumartuli in Kolkata as also places in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Many are booked a year in advance, most come down at least a month before the festival. Throughout day, and often by night, they toil, chiselling the deity to perfection. And once the idol is ready, it is installed in a temple, in a pandal, on stage. Then come the believers. And Durga rules over their hearts.
