Durga Puja for the Bengalis is much more than a festival. It is a carnival and an emotion that marks the time of happy tides. Families immerse themselves in this five-day gala of awesome food, pandal hopping, music and cultural evenings and welcoming Maa Durga back to her paternal home. Kolkata cannot be outdone in its grandeur of the festive fervour, but people in other cities try to recreate that special euphoria which makes Durga Puja, the cultural extravaganza that no Bengali ever wants to miss and every non-Bengali wants to experience at least once.
Traditional puja
It is the busiest time of the year at the Bengali Durga Puja organising committees in the city. As the days to the festival near, there is a rush among the members to finalise the nitty-gritty of the upcoming festival. The Bengali community of Vizag has been celebrating the festival with festive fervour for several decades now. “The Bongs in the city have a special bond with the festival, for it is this time in the year when we get to go back to our roots, celebrate the festival with traditional fervour,” says Rita Basu, who has been closely associated with ‘Utsav’, the Durga Puja celebrations held at AMCOSA. While ‘Utsav’ is a relatively new committee in the Durga Puja scene of the city, Basu says that the celebrations are no less than those held at Kolkata’s heritage homes of Bengalis for generations. “The women are so involved in every little aspect of the festival. Our celebrations begin from ‘Panchami’, the day the idol is brought to the pandal. On that day, the women involve themselves in decorating the place with ‘alpona’ (rangoli),” says Basu. At Utsav this year, the five-day celebrations will include in-house cultural programmes, ‘kichuri bhog’ (prasad) and ‘Anondo Mela’, the fair of homely Bong food preparations made by the members of the committee. “On Saptami, all the families involve themselves in a ritual called the ‘kala bou snaan’ at R.K. Beach which is a visual treat,” explains Basu.
Oldest celebrations
One of the oldest Durga Puja celebrations in the city is the ECo Railway Sarbojanin Durga Puja at Waltair Kali Bari, near the Railway Station. Here, more than 1,500 Bengali families in the city get-together and participate in the five-day festive revelry. But the speciality of Waltair Kali Bari’s puja is the fact that it draws hundreds of visitors from other non-Bengali communities in the city. In its 57th year of Durga Puja celebration, the organisers have made several plans with a budget of ₹25 lakh. The festival will be inaugurated on Panchami, i.e. September 25. “Earlier, it would be the railway employees who were associated with Waltair Kali Bari Durga Puja celebrations. Now people from all walks of life come here to be a part of the celebrations. We have in-house cultural productions which will be presented by the children and other members of the Bengali community on September 25, 26 and 27. Special artistes from Kolkata will be performing on September 28 and 29,” says Biswanath Chandra Burman, secretary of Waltair Kali Bari.
The literary culture
Ukkunagaram’s Durga Puja Committee has been celebrating the festival from the past three decades. Here, literary activities which the Bongs are known for holds as much importance as the cultural and traditional aspects of the festivities. “We conduct story-writing competitions in Bengali, English, Odiya and Telugu for the children. The best ones are selected and published in our multi-lingual Durga Puja special journal called ‘Agomoni’ which is released on Saptami day. The idea is to encourage the children to write in their mother-tongue,” says Anindo Pal, who is closely associated with the literary activities of the committee. This apart, ‘Katha’ – a literary magazine – is brought out every year on the first day of the festival. “Katha is a platform given to the members of Bengali community to present their literary contributions in the form of short stories, plays, poetry and insightful narrations of life experiences,” he adds. Every puja committee in the city tries to recreate the charm of Kolkata’s Durga puja. The ‘Dhanuchi Naach’ and ‘Dhaak’ are an intrinsic part of the festive euphoria. The end of the five-day festival with Dashami brings out the worst case of blues in Bengalis. Teary-eyes and with swelling emotions, Maa Durga is bid adieu and then again, the Bengalis start counting days till the next Durga Pujo.
