Durgo Pujo, 1966

Published On: September 24, 2016 12:15 AM NPT By: Usha Pokharel


Durga Puja in Kolkata is akin to the extravagant frenzy of the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro of Brazil
Dashain! Yes, dashain is here again and with it memories of various years of fun, dancing and songs flash by my eyes one more time. For me it is more a Durgo Pujo. Whatever the name, memories of fun and festivities come back time and again, and my heart and mind wants to go back to those days spent in Kolkata during the sixties. The experience of spending 18 years of my early life in Bengal is difficult to forget. Deeply engrained childhood memories are there to stay. 

Just listening to the music of that era and closing my eyes, I am transported back to those days during the sixties when all festivals were fun. Be it Sarawoti Puja, Kali Puja or Holi, and specially Durga Puja, all were fun parts of my childhood. You must be wondering what is so special about Durga Puja in Kolkata. Let me tell you, it’s like the extravagant frenzy of the Carnival in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, or the obviously felt craze of Diwali in North India. It’s that feeling of happiness with your loved ones that everyone looks forward to all year. So today I am going to take you back in time and enjoy my memories of Durga Puja from Calcutta (now Kolkata). So come, step back in time with me to the Kolkata of the sixties.

Year 1966, place Janak Road, Lake market, Kolkata:
It’s the morning of Mahalaya, a week before Durga Puja. We are all up at 5:00 am, listening to the popular radio program, Mahishasura Mardini Mahalaya, by Birendra Krishna Bhadra in Bengali. This sets the mood for the durga puja preparations. On the home front, children are looking forward to buying many new clothes for pujo (puja in Bengali), but finally children get only one or two dresses. On the community front, the organizing committees have started raising funds from the neighborhood for ordering an idol of Durga and preparation of the pandal. In no time the pandal is ready and decorated for the arrival of the Maa Durga’s idol, in the playground next to our house. The pandal is beautifully decorated with lights and other colorful decorations.

We are all excited and animated and are running around hindering the work in progress.

Soon enough one morning we find Maa Durga already on the huge pedestal but all covered up. Next morning we woke up to the sound of Shaakh: shankha along with the sound of dhaak: the large drum that men hang around their shoulders and play with two thin sticks to infuse the frenzied rhythm into listener. Durga Puja does not assume the festive aura without the maddening beats of the dhaak. These enchanting beats are enough to conjure up the sights and smells of Durga Puja. The cover is taken off the beautiful Devi’s idol. After pran pratistha ceremony, the idol becomes a deity. 

Soon enough, the blaring of famous new Bengali and Hindi music distracts the children and they start dancing. The pandal is divided into two parts with a rope, separating the area for the pundit to perform his puja, pushpanjali, araati and for dhunachi (dhoop dance) from the area for the visitors. Children spend most of their time sitting there and looking at the festive activities. In fact, Kolkata becomes a single discernible entity for five days during Durga puja every year. These five days everyone is busy showing off his/her new clothes during the day and dancing after the nightly araati sessions. The older ones perform the ‘dhunachi’ dance.  

The evening begins with the ‘aarati’ and then after aarati, the same fire is used to light the coals in the dhunachi pots and then incense is added. Durga pujo is not complete without dhunachi dance. It’s a devotional folk dance. These times are absolutely exhilarating with couple of dhaaks, plenty of dance, red burning charcoal, the effervescence of dhoop and lots of dancers accompanying the expert dancers. The dance starts with individuals picking up clay pots shaped like large wine glasses and filled with burning coconut coir shells or charcoals with incense, in their bare hands. They then dance in front of the deity, to the beat of large resounding dhaak beats. The drummers use a variety of dhaak and banging of metal plates to create a beat and rhythm that is unique to Bengal. 

It’s amazing to see people dancing and swaying in the designated area, facing the Durga idol with dhunachi in their hands moving. Along with the hands, the smoke from the dhunachi also forms interesting, graceful patterns. All this creates a trance-like atmosphere with the drummers leading the dancers with their beats: sometimes slow and sometimes fast, together they create the magic of puja festivities. Usually our routine was set, regular offering of pushpanjali each morning and chanting with the crowd, “Rupam Dehi Jayam Dehi Yasho Dehi Dvisho Jahi”, without understanding the meaning of it. Followed by the ‘Ulu Dhwani’: a vocal sound made by a group of women, believed to drive away evil spirits. 

Mahasthami, and we all were busy with pushpanjali in the morning and at night the pandal hopping began, visiting durga pandals in the neighboring communities. In some places we waited in long lines just to see the idols. By nabami we were tired and just sat there in the pandal listening to the music, singing along and discussing dresses. The puja frenzy is at its pinnacle on Vijaya dashami with elaborate pushpanjali at the pandal and for us it was tika.  

On Vijaya dashami, we proudly sported our red tika and light green jamara, smiling like models. As young children we hardly cared about anything other than looking good and being one of a kind. Unfortunately, all that fun, joy and excitement ended in the evening when idols are taken out of the pandal and placed on the huge trucks to be taken for immersion in the Hoogly River.

On dashami, after our evening meals, we rushed to the side of the main road to secure our seat to look at the Durga murti being taken away for bisharjan. It’s such a pity that all the idols, so carefully created, with all that respect and love, have to be immersed in the river. Watching the beautiful idols go by, one after another, tore our hearts. At the same time, we also enjoyed the fanfare that preceded the decorated truck with the idol on them.

We even ranked the ones that were outstanding in appearance, truck decoration and idol and dancing. The empty pandals felt like house after the bride is sent away. Crying people did not help either. Everyone wanted Maa Durga to stay. 

The next day the pandal on our playground starts to come apart. The grandeur of the night before, all gone, and it feels like a rude awakening from a beautiful dream. The playground where the pandal once stood a day ago with specially erected tube-lights, smoke, incense, spectacle, hullabaloo and people in their own versions of regalia, becomes empty again till next year’s Durga Pujo. Till then one more time the empty space is our own arena of fun and games. 

Back to the present, ah, what a memory! Almost like being in a magic kingdom. Then again, after so many years, one is allowed to bask in the memory of the magic of Durga Puja in Kolkata for old time’s sake. Don’t you think so?

The author is an educationist and author of several children’s books

usha@pokharel.net


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