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Written by Mriganka
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Monday, 29 September 2008 |
 The Festive season is on. Tribe bengali is waiting eagerly and counting days for the big extravaganza. All the bengali 'babus' and 'biwis' are indulging themselves with innumerable shopping offers and they are grabbing it like anything. The smell of this auspicious occasion is spreading thick and fast and surrounding environment subtly giving you an idea that Puja is on.
There were times when in old days, especially in our childhood days we were used to think about new dresses and eagerly waiting for the moment. The drum beat, the loudspeaker, chanting of mantras, sitting in front of the idol with friends, enjoying little chitchats, trying to seduce the girl sitting a bit far away, there was flavour of happiness in the air. Now, we all have grown up and at the same time we are behaving like a matured person. Are we able to extract the same amount of happiness and fun like we used to do in our childhood days? Probably not, these days we are happy to watch the proceedings from a distant, like to indulge themselves with small cozy 'Adda' or chat with selected group of friends. We do indulge in shopping but is that with same vigor and energy? Question remains. Does that mean 'Durgapuja' lost its credentials? Certainly not! Because, the young generation X and Y still relishes the fact that they are going to have a long holiday to enjoy and obviously the older generation who are ready to spend quality time.
Can't you hear the sound of drum 'the dhak'? , don't you tap your feet with the beats? Aren't you ready to mingle with the crowed? Don't you think your heart is ready to pound whenever you see a girl beautifully dressed and flowered with ample seductiveness? Don't deny the fact, you are denying the fact means you are trying to hide your emotions. Why you are doing so? This is the time to celebrate, so enjoy your time, relish the fact that you are in the zone of happiness. You are alone in this time of puja ? Why so? Do you want to have a date with your loved ones? You know what Ia m talking about, don't you? This is pujatime gods dam it. Enjoy, break free, if you do not want to don the hat of a cupid then take it easy. See there are people who are eagerly waiting for the puja days, faces that are overjoyed with the simple news of Mahalya morning, they still love the chanting, they are counting the days, come join them.Everybody out there from road side businessman to chaiwala, from the glossy shopping malls to kirana pan cigarette shop. Everyone counting the days, Ok let me tell you some thing different, puja not only for the devotees but also the people spreading all over the religion, Eed is over and the joy of eed still smells fresh, Count everything Everything you will then feel the pulse of Puja, when hundreds and thousands of people sprawling all over the roads, queuing up for hours, just to take a glimpse of Devi or the pandal, join them and you will then feel what puja is all about.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 11 December 2010 )
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We are desperately counting days...Actually the festive season commences with "Jago tumi Jago" song played in radio stations with mantras chanted by Birendra Kishore Bhadra...Yes its Mahalaya time..from rich to the poor we bengalis start saving each penny to fulfill our desires during the pujas..Calcutta is know to be the City of Joy and we bengalis love to enjoy every single event of life be it an unexpected bandh declared by some political party 
or the grand festival Durga Puja...durga puja will never loose its credential though our way of celebration has changed a lot..These days a father fullfills his son's every single desire whatever he wants but earlier father's promised their children to fullfill his desire during Pujas after he gets his bonus..so the craze of shopping only during pujas has reduced a lot...Traditional Pujas in houses what we call Barir puja are now being replaced by Baroyari puja.competing with their so called themes..there was a time bengalis wait eagerly for Mahalaya to listen to those auspicious songs and chants played in "Kolkata -Ko"(pronunce in bengali) early morning at 4a.m but nowadays that is readily available in readymade CDs..Once upon a time bengali kids waited eagerly for the Puja release of "Anandamela"-a magazine for the kids containing lots of short stories,poetries etc...but these days kids hardly have time to read this magazine....So change a rule of life and so also the way of celebration of Pujas has changed but that doesnt nullify its importance..
