As another year goes by....2011

In another two days, another i take another step to what a lot of people say "being wiser". But when I step back to look at the step that was last year, it was a really large and steep step for me, for my life. It was a whirlwind from the time go!

My birthday last year...

Holi last year.....

And then cane the turn in my life that was one of the most precious moments. A moment long awaited, by myself and by others in my life. A lot of people were happy that I had finally reached a decision.

A small, short ceremony in sweltering heat, marked the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

 And then as fate would have it my cousin bro, the only son of the family decided to begin a new chapter in his life also, far far away from the milling crowd, in the backdrop of a golf course and american indian accented priest, he also decided to take the plunge. Am me, like the good elder sister, was there to assist him and pull his leg.

The Indian Affaire

And then...like they say,,,the year just flowed....

I dunno what happened..but I think i forgot to post this blog...as another year draws to a close...i send this out to create another year gone by.... 

The Spirit of Durga Puja

From when ever I can remember, I have heard my father say around September-October, that the smell of Durga Puja is in the air(pujor gondho) the shiuli flower is strewn at the base of the tree and the sunshine is clear (jholmol roddur). I used to smile at my dad and wonder how he was always correct as a few days later our school would invariably announce the Puja holidays. Today after twenty years I can also smell Puja in the air, feel the nip in the morning air, see the clear blue sky with flakes of clouds and I know that Maa Durga is on her way. I surprise myself at the fact that now I can feel it, too. I might not be able to explain this, so I jovially put it to my “Bong Connection”. May be it truly is the Spirit of Durga Puja.

 Durga Puja once upon a time was a primarily an east  Indian occasion as those nine days connote different festive occasions all over the country. However in the more recent times it has become a more Indian phenomenon as the Bengalis, who primarily celebrate it with zeal and enthusiasm have spread all over the country, more fondly known as “Probashi Bengali”. During these five days one has to participate in it and live and breathe it to realize the Durga Puja experience. It is a unique mixture of divinity, joy, freedom, exhilaration and touching your roots.

Of course the spirit of Durga Puja is different in different cities and states. In Calcutta it is more about viewing the maximum pandal, long walks with milling crowds, falling into queues for Darshan and lots of food, street food and otherwise as well. The scale of the Puja is also different as there are lots of lights around, various formations of lights, the pandal also take different themes and different materials to come into prominence.

In Delhi the spirit of Durga Puja is different as the scale is smaller. It is more about community involvement, participation and being together when you are away from your own. It is to create the home away from home, trying to relive and rebuild all that memory has held of how it would be for the native Bengalis at home in West Bengal.

And after all the gaiety, fun and confusion, the night of Navami brings a strange foreboding, a slight dismay that the greatness of the puja just lasted five days……but the most unique part of it is that from Dashami itself people begin planning for the next year, and how they would do things differently and visit different places.

That truly I think is the spirit of Durga Puja that never dies, one  Puja goes and we are already looking ahead for the next one and we are thinking of the year coming ahead and everyone is refreshed, happy and rejuvenated.

At this point I wonder, did I start by saying the right thing? Is it the spirit of Durga Puja? Or is it the spirit of human kind…that to hope and dream of a tomorrow. The spirit that has the undying thirst of going ahead no matter what. It is just that the serene face of Maa Durga adds a different dimension to the spirit and so like very year this year also one will hear – Bollo bollo durga mai ki joy!!! Ashche bochor abaar hobe!!! (Praise Maa Durga!!! Coming year we will do it again!!!)

 

village-city in an uproar

Wow! What a feeling. It is very humbling and somewhat exciting to see a mass movement unfurl before your eyes. I am sure a lot of us are touched by this mass movement against corruption and amendment of the Lokpal Bill as it stand. I share the experience of just being there and feeling the power of the people.

On a general every week day situation, the India Gate circle is a mix of traffic flowing from the North block into the city or from the nearer vicinity of Connaught place, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Barakhamba, High Court etc etc to the various parts of the city and the suburb. But on the 17th Aug 5:00pm, the scene was different. India gate had traffic true...but the traffic was that of humans...barring status, age, region, language. It was milling with people and the Tri-colour. Overcast sky and the setting sun gave it the backdrop of a picturisque movement. There was patriotic songs sung by groups, slogans shouted out by young people, posters and banners held up to symbolise the struggle.

There were no leaders, no followers, no one to make a mass appeal. They were just citizens of the country, nameless, faceless, but with a passion- wanting to put a wrong to right.  No one was rich or poor, famous or infamous. Every one stood there as people of the country asking for accountability, asking for justice, asking for a right to question the government in peaceful ways.

No one rode a bike, or drove a car. They all came by public transport. All walked, with flags in their hands and hope in their hearts, that India was truly the greatest democracy of the world and they will do it right for the people of the country. These people who gathered were not gathered for a political intent, but with a emotional and social intent.

That I think was the greatest achievement by the citizens of India, to rise above politics and demand for the greater good.

the village-city

I smile every time I think of my country, about India. Not just a particular city or a particular state or locality, but the feel i get when i say India. It has so many things that you wish were different, so many habits, so much socialization, so much infrastructure that you wish was better or more, but I sometimes wonder, if India was not not the way it is today would we have had the same vibrancy, the same fiber that gives us the Indian-ness.

I work in a space that falls between the two sides of India - the one side that has all the amenities namely, a house to stay, a steady income, clean water, clean toilets, food to eat and friends and family to talk to. On the other side i work and interact with people and groups who have a broken roof, a mud wall for home, one meal a day, children not going to schools, women giving birth to a malnourished infant in a no facilities health center.

When i work for them or with them, I feel angry at the government and helpless at the situation, no matter how much we try, tomorrow there is going to be someone else, who is going to be in the same place. The problems are huge, the infrastructures small.

Not that we the government is not trying to make a difference, but the problems are like huge rapidly growing fire and the government efforts are like little pitter patter of rain.

Every evening when I get back home, I wonder, have I done enough. Have I made a small difference? And every night the village-city  send me signs that tell me nope dear heart! your work has just begun.

So as my first post to the world wide web and my dearest village-city, I just think I should say...play on!

Look forward to my intricacies and journeys through the village-city. Give me some more positive energy to go on