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!!!)
