Entering Dashami

Surprising though that none of the days it rained, and it last did son on Saptami morning. The day turned out to be pretty hot on Saptami.

 

Today we have already entered Dashami and I am still working. It is 1:34 in the morning. I know, people are exactly afraid of becoming like me. Yes hard work and no holidays seems to be the order of the day.

I am planning to go out for some of the nearby pandals after some more time, but feel very tired. Bye Durga Puja.

Right back in 2006 , I had planned to take my family to Agartala for the Durga Puja 2008. Today I feel lost in those terms. Things never go out as planned,

It was a two year old plan but did not materialize. I think, commonality is induced with time and slowly you realize that there is nothing left in you other than working in this complex place where things are not always what they seem

 

The goals are there. Many do the hard work to reach those places, but  there is only a space for a handful, the rest who are giving their best will end up seeing a rewardless place .

The incantations on the Nabami morning

This time, this might have been the first time that I am not out on Ashtami at least. I was working whole day , just took some time out to get some water bottles since there was no drinking water at home.

The morning was complete with sounds from the nearby pandal . The nabami incantations are on and they are using the mike as usual. Not that I am having problems with it, rather I like it. It churns out some of the best memories of my old times.

 

Nabami is a great day for us, since it is almost taken as the last day for the pujas. Though many believe that tomorrow being a Thursday , we cannot immerse the durga tomorrow , we will rather do it on the coming Friday . I believe that in Hyderabad and Bangalore, they would be doing it on the weekend since they have to rely on people coming from their work desks to do the work.

 

No body gets any holidays for the same. The day is a bit on the cloudy side and I am getting the feeling that today we will get the most number of people on the roads. I will try and get a sneak peek into the nearby good ones.

Netaji Sporting Club and Laketown Adhibaashi Brinda are two of the better ones out here. Dum Dum Park is another one that is quite famous. Sreebhumi Puja gathers a lot of attention due the incoming flux of people from Barasat and Madhyamgram and beyond.

 

The Lake town Adhibashi Brinda puja  ,opposite to the Jaya cinema hall is very famous due to the protima shilpi or the idol artist, Sushanta Pal, He also makes 3 other famous idols for the city like 66 palli.

Happy Durga Puja to all the blog readers

The gloomy Ashtami

From the eyes of a software engineer, Who is working his ass off, here somewhere in one corner of the country , where he is supposed to be having fun,

 

 I just called one of my relatives, who is out with sickness due to his efforts yesterday ( I mean Puja Parkrama of course )

May be this is what everyone likes, the fun the frills and the filling of each and every corner of any restaurant, or hotel or any park or anything. We are in max utilization mode as of now in Kolkata. The channels are blaring all the time, there is no need to find out any news or any thing creative as of now, all the creativity is done for now. The city is vibrant, and there  is a lot of jostling happening here and there .

 

Though my appetite is gone, still sitting home and working does sound like a rather boring proposition but the lack of friends in Kolkata is another factor that  is keeping me home. This is rather a time to enjoy but commitment to work is one thing that I have somehow acquired after seeing the result of non commitment from others. I know how odd it is to be not present when somebody requires you,

 

The dhaak is rolling and as Derek O Brien once rightfully said, that his being a Christian does not take away anything from celebrating this festival of light, sounds and art. Small colonies, small alleys and every possible known place to man is decorated. People are gathering and especially the youth are out in their best,

Yes, there is a small problem with people like me who are sitting in between , we know that everything is meaningless, and on the other hand I also want to enjoy just like anyone else. Does every one else go through the same changes, Does everyone else also go through these feelings that everything is meaning less, In the end there is no meaningful existence and that the pursuit of happiness is a never ending process, and what point of time do you take a stance, take a look at what have you done , and where to put that full stop

And a sunny Saptami

Well, after a long wait the sun did some out and phew, you real are stuck with what you need, We cannot stand the sun, the rains are spoil sport, it is something in between isn’t it ,

 

Some of the greats of south Kolkata Pujas, like 66 th palli, 23 palli, Badamtala, Shib Mandir, Ekdalia, Beck Bagan, Mudiali Park, Park Circus,

 

Now that they are household names and people can see them on one of the 10 channels that are broadcasting news from in and around the pandals all across the city and also footage from Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai,

Some of them have gone farther in their attempts. Pujas from NY and from London,

My views on it are, be active in the local puja but stay away from making a car ride across the city . I am shattered as the shadow of my childhood memories of Durga Puja is what I want to recreate , but that will, the appetite has died

I am a common man and common man never puts down its views in writing. Blogging gives me that electronic medium to write out my feelings. All there years I have found literary jewels to far out connected from the average mans needs and thinking. They talk of abstracts , but the common man is suffering from its own pain of common life which has no fun but a treadmill run that never ends,

I got a call on Ashtami morning today , What it meant to me was, why I was not available at work yesterday .,

Yes running away from work is onething , but spending hours on Saturday and Sunday , till 4 am in the morning , I thought that something good might be in store for me on Monday

The puaj parikrama was not good either. It turned out to be tiring and not fulfilling. People can enjoy a cool and relaxed Durga Puja may be in Hyderabad but not Kolkata anymore.

 

A Rainy Shashti

Yes, yes, I have watched movies, where people are shown not enjoying life at all. People are showing working hard all day dong without sparing a moment for family or party,

Well, I am sitting here in my table, A lot of work is pending and moreover I am not able to code at a single go since I have not done minute coding for a long time, but slowly I am progressing towards a solution

Coming to the main point , Durga this year has come to baaper baari in a nouko. And so it seems that though after a long time I am in Kolkata for  a Durga Puja, I may have to pass it this time.

It is raining and boy when it rains on all these pandals f, made of paper, cloths, and other materials that are supposed to be for your eyes only, and there it goes. So many months of aspirations, and so many people waiting , especially the children. I am 25 now and with time the usual excitement of the pandals and the    baroari pujas has started to ebb a little bit. I usually look for to the colors, the patterns and the material aspect of it. I am sure many will be able to identify with me,

 

Most of my friends in Bangalore, actually look forward to the pujo from the album perspective or a popularity sense. Some take immense pleasure in the fact that they are known as that band that performed in Ulsoor Durga Puja. Well, some of the Durga Pujas in rest of India actually have budgets that surpass many pujas in Kolkata.

One of the pujas in Coimbatore I remember used to be funded by the Marwari community there. There are bigger pujas in Delhis Chittranjan Park than in many big names in Kolkata. Many artisans and protima Shilpis are hired and given tickets to fly abroad to make the idols there.

Last year, one of the Durga Pujas took place in the royal gardens of London, a sheer sight of loyalty with Bengali culture. Let me remind you that many of the big buildings in London are owned by Sylhetis form lower Assam or Bangladesh,

Generations there have worked hard while the local people had wealth to spare, spend and touch luxury which demands a lot from third world countries like us. All these people who went there to London as 4^th grade workers, as manual labor, as taxi drivers, as fruit sellers have now the years by theory of extreme penance and hard work and saving every penny they earned have literally started to demand first grade citizenship there.

 

I believe with the weather shifting , climate changes and global warming, un warranted rains, irregular weather patterns , it will be difficult in future to have any Durga Puja without any rain altogether,

Last year the winter lasted till Februray 20 th, I was here during that time. I think October will continue to remain the rainy season in the Durga Pujas in Kolkata for the next few years to come and it will a sight to see even one sunny day. Our next generation will have to move to other places like Bangalore, Delhi , Mumbai or Hyderabad for better pujas.

 

In Agartala one of my brothers told me the other day that the rains this time were bleak and the Howrah nadi , ( river) is almost dry , people are looking forward towards the rain and it is becoming extremely difficult to manage drinking water for the town.  A town that used to see rains for almost 6 months at a stretch is now dry , it did not take decades for this change. I believe it happened in the last few years. Who says you don’t see a lot of change in nature in one life time.

 

 

Durga Puja in Bangalore

Need more information , Please visit

 

http://www.sarathi_forum.webs.com/

 

Contacts

Mr.Saurabha Majumder                                                       Mr. Sumit Datta       

Executive Committee Membership                                         President                    

+91 9845695317                                                                   +91 9845164427      

 Mr. Subhayu Basu                                                               Mr. Hari Sengupta Secretary                                                                             Chairman  9845088736                                                                         +91 9880064540

 

And also there is another  beautiful group that is planning out on its first music album by the end of 2008.

 

Back benchers, (Orkut: http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=17408517)

They don’t have a site as of now, but the schedule for their programs is here with me now. It is as follows

 

 

Saptami, 6th Oct, Monday: R T Nagar Durga Puja, R T Nagar
(evening 7 PM onwards)

Ashtami, 7th Oct, Tuesday: North Bangalore Durga Puja, Mahalaxmi
Layout (evening 9:30 PM onwards)

Nabami, 8th Oct, Wednesday: Sarathi Trust Durga Puja, Koramangala
kalyana mantapa (Afternoon)
Prabashi Durga Puja,
Maleeswaram (Evening 8:30 PM onwards)

 

Enjoy

Some of the Bangalore Durga Pujas

This year, Bangalore hosts 39 Durga Pujas, the cultural invasion has a started,

 

Despite the Bangalore airport now getting shifted to another town all together, the Anandabazar still reaches to the nooks and corners of the city,

From Hal on one side to JP nagar on the other,

From white field to madivala  I have been able to get hold of a Anandabazar everywhere I go , Soon I believe that the local people will start getting  involved and that is when it will all bloom out in the open. Bengaluru would have by then bengalized,

This is a complete scenario change, things change ( I remember one of the writings in one of the museums in New York ) .

The Polish immigrants to New York came in search of jobs ( whatever that might be ) , they were really hard working and had their own skill sets to sell, they came to New York ( thinking about earning and leaving back to their own lands with enough money , but that thing never happened, the children settled there. Married the local people there, and led their own  culture in the coming years,

Thus leaving your own land in search of opportunities doesn’t make you a  traitor nor does it make you an intruder in the correct sense, The world is running on all kinds of businesses , some contracts unsaid and some un heard but they happen and they happen to you,

Our government in west Bengal was not able to provide for us, but the skills we possess are to be rewarded , India is where it is because it suffered years of non merited people in government jobs , we had quotas to kill the talented people) corruption  to kill the poor and nepotism to kill the deserving,

 

All these worn out souls left the country and celebrated un parallel freedom and opportunity in a foreign land called USA.

Same is the fate with Bengalis in India, they have made a prosperous Chittaranjan Park , one of the most prestigious Durga Pujas in India, they are now in Bangalore .

 

I will add some of the links of the Durga Pujos in Bangalore in the next post