It is confirmed now - all the hours my mother spent in the puja room fretting over our lack of religious fervour has borne fruit. God got fed up and granted her hippy children the power of religious bond, though subtly and quite late in the day. I realised yesterday evening standing among a melee of Bengalis in CR park, with the strains of Rabindra Sangeet wafting in the air along with the smell of delicious egg rolls, that this is who I am. A hardcore non-veg Bangali!! The pursuit of happiness in a soul-sucking city like Delhi has not been able to kill my Bengalipana. The atmosphere in CR Park actually transports me back to my good old Cal days. We used to go pandal hopping after 10pm and every Durga Mata murti and intricate lighting arrangements just fascinated us.
The CR park pujas do not have that kind of glamour - but what they lack in that department they make up with a crowd that is actually holding up the Bengali tradition lock, stock and barrel. They have no fear of long queues both outside the pandals and in front of the food stalls. They dance to the dhaker bajna and just revel in the fact that they are Bengalis. For a brief moment, I feel sad that Shayan will probably have no clue what I am talking about - but then I turn around and see him standing in front of Matadi with his hands closed in prayer and eyes shut tightly. There is hope yet!!
Will be going to the GK and Noida pujas in the coming days. Hopefully will have more to share. Do check out the Shib Mandirer puja in CR - the white idol just takes one's breath away.
The CR park pujas do not have that kind of glamour - but what they lack in that department they make up with a crowd that is actually holding up the Bengali tradition lock, stock and barrel. They have no fear of long queues both outside the pandals and in front of the food stalls. They dance to the dhaker bajna and just revel in the fact that they are Bengalis. For a brief moment, I feel sad that Shayan will probably have no clue what I am talking about - but then I turn around and see him standing in front of Matadi with his hands closed in prayer and eyes shut tightly. There is hope yet!!
Will be going to the GK and Noida pujas in the coming days. Hopefully will have more to share. Do check out the Shib Mandirer puja in CR - the white idol just takes one's breath away.
