Wednesday 24 October 2012

A joyful experience: Durga Puja in bengali tradition!!


So ever since I heard this quote from one of my friends "One Bengali is a poet, two Bengalis are a Union and three Bengalis form a Puja Committee", I was quite curious about experiencing Durga Puja. Goddess Durga is one who is worshiped all over the country and I have grown up watching my parents worshiping goddess in our house every navratras. For us it has always been waking up early during these days and filling our house with chants of “Sarva Mangala Mangalye Shive sarvartha sadhike, Sharanye trayambake Gauri Narayani namostute”

I don’t really know what all one needs to do for the puja, but what I know is the bells of devotion from my heart are surely heard by goddess and that’s shakti puja for me.


I have always found it very interesting to learn about different cultures and experiencing the unknown to enhance the colorful vibrations of life. So when I got this invitation from one of my Bengali colleagues to be his guest and attend the puja in Chitranjan Park , I immediately said yes to it.  This place is a home to the affluent Bengali community and has been the epicenter for Durga Puja celebrations. 

So on the day of Puja, I draped the Bengali sari and dressed up like a proper Bengali woman. Excited to the core I stepped out of the house and left home with a friend to drive to the pandal. The picture in this post is completely misleading showing how comfortably I carried off the Sari. The initial half hour was no less than a fright for some one who is not even used to walk 4 steps wearing it :P But then, where there is a will there is a way ;-). I have tried it earlier long before and this time also i got rid off my sari consciousness in some time.

On reaching there I was like this child in a candy shop, loving every thing I saw. It seemed that the city is filled with colors, joy and lights all around. Sparkling smiles, jovial faces, music and above them, the Goddess in all her glory with her attendants.

I got the chance to attend a very popular traditional dance called “dhunuchi dance” during Puja. I followed the steps of these beautiful Bengali women and danced with mud pot in my hands for long. It was an amazing experience to do this devotional dance to the beats of drum with earthen pots lit with coconut husk, camphor, coal and sprinkled scents before the idol of Ma Durga. I was feeling one among them all. I captured these beautiful images in my camera so that I can savor these memories when the moments are gone.

Durga Puja is much more than just devotion and is a welcome break from our regular lives. The intoxicating crowd, sound, the road side puchka, dhunuchi naach, the heart beating to the rhythm of the dhol, I experienced it all and loved to the core. Now the festive season is ending with these lovely idols being submerged into the River. The idol is gone, but her spirit is staying back with all the people. This entire experience has left me with the hunger to learn and explore more. I know that the life is too short but if it can be lived well, this ‘one ‘is also enough :)



6 comments:

  1. In this attire you are no less than a parineeta

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  2. :) Thanks for d compliment Prabhat :)

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  3. I knew that this was about to come and here it comes out again so beautifully..Relived all the moments that I have been part of since my childhood.. :)

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  4. Admirable spirit and perseverance. You made it to durga pooja after all.
    Well done!

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