Mahalaya - beginning of Debipaksha

This is the last week of September. The rain has yet not stopped this year, even yesterday there was a drizzle in the evening. I was returning home after office, deeply merged in the thought of office work and getting annoyed with the rain and crowded station road. Suddenly i noticed a roadside CD shop. It attracted my ear first as the famous "Mohaloya" was being played there. The thing flashed in my mind, tomorrow is Mohaloya, the beginning of Debipaksha.

For todays "happening" GenY, it is not a bothersome issue, as they could not see any specialty in a piece of chant and song, which is being played each and every year, same time, in radio (radio itself has become an obsolete media). So monotonous, no variation, no different feeling.
We, the earlier generation, are becoming extinguished race, who still get thrilled by the super enthusiastic song, which has become a cult, "bajlo tomar alor benu". The time in clock is just 4 am, its dark outside,and we are yet in our bed, not decided to get up fully. Then follows the magical voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra, chanting the story of Debi Durga's origination.

This composition of Mohaloya is nowadays quite available in market, we can get its original and pirated format, in cd or in casette, even in DVD format. But I do not have one. Do not know why, but I never wished to hear it any other time of year, just like any other nice song or music.Maybe, its connection with Durgapuja has made it so special, and i do not want to lose that by making it too available in my CD rack.
When I was at school, this day means a holiday for us, and I could never keep awake till one hour, (that is the duration of this programme) and hear this from beginning to end, not missing a single moment. My father used to play the radio in a high volume so we can all hear it from our bed, and I often doze off in sleep, to find the programme has ended and elders are getting ready for a cup of tea.
From this day onwards, the puja starts, as we have only 5 days left before puja. The pandals are getting ready with the workers working on it day and night. Even the idols have reached many 'mandaps'. We are losing our concentration in our daily routine and looking forward to the fabulous 5 days Festivity.

                                                                     Shuvo DurgaPuja

Festival time; its Durgapuja again

Festival of the year , that is Durgapuja, is knocking at our door, yet once more.

We Bengalees are so called "Hujuge" and do not lose one single chance to get swept. Ladies are over excited with their new look that is to be dawn in puja time, and their male counterparts are planning for marathon "adda" and pandal hopping.

this puja comes with many good news, one of them being the closure for 5 days, which we kolkattans look forward for. We all plan for tour, eating out, dressing up and many more activities for these precious four days. There are lots of people who do not like to get mixed up in the crowd and make a tiresome journey for a long day to just watch the same idols in every distinct corner of this city. They rather prefer to go for a long drive or even, a long tour.

Durgapuja in Kolkata are mostly arranged by Para clubs, though some families arrange for their puja, which are also very authentic and traditional in look and feel.

The Puja originally starts with Mahalaya, that is the day on which Maa Durga starts her journey from Her inlaws house to her parental house.
sixth day the Puja starts, as the goddess had arrived with her children and family.

Sasthi and Saptami puja goes on, and the eighth day, which is called Astami, is the day of prayer offering. "Anjali" is a ritual which is to be performed in empty stomach, flowers in hand, religious and not so religious bengalees, dressed in dhuti punjabi or saree, we pray to Devi Durga. After the ritual is over, its time for Luchi, one of the most favourite food of Bengalees.

All glory becomes little bit dull with the arrival of the ninth day, Nabami.

The last day of the festival is called Dashami, when in the afternoon the idol is to be immersed.


Before immersion, the goddess is adored by married women, as it is thought that our daughter is going back to her inlaws house, and will be coming back only after one year, all ladies apply sindur on the forehead of the idol, touches some sweets to her mouth and wipes her tear with betel leaves. Afterwards, they apply the sindur on each other, its a beautiful ritual called "sindurkhela".

Nowadays, this immersion, which is called "Bhasan" has also become a programme, as lots of young men and women dance and joins the procession.

After the idols are immersed, the holy water of the river is to be brought back to the pandal, and sprinkled on everybody, as we pray for peace.

The sadness of the farewell of the goddess is forgotten in the programme "Bijoya", as youngers touch feet of elders and sweets are distributed among all. With this happy note, the festival Durgapuja ends, and the waiting starts for one more time.

Festival time; its Durgapuja again

Festival of the year , that is Durgapuja, is knocking at our door, yet once more.

We Bengalees are so called "Hujuge" and do not lose one single chance to get swept. Ladies are over excited with their new look that is to be dawn in puja time, and their male counterparts are planning for marathon "adda" and pandal hopping.

this puja comes with many good news, one of them being the closure for 5 days, which we kolkattans look forward for. We all plan for tour, eating out, dressing up and many more activities for these precious four days. There are lots of people who do not like to get mixed up in the crowd and make a tiresome journey for a long day to just watch the same idols in every distinct corner of this city. They rather prefer to go for a long drive or even, a long tour.

Durgapuja in Kolkata are mostly arranged by Para clubs, though some families arrange for their puja, which are also very authentic and traditional in look and feel.

The Puja originally starts with Mahalaya, that is the day on which Maa Durga starts her journey from Her inlaws house to her parental house.
sixth day the Puja starts, as the goddess had arrived with her children and family.

Sasthi and Saptami puja goes on, and the eighth day, which is called Astami, is the day of prayer offering. "Anjali" is a ritual which is to be performed in empty stomach, flowers in hand, religious and not so religious bengalees, dressed in dhuti punjabi or saree, we pray to Devi Durga. After the ritual is over, its time for Luchi, one of the most favourite food of Bengalees.

All glory becomes little bit dull with the arrival of the ninth day, Nabami.

The last day of the festival is called Dashami, when in the afternoon the idol is to be immersed.


Before immersion, the goddess is adored by married women, as it is thought that our daughter is going back to her inlaws house, and will be coming back only after one year, all ladies apply sindur on the forehead of the idol, touches some sweets to her mouth and wipes her tear with betel leaves. Afterwards, they apply the sindur on each other, its a beautiful ritual called "sindurkhela".

Nowadays, this immersion, which is called "Bhasan" has also become a programme, as lots of young men and women dance and joins the procession.

After the idols are immersed, the holy water of the river is to be brought back to the pandal, and sprinkled on everybody, as we pray for peace.

The sadness of the farewell of the goddess is forgotten in the programme "Bijoya", as youngers touch feet of elders and sweets are distributed among all. With this happy note, the festival Durgapuja ends, and the waiting starts for one more time.

Rains In Kolkata

“Ami bristi dekhechi
Bristi r chobi ekechi…..” – Anjan Dutta

I have never been in any other city in monsoon except Kolkata. I have heard of gorgeous sea view in Mumbai at the time of monsoon, and there are hill stations which look marvelously green in this season. But all I have seen and felt is Kolkata turns into a grey moth; that does have a beauty not visible to everyone.


In Kolkata you will see bunch of kids, in a rainy morning, going to school, in raincoats, looking like little aliens, coming from some unknown planet. You will see potholes filled with muddy rain water, having a reflection of the grey sky, looking like little mirrors thrown in the pitched road.


There are drops in the iron bar of bus window, dangling like a glazy grey pearl, and above all the grey sky holding green fresh leafy branches in its background. In a cloudy afternoon you can see a red or white kite is flying in the slate sky, making a vivid contrast.
These things make Kolkata special for me, in spite of its water logged streets with heavy traffic, crowd of people returning from office, waiting patiently in the overcrowded public buses, I can find the enthusiasm of Kokattans debating and sometimes quarreling over which political party should stay at power, but lest bothered about the hopelessly humid weather or standing too long and not getting a seat.





Among metropolitans, we Kolkattans are not yet so unromantic to think of mundane life only.

Perhaps being lover of Rabindranath has helped us a lot, the germ of romanticism he has sown in us, which has strengthened its root for long time, generation after generation.

Numerous numbers of his soulful romantic songs and poems shows the true spirit of Bengalees who has cherished Monsoon for its soothing charm and freshness.

Perhaps being lover of Rabindranath has helped us a lot, the germ of romanticism he has sown in us, which has strengthened its root for long time, generation after generation.


Numerous numbers of his soulful romantic songs and poems shows the true spirit of Bengalees who has cherished Monsoon for its soothing charm and freshness.

Unfulfilled Wishes

I am not an ambitious person, from my childhood I always wished to lead a calm and peaceful life. Of course I had some wishes which could not be made fulfilled. Some wishes are stupid, some are impractical, and some are simply non sense.
I loved to paint, and at some point I wished to learn painting, but my dad wanted me to learn dancing and I learnt that, I also wanted to learn swimming and ballet, the second one is quite unusual for a middle class Bengali Family. So I left bothering about these things.
I love dogs, irrespective of breed and pedigree. We had a pet one when I was a child, it died when I was three. Then we bought another, it was a Spitz, I loved it so much, but could not take care of it, and it was my uncle and mother who used to look after it. At a point of time they thought it was not being looked after well and they thought of selling to someone, and they did so. I was never able to keep a pet one again in my life. Now, it is clear what my next wish is. Yes, I love to keep a pet dog in my own house, and take care of it all myself.

I had been a bit rebellious throughout my life. That is, I am not a homely kind of person.
So some of my wishes are crazy, like sometimes I wished to be a sea- diver, I love the color blue, and the depth of the sea, it attracts me like nothing. It’s a very common wish I think , as when we watch T.V. channels like Animal Planet or Discovery , we all fantasize about being there, doing that.

I also wished to own a house, of my own, and that would be in a jungle, and it must be a wooden one, with only two floors and a large balcony, I can imagine myself to be there , sitting in the balcony, coffee cup in my hand, enjoying the serenity and listening the tweets

My first Holi after marriage

This holi was the first holi I spent with my in laws. I usually love to play holi, but I heard from my mom in law that they here do not play holi. I was a bit upset, but the evening before holi my hubby bought some colours for us.
The next day was Sunday, a programme was being held on Central Park, its called Basantautsav. It started at the early morning ar 6 am. we watched the programme for some one hour and came back to have breakfast. Then we went to other flats to play holi with them, it was real fun, the neighbors also put color on us. For me it was almost introduction to most of them as I could not remember all of them though met them in my reception. It was late in midday when we started for mamu’s house. There we also played holi with mamu and even dida. They were not irritated, as I thought they might be, even dida was rather sporting. We returned home when it was 2 pm. After taking bath we were feeling very sleepy. In the evening we went to south city. It was a very different holi for me.