Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Puja Preparations

This is New Jersey, not West Bengal. The season here isn’t autumn, it’s fall.

Those flowers aren’t kash – they just look somewhat similar.
Yet, the combination of that sky and the waving grass flowers underneath are enough to remind me of my home. It seems like a heavenly message that tomorrow is Vishwakarma Puja in India, and the pandels for Durga Puja are halfway done, and the artists of Kumortuli are having their busiest season. And in this season, it doesn’t matter if I am sitting in the most powerful nation in the world amidst all the comforts one can imagine – I just want to be back home. I want to be back amidst the dirt and noise and crowd and mosquitoes and load shedding. I want to be back in the only country that I’ll ever be able to call ‘home’.
Since that is not possible this year, I have decided to go for the next best thing possible. I’ll be buying a Puja ‘package’. I have to choose between two options:

Puja Committee A:

  • Cultural programmes for three days (includes Cactus on Friday, Bratati on Saturday, Babul Supriyo on Sunday).
  • Students pay slightly less ($40) for all 3 days - families pay $130.

Puja Committee B:

  • Mostly programmes by local artists, except Raghab and Sumana Chakraborty. Programme is only on Saturday and Sunday.
  • Families pay slightly less ($110), students pay $45.

I think option 1 gives more value for my hard earned money and so I'll probably choose that. I have to register now on the committee's website or I won't be allowed to enter the premises on those days.

Wow! Buying a ticket to a Durga Puja! I'm already excited about the idea. I guess this is going to be a whole new experience in this strange new country. I'll just have to enjoy it and stop missing the sounds and lights and the insects under those lights back home for those three days.

After all, I can't let my $40 go down the drain just because of some silly homesicknes!

6 comments:

  1. tikit kete dugga pujo dekhte hobe aaj?
    ei na shune joy saaheber poRlo maathay baaj!
    "poysa diye dekhbo keno. thakur ki tor babar?
    tikit kete filim jaabo, kimbaa khaabo khaabar."
    ei bole Joy Banerji dekhaay beejaay raag,
    udyokta bollo hese, "tikit kaat, noyto bhaag!"
    ki aar kore Joy Forever, fello tikit kete
    chollo dekhte Newark-pujo, guti paaye hNete
    driRho sankalpo niye mone, kortei hobe enjoy
    noile 40 chips er shoke Joy becharir praan jaay.

    ghaabRiyo naa Joy Forever, aamra aachhi sange
    ebaar naa hok, saamner baar pujoy eso bonge.
    tulbo chhobi, dekhiye debo pujo kaake bole.
    Newark er baandor ki aar emni gaachhe fole?

    ReplyDelete
  2. sutrer thheke bhasyo bhalo. dashu paglar kobita khub bhalo laglo. - Gautam Banerji

    ReplyDelete
  3. @dashu pagla: Korechho ki he! Ebar to dekhchhi amar blog e loke tomar kobita porte asbe!! Daarun hoyechhe.

    ReplyDelete
  4. okhane dhaki aashe?...naki they r banned for violating noise pollution norms.

    ReplyDelete
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