This Pujo, things feel different
Yesterday was Mahalaya. I have been living in Kolkata for about 7 years now and have been in the city for every single Pujo since we moved in here.
I just like the vibe of the city, the aura of this place when it is time for the Devi to descend to her parental home from the heavens above. It is a different air that the city breathes in and out. It is different colour, sometimes sharp and sometime languid in its shade that dresses the city of Kolkata when the Durga Pujo approaches. Like a veteran of sorts I know this isn't the best time to be on the roads. I know better than to plan anything because beside eateries everything is going to come to a stand still. Nothing will move and no-one will budge their stomachs filled with Biryanis, Aalooer Dums, Jalepis and Chicken Kashas.
But this year things have been different. it seems as if the Pujo has just crept quietly upon us. It seems as if Maa did not come down with the usual fervour. Maybe there is a reluctance in the air that I sense. Things aren't boisterous. The general feeling that all is good with the world that permeates the air at least a month before the Pujo, is not there.
The weather is also playing truant. It rains and everything wears a forlorn look.
It seems that the Devi has come on tip toes, disenchanted with her favourite race and its doings and well, wants to return back with her children, safely without raising commotion that is the hallmark of this festival.
Yesterday I read the news of two children, aged 8 and12, being murdered for defecating in the open. Maybe she did too.
I just like the vibe of the city, the aura of this place when it is time for the Devi to descend to her parental home from the heavens above. It is a different air that the city breathes in and out. It is different colour, sometimes sharp and sometime languid in its shade that dresses the city of Kolkata when the Durga Pujo approaches. Like a veteran of sorts I know this isn't the best time to be on the roads. I know better than to plan anything because beside eateries everything is going to come to a stand still. Nothing will move and no-one will budge their stomachs filled with Biryanis, Aalooer Dums, Jalepis and Chicken Kashas.
But this year things have been different. it seems as if the Pujo has just crept quietly upon us. It seems as if Maa did not come down with the usual fervour. Maybe there is a reluctance in the air that I sense. Things aren't boisterous. The general feeling that all is good with the world that permeates the air at least a month before the Pujo, is not there.
The weather is also playing truant. It rains and everything wears a forlorn look.
It seems that the Devi has come on tip toes, disenchanted with her favourite race and its doings and well, wants to return back with her children, safely without raising commotion that is the hallmark of this festival.
Yesterday I read the news of two children, aged 8 and12, being murdered for defecating in the open. Maybe she did too.
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