Every Bengali’s favorite time of the year is fast approaching as I stand at the end of my vacation. What used to blow in as the most anticipated month of the year has now turned sour. What a Bangali wouldn’t do to come home to Kolkata for Pujo! 2yrs without Pujo and I’m already a chain sulker during this time of the year. The colorful images that my mind paints of the fun I COULD have if I stayed in Kolkata far exceed reality but everything seems dreamlike and extravagant in retrospect.
Kolkata lights up during Pujo, both figuratively and literally. Not a corner remains unoccupied for a majority of the day and the night! It is, perhaps, the only time of year that we, lazy, Bangalis defy our natural instincts and become wanderers of the night. Different people celebrate differently but the one thing that one can be assured of is the excesses of the Pujo days. The excesses begin after the early morning shower.
For the more fortunate, a bag of new clothes is emptied on the bed and the trials begin. Most of us have at least one new outfit for every important day of the Pujo, if not two. Once the clothes have been decided upon, we move on to the next excess on the agenda – food! Once the quintessential Bangali begins his/her quest for the best puchkas or the best mishtis or even the best bhog, one can rest assured that the journey is long and tedious.
The third excess comes soon after – pandal hopping. Most Bangalis hope to cover at least a quarter of the city’s pandals every day. This conquest is not taken lightly. Either by foot or in cars, we set out in search of the city’s brightest and best. Some of us have the added advantage of being part of an in crowd that travels the city judging these pandals to declare winners. And these lucky few enjoy the luxuries of VIP treatment in the most jam packed pandals. Some of the perks include samplings of food, being jumped to the front of the line, being personally showed around by the organizers and so on and so forth. Fortunately for me, ma has excellent connections and for the last 5-6yrs, I have availed of all of these comforts and enjoyed them thoroughly!
Moving on to the fourth excess ingrained in every Bangali’s blood – adda. No matter the time, Maddox Square, Triangular Park, Mohammad Ali Park and several other popular locations in Calcutta become the hot spot for friends of all ages. From 8-80, nobody is spared the wonderful atmosphere of ‘pujor adda’. School children meet to enjoy the candy floss or the rides or even the junk food. Teenagers and the 20somethings gather in these areas to listen to or play music and to get extremely inebriated. Middle-aged women gather to gossip and complain about afore mentioned young people. Elderly gentlemen gather with gusto to talk about the old days and complain about their children or ill health. At any point in the day, you can rest assured, these locations WILL be PACKED!
Bangalis and their excesses, while extreme can also be very endearing. I would not trade anything in the WORLD to be born into any other community! Us Bangalis, we may be lazy and we may love the British lifestyle but when it comes down to the bare essentials, we are simply fun-loving, luxury-craving connoisseurs of food who will do anything in their power to have a good time!
Every year during Pujo, I suffer severe withdrawal. Pujo is definitely a drug, we Bangalis thrive on and without that drug, we feel lost and helpless and vulnerable because no matter where you go or who you become, that part of you never dies. For any Bangali who has not been in Kolkata during Pujo, put it on your bucket list! There is NOTHING quite like it! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
This year I will probably attend Pujo in London and I will observe the Bangalis outside their natural habitat and when I have, I will definitely write about it so the world is a little better informed regarding this subject! Until then…xoxo
