Shop! – It’s Durga Puja

Durga Puja lies at the heart of all celebrations that the Bengali community across the world is known for. Spot a person anywhere in the world all dressed up in the ‘laal paar shada shari’ with a big red bindi on her forehead and you can, almost without doubt ascribe her to be a true-blue Bengali! Ask her how in the middle of London she managed to scour out a traditional Bengali saree and she’ll tell you that she had her relatives back in Kolkata send it over. ‘Why take all the trouble?’ you ask, and she’ll make an incredulous face and stare at you! It’s because if you are pally with anyone slightly Bengali, you’re supposed to know that whatever lengths and breadths you may have to take recourse to, in order to achieve that ‘perfect pujo look’ is worth its while. Such are the extended implications of Durga Puja.

This is one time of the year, when all Bengalis, whether they be 4 or 40, vie each other to look their best. The tradition of Durga Puja is synonymous with the tradition of wearing ‘notun jama’ (new clothes). During these 5 days Bengalis all over the world celebrate not only with all heart and vigour but also shun all inhibitions and dress up to look their unencumbered best!

Marketplaces I Kolkata and elsewhere in Bengal are flooded with a sea of people. At every nook and corner you will find men and women alike shopping for sarees, salwars, western wear, jewellery and accessories. Somewhere a woman is striving hard to match the exact shade of red of her saree to a perfect blouse piece, while somewhere else a teenager is bargaining hard to get the perfect deal for the set of bangles that go seamlessly with her salwar suit, while elsewhere a distraught looking man is accompanying his wife and daughter to the mall to finish the family puja shopping! Traders also bank on this season for huge sale numbers, and perceptively promote huge discounts to draw shoppers. Online stores come to the rescue of those who cannot take much time out to throng the streets of New Market or Gariahat.

While the tradition of wearing new clothes starts right from Sashti, it is Ashtami and Nabami that people reserve the best of their new dresses for. While many prefer to go ethnic on these two days, others stick to flaunting their curves, with select Western wear.  Whatever be the flavour of the season if you want to see a city of decked up people, Kolkata is where you ought to be during the time Bengal’s favourite daughter comes home!

Maa-er Agomoni Utshob (Series 2)

While 'maa Durga' manifests her presence in our homes and hearts, even the smallest of the 'para-s' vie each other for the best pandals. Curfews at home relax, parents suddenly become way cooler about you being seen with your partner, you suddenly bump into people you most certainly did not want to see, roads are blocked dead with people and cars and loud music blares from the pandals but no-one seems to mind! It’s 'Durga pujo' after all.

 There is absolutely nothing can keep the spirits of the people low for these five days. Pandal hopping in sarees, the ‘anjali’ on the ‘ashtami’ morning, the 'dhunochi naach', the 'sindur khela', the 'bhang' on ‘dashami’ evening, young couples celebrating the first season of their 'pujo' together while hoping for many more to come, the continual sound of the 'saankh' , the streets suddenly have turned into an unending foray of food-stalls with exotic street food, further adding to the commotion, and everything else is that would have bothered you at any other time only add to the air of joy and merrymaking. Dressed in the best of clothes the warmth of the people is just un-missable at this time. It is a time for friendship, it is a time for family, it is a time for kinship and love - it is a time of Celebrations!

Maa-er Agomoni Utshob (Series 1)

It is a popular joke among many that for Bengalis every New Year calendar starts with charting out Durga Pujo dates. Truth be told, no Bengali will deny it. Durga Puja is one occasion that every Bengali looks forward to! 

 There is something about the 'pujo' for us Bengalis, and you don't have to be a Bengali to be able to tell that. The streets are all lit up, there is a sudden influx of traffic everywhere, you cross a street and you suddenly smell 'siuli phool',  the mayhem on the roads gets too much to handle, the marketplaces are just impenetrable; but in all of that, there is something - an air of celebration, an air of grandeur at its best.

All you have to do is be in Bengal at this time of the year. The celebratory mood that the whole city seems to have indulged in all of a sudden is infectious and will certainly take you by surprise if it’s your first 'pujo' in the city. During these five days it’s hard to tell a Calcutta from a New York or from Times Square for that matter.

While the Hindu Goddess Durga is the protagonist of the story, 'pujo' is so much more than just religion here. During these 5 days, the city envelopes itself in merrymaking and laughter and the joy of celebration, forgetting all its woes and worries. The essence of 'pujo' is the passion that comes alive in us Bengalis. These five days are all about the love of life, of culture, of the art of expression, of the joy of celebration, of the joy of togetherness. Nowhere else in the world will the first sounds of 'dhak' give you goose-bumps and leave you with a smile or the sheer fact that an idol is being submerged in the water will bring tears to your eyes, knowing full well that this whole episode will repeat itself in another year from then.

Shop Till You Drop! – Street Shopping in Kolkata

Kolkata is a land of abundance and also popularly, the land of the abundantly cheap.  A rare combination, much to a shopper’s delight! Though the city now boasts of many elaborate shopping malls with many high-end fashion brands, the delights of street shopping are barely comparable.

Be it the Gariahat market in the heart of South Calcutta or New Market in the Central area or Burrabazar in the North, Kolkata has many a treat to offer to the patrons of street shopping. To begin with it is a bargainer’s paradise – you are likely to get away with a steal if you have your bargaining skills in place. Everything from traditional Bengali sarees, to handicrafts, to upscale fashion wear, to eye-catching jewellery, shoes and bags are available at extraordinarily cheap prices. You will find sarees, shoes, bags and dresses for as low as Rs 100-200, while you can find jewellery for bare minimum prices like Rs. 50. Toys, teddy bears, household items, kitchenware, decorations etc. can be bought for as low as Rs. 20-30.

New Market, also previously known as Hogg’s market is one of the oldest and most preferred destination for clothes, accessories and condiment shopping. Rebuilt after the huge fire of 1985, New Market boasts of more than 2000 stalls sprawling over its new and old complexes. The Simpark Mall, Treasure Island and the Shree Ram Arcade in the same area are the ideal destinations for upscale clothes shopping – everything from Westernwear, to formals to partywear to sarees. A wide array of street vendors line the streets selling everything from make-shift scarves to car decorations to laundry bags. Among the residents of South Kolkata, Gariahat is the go-to place for a quick round of shopping – be it clothes or crockery, bed-sheets or bags, fish or fresh vegetables. The basement market complex is especially known for its collection of household goods, everything from linen to mattresses to hardware goods. Hatibagaan, Shyambazar and Burrabazar are three of the oldest markets in Kolkata with extremely reasonable rates. For bookworms, College Street with its collection of bookshops is a huge draw. Lines of bookstores selling both academic and story books exude a cozy old-world charm; tucked behind them is Coffee House, where the intellectuals of Calcutta engage in vigorous ‘adda’ sessions on everything from films to politics.

The experience of street shopping in Kolkata is one-of-a-kind, be it books, shoes or faux Ray Bans; everyone who has experienced it will vouch for the lure of its uniqueness and magnetism!  

Down the Winding Lanes of History

Kolkata, or Calcutta as many still like to address it by its old name, has a history as rich as the culture and the traditional grandeur that the city is famed for. With a history that dates back to the 16^th century, Calcutta.  

A colonial city developed first by the East India Company, and later by the British Empire, Calcutta served as the capital of the British Empire until 1911 from early in 1690 when Job Charnok, an agent of the British East India Company, selected this place for a British Trade settlement. The then Calcutta, was hardly the Calcutta we know now – it was a congregation of 3 large villages Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata, located along the east banks of the Ganges river, protected by river Hoogly on the west, salt lakes to the east and a creek to the north. Because of the locational convenience the East India Company bought over these three villages from the local landlords after the Mughal emperor, Jahangir, granted permission to the Company to trade against a yearly payment of Rs 3000, in 1612.

 In the 19^th century, Kolkata grew rapidly to become the second city of the British Empire, after London and came to be known as the ‘City of Palaces’. In the later part of the 1850s, Calcutta underwent rapid industrial growth under the influence of the Western Industrial revolution and grew strong trade relations with other nations. At the same time, the city went through a massive cultural development, which resulted in a fusion of Indian tradition with European philosophies, creating a breed of culturally elite Bengalis. With the formation of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, under the encouragement of the Governor General, Sir Warren Hastings, the intellectual and literary life of Calcutta received a great boost.  It was around the same time that Bengal’s first newspaper, the Bengal Gazette was published, which was the first newspaper to be printed in India. Prompted by this cultural intermingling, intercultural marriages became popular and it was this union between the Europeans, English, French and Portuguese, and local women, both Hindu and Muslim, which laid foundation to the Anglo-Indian community of Calcutta.

Being the cultural hub of the country Calcutta gave birth to many legendary revolutionaries and literary genius’ who later contributed largely to the freedom movement. The intellectual and cultural upheaval of the city nurtured a generation of genius’, most of whom died a valiant death, fighting the battle of freedom.

The Bong Connection!

As they say, wherever you go, chances are you will run into a Bengali. They are everywhere. And yes, we’re talking about those outside the boundaries of Bengal. Be it the school parent committee, or your workplace, or the exhibition being organized in the neighborhood gallery, at the local library, at the beach you decided to take a holiday to, you will probably run into one, carefully peering at the portfolio that was just handed in at work, or preening their kids, or gossiping with the neighborhood women. Wherever they go, they have managed to keep their culture unique and alive – that is perhaps what sets them apart from all other communities in the world.

 The bong connection, as hyperbolic as it sounds, ask any Bengali, and they’ll go to lengths to explain it to you, and mostly end with ‘I cannot explain it, but there is something that connects us!’ At this point, most others would give up with an exasperated sigh. It is then that they will try to convince you that unless you have really been to Calcutta and experienced the city with all its charm and hospitality, its boisterous streets, the local street vendors lining every market, however small; the fragrance wafting from the sweetshops early in the morning, the cool breeze of Maidan, the trams in North Calcutta, the evening walk at Southern avenue by the Lake, complete with its ‘lebu cha’, the delights of Nandan and Park Street,   you would not really know why those who have once lived and loved here, can never severe this thread of affection.

Bengalis outside of Bengal always seem to be able to find other Bengalis to chatter with. And sometimes, quite to the suspicion of those who do not understand the language, chatter away in Bengali, just to annoy the others. Be it bonding over the Durga Puja, or reminiscing the ‘phuchka’ , or yearning that ‘shorshe illish aar mishit doi’, or catching up over an intense ‘adda’ session on the state of the world economy, Bongs outside Bengal, always find some shared interest to relate to. It is perhaps the pangs of longing for the affectionate touch of the elders in the family, or the genuine sound of concern in the voice of friends they left behind a long long time ago, or perhaps the shared memory of a time when reading Tagore and discussing the implications of ‘Shesher Kobita’ over some ‘laal cha and singara’ made the day worth its while. Or perhaps it is the shared memory of a time and place that will never again be the same – a place that once used to be home!

Beyond Independence!

In a few hours’ time, we are due to celebrate the 67^th year of being an independently ruled nation. With a celebrated democracy and years of applauded progress behind us, this could be a good time to pause and think. How independent a nation are we really? Yes, we are free from the shackles of British rule that once wounded the very soul of Mother India, but is an independent nation just that?  After more than 50 years of self-rule have we been able to evolve into an independently thinking nation – thoughts that are free from Western clutter? Have we been able to uphold the very ideals that led our forefathers to revolution?

With each year we march towards becoming a developed nation – with our GDP rising, increased urbanization, better education, more hospitals, improved homes – we seem to be developing on every front. While we are moving ahead rapidly towards becoming a nation that boasts of modernization and advancement of economies and industries, the regression of the moral attitudes has hardly been noticed!

 After 56 years of having revolted fiercely against a corrupt system, corruption has perpetrated the very pulse of our nation. From the local traffic police to the clerk at the municipality offices to the politicians, everyone looks at bribery as a routine measure. And why not? For every-time that we need work done sooner, or want to get out of a tricky situation we don’t hesitate to slip a few notes under the table. Schools have adopted the Western methods of education, without having first put the same into the Indian context. While the Iliad and Odyssey have become a part of the regular school syllabus, the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata are disappearing into oblivion. While our children are becoming experts in English and other world languages, several of our indigenous tribal languages are becoming extinct; the tales of Tagore, Saratchandra, Premchand, Bibhutibhushan, Jaishankar, RK Narayan are slipping into oblivion. Child labour is a rampant plague that furrows every state. While the country is doing all it can to alleviate poverty and illiteracy, it turns a blind eye towards those who suffer gender crimes. While on one hand we are a country that celebrates and worships women, the ugly façade is one that perpetrates heinous atrocities towards the womenkind, without so much as blinking. As a nation, while our cities have modernized our souls have only degraded, and the only ones who can be held accountable are we, the ones who have brought this about! How many more decades will it take us to rise and be the change we want to see? How many more decades of revolution will it take us to be truly independent?