An open letter to Kolkata from Vir Sanghvi

I received a forwarded mail today, an open letter by Vir Sanghvi on Kolkata, and I must confess it brought tears to my "probasi"eyes. Ever since I left Calcutta, missing my city has become a daily ritual. Therefore today these words of kindness for my city really moved me.

I am copy pasting the mail (as it is a forwarded mail, I hope there is no copyright issue).


"Most modern Indian cities strive to rise above ethnicity. Tell anybody who
lives in Bombay that he lives in a Maharashtrian city and (unless of course,
you are speaking to Bal Thackeray) he will take immediate offence. We are
cosmopolitan, he will say indigenously. Tell a Delhiwalla that his is a
Punjabi city (which, in many ways, it is) and he will respond with much
self-righteous nonsense about being the nation's capital, about the
international composition of the city's elite etc. And tell a Bangalorean
that he lives in a Kannadiga city and you'll get lots of techno-gaff about
the internet revolution and about how Bangalore is even more cosmopolitan
than Bombay.

But, the only way to understand what Calcutta is about, is to recognize that
the city is essentially Bengali. What's more, no Bengali minds you saying
that. Rather, he is proud of the fact. Calcutta's strengths and weaknesses
mirror those of the Bengali character. It has the drawbacks: the sudden
passions, the cheerful chaos, the utter contempt for mere commerce, the
fiery response to the smallest provocation. And it has the strengths
(actually, I think of the drawbacks as strengths in their own way). Calcutta
embodies the Bengali love of culture; the triumph of intellectualism over
greed; the complete transparency of all emotions, the disdain with which
hypocrisy and insincerity are treated; the warmth of genuine humanity; and
the supremacy of emotion over all other aspects of human existence.

That's why Calcutta is not for everyone. You want your cities clean and
green; stick to Delhi. You want your cities, rich and impersonal, go to
Bombay. You want them high-tech and full of draught beer, Bangalore's your
place. But if you want a city with a soul, come to Calcutta.
When I look back on the years I've spent in Calcutta - and I come back so
many times each year that I often feel I've never been away - I don't
remember the things that people remember about cities. When I think of
London, I think of the vast open spaces of Hyde Park. When I think of New
York, I think of the frenzy of Times Square. When I think of Tokyo, I think
of the bright lights of Shinjiku. And when I think of Paris, I think of the
Champs Elysee. But when I think of Calcutta, I never think of any one place.
I don't focus on the greenery of the maidan, the beauty of the Victoria
Memorial, the bustle of Burra Bazar or the splendour of the new Howrah
'Bridge'. I think of people. Because, finally, a city is more than bricks
and mortars, street lights and tarred roads. A city is the sum of its
people. And who can ever forget -or replicate - the people of Calcutta?

When I first came to live here, I was told that the city would grow on me.
What nobody told me was that the city would change my life. It was in
Calcutta that I learnt about true warmth; about simple human decency; about
love and friendship; about emotions and caring; about truth and honesty. I
learnt other things too. Coming from Bombay as I did, it was a revelation to
live in a city where people judged each other on the things that really
mattered; where they recognized that being rich did not make you a better
person - in fact, it might have the opposite effect. I learnt also that if
life is about more than just money, it is about the things that other cities
ignore; about culture, about ideas, about art, and about passion. In Bombay,
a man with a relatively low income will salt some of it away for the day
when he gets a stock market tip. In Calcutta, a man with exactly the same
income will not know the difference between a debenture and a dividend. But
he will spend his money on the things that matter. Each morning, he will
read at least two newspapers and develop sharply etched views on the state
of the world. Each evening, there will be fresh (ideally, fresh-water or
river) fish on his table. His children will be encouraged to learn to dance
or sing. His family will appreciate the power of poetry. And for him,
religion and culture will be in inextricably bound together.

Ah religion! Tell outsiders about the importance of Puja in Calcutta and
they'll scoff. Don't be silly, they'll say. Puja is a religious festival.
And Bengal has voted for the CPM since 1977. How can godless Bengal be so
hung up on a religions festival? I never know how to explain them that to a
Bengali, religion consists of much more than shouting Jai Shri Ram or
pulling down somebody's mosque. It has little to do with meaningless ritual
or sinister political activity. The essence of Puja is that all the passions
of Bengal converge: emotion, culture, the love of life, the warmth of being
together, the joy of celebration, the pride inartistic ex-pression and yes,
the cult of the goddess.

It may be about religion. But is about much more than just worship. In which
other part of India would small, not particularly well-off localities, vie
with each other to produce the best pandals? Where else could puja pandals
go beyond religion to draw inspiration from everything else? In the years I
lived in Calcutta, the pandals featured Amitabh Bachchan, Princes Diana and
even Saddam Hussain! Where else would children cry with the sheer emotional
power of Dashimi, upset that the Goddess had left their homes? Where else
would the whole city gooseflesh when the dhakis first begin to beat their
drums? Which other Indian festival - in any part of the country - is so much
about food, about going from one roadside stall to another, following your
nose as it trails the smells of cooking?

To understand Puja, you must understand Calcutta. And to understand Calcutta, you must understand the Bengali. It's not easy. Certainly, you can't do it
till you come and live here, till you let Calcutta suffuse your being,
invade your bloodstream and steal your soul. But once you have, you'll love
Calcutta forever. Wherever you go,a bit of Calcutta will go with you. I
know, because it's happened to me. And every Puja, I am overcome by the
magic of Bengal. It's a feeling that'll never go away".

16 December should be marked as the death anniversary of mankind.

Year 2012, Delhi

An innocent young girl had gone for a movie. While returning she boarded a bus with her friend. Inside that bus she and her friend were stripped beaten up, she was raped, kicked, slapped and as if this was not enough. Her rapist exhibited extreme level of sadism by inserting an iron rod inside her which ripped her intestine apart. Even that didn’t spark any sympathy in her tormentors. They threw her out of the bus naked and bleeding. She died after fiercely fighting for her life in a Singapore hospital few days later.

Year 2014, Peshawar

Innocent young children bid adieu to their mothers and went to school. Nobody had any idea that this was their final goodbye. Men entered their school with arms and shouting the name of God. These sons of God showed little mercy in killing those children. The mothers sent their children dressed in school uniform but received them back in coffins.

  

Kali Pujo- The Bengali Way of Celebrating Diwali

I love to spend Diwali in Mumbai and never leave the city during this time of the year. Diwali in Mumbai, or for that matter entire North India is very different from my home state Bengal. In my part of India Diwali or Deepavali is celebrated as “Kali Puja” or “Shyama Puja” and not "Lakshmi Puja" unlike the rest of the country. After Durga puja this is the second largest Puja for the Bengalis.

The Original Fatakeshto's Kalipuja has opened a branch in Mumbai ;-)

As a child I used to be terrified of this day. I was scared of the darkness of “amabasya”, the protruding red tongue of the deity and of course the myth surrounding the goddess.The idol of Kali is intimidating in itself. She is stark naked with dishevelled black hair and a protruding red tongue against blue or jet black complexion. Her ornaments are not the ordinary ones made out of gold or silver, instead she wears a garland of severed heads and a skirt of chopped hands. Out of her four hands she holds a “kharga” (a form of sword or axe) in one hand and a bleeding severed head in the other, with a fox beneath to lick the dripping blood from the severed head. Below her lies Lord Mahadev on whom she had stepped mistakenly. Legend has it that after mistakenly stepping on Shiva she protruded her tongue out of shame. Readers now tell me one thing isn’t the idol scary?

Idol of Andheri Sarbojanin Kali Pujo

The legend of Mahakali states that she is the tamer of ghosts and spirits. A day before Kali puja is known as “Bhoot chaturdashi”or the fourteenth day dedicated to Ghosts. On this day Bengalis light fourteen lamps and eat “choddo shaak” or an assortment of 14 green leafy vegetable. I remember as a child I used to be scared to death on this day, as per legends this is the day when ghosts and spirits roam around freely. Now tell me which child would not be scared of such legends?

Kali puja is performed at midnight. Kali is worshipped by dacoits and tantriks, a religious sect who are said to believe in cannibalism, at odd places like jungles and crematoriums respectively. Legend has that on the day of kali puja the dacoits sacrifice a human child in front of Ma Kali and drink its blood. Even the tantriks do the same and they drink the human blood out of a human skull. Among the unique offerings that is made to Ma Kali is meat and “karonbari”(alcohol).

Huge Kali idol at Fatakeshto Mumbai

I used to be so scared of this puja that I hardly used to step out of my house. Ever since I shifted to Mumbai am slightly relaxed. Firstly now I am a grown up and secondly here they worship goddess Lakshmi. Among Bengalis a girl should be like lakshmi or Lokkhi(Bengali pronunciation for Lakshmi) and not Kali. We refer to a quite, docile and good girl as a “lokkhi Meye”(meye means girl). So in Mumbai it is all Lokkhi Lokkhi and nothing to be scared of.

Light Decoration

The Pandal

A Healthy Child Makes A Happy Home

Children are the real wealth of a family. And a healthy child is like a Kohinoor, whom everybody loves. My now 5.5 year old son is very hyperactive. He never sits in one place; he is always bubbling with energy and literally with his effervescent energy “brings the house down”. However there are days when he falls sick and those are the days when the whole house gets surrounded by an eerie silence. Everybody including the maids go into depression when my son falls sick. When he was small, sickness was accompanied by never ending crying but now he becomes quiet. Whenever the “jumping jack” of the house falls sick, the whole house falls quiet.

Each child suffers from different maladies at different stages of growth. My son suffered from colic pain during infancy as he was a bottle-fed child. Colic pain was usually followed by problem of gas and stomach upset. Ever since he started eating solid foods the ailments changed. After two years of age his throat became his “Achilles heels”. Every other day he started suffering from throat infection followed by fever.

Ever since he started going to school he started getting seasonal viral fever which were accompanied by body ache, headache, sore throat and loss of appetite. I was losing my health and hair over his infections. He often used to miss school and I prohibited him from eating cold drinks, ice creams, fried packed snacks, chocolates and even sweets. My son was not allowed to enjoy all the childhood obsessions that most children enjoy. I used to feel terrible taking him to other kid’s birthday parties as there my son used to pester for all those goodies that he was prohibited to eat. I felt miserable not to allow him all these but at the same time I had little choice.

I took him to the allopathic paediatrician for every small or big illness. She was unhesitant about prescribing antibiotics. Almost every alternate month my child was taking antibiotics which were further destroying his self immunity. It was like a vicious cycle. Tired of this I started homeopathy. Homeopathy helped him marginally or maybe it was my way of self consolation. I was following every home remedy that was suggested to me by my mother, mother-in-law, aunts, grandmothers, neighbours, maids, mom-in-law of neighbours, aunts of aunts, colleague’s maids, internet, strangers, perhaps every possible human being on this earth with a home remedy. Nevertheless nothing seemed to work.

Finally one day my co-sister suggested that why don’t I try chawanprash. She used to give her children chawanprash daily and she claimed that thankfully her children have very good immunity. As I had tried everything there was no harm in trying. The very next day I went and bought a jar of Dabur Chawanprash and started giving it to my son. Within a month I saw the results. He went to a birthday party and had ice cream but did not get a sore throat the next morning. I knew that Dabur Chawanprash has started its work. Ever since I started chawanprash his health improved substantially an I am really thankful as my visit to the doctor has reduced.

Durga Puja Pandal Hopping in Mumbai on Saptami

Saptami is the official beginning of Durga Puja. Mumbai this day saw crowds in most puja pandals. As this year there is one day less in the festivities people didn’t waste any day and thronged the pandals.

Our first stop on Saptami was Manish Nagar Durga Puja in Four Bunglows Andheri. The Protima here was daker saaj.

Our next stop was Juhu Philanthropic Associations’ puja in JVPD scheme Juhu opposite Arya Vidya Mandir School. Their Pandal decoration replicates the terracotta theme of Bengal and the protima again is daker saaj.

Our Third stop was Juhu Cultural Associations Puja near Shopper’s Stop Juhu. They organise it inside a club. It is small puja restricted to its members alone.

Fourth puja was Biswajeet’s puja. They have shifted their venue and this year they held it opposite Amitabh Bacchan’s Bunglow Janak. They have taken up the theme of gram bangla or rural Bengal. The protima is daker saaj but the faces of the idols are jet black making it unique.

The last stop was North Bombay Bengali Association or Mukherjee barir pujo at Tulip Star hotel Juhu. This is one of the grandest puja in Mumbai. This year they had replicated the ISCKON temple of Mayapur. This place was crowded than all the other pandals with food stalls making brisk business.

Mumbai's Durga Pujas on Sashti

Unlike these days Sashti during our childhood was restrained, it meant folahar for lunch and luchi torkari for dinner followed by wearing the not-so-favourite new dress. Ma also wore her new chapa saree, the one she would later be wearing inside the house (ghare porar saree). On Sashti Ma kept a fast for my well-being and ate folahar. Today I keep the same fast for my son and miss her folahar the most. Folahar is a mixture of soaked saboo dana(sago) with milk, fresh fruits, dry fruits and mishti doi. No cooking only mixing the ingredients is required. I believe Ma mixed (or makha/makhto) it really well. Something of a mother’s touch made it extra delicious which I am unable to imitate.


Yesterday was Sashti I kept fast and went to Kallol Kali Bari at Bangur Nagar, Goregaon(W) to offer my prayers. Kallol is celebrating 50 years of celebrating Durga puja therefore they have made grand plans. The pandal decoration is reminiscent of a filmy set replicating Rajasthani designs. The adjacent Kali temple has also been well decorated. Film Director Anurag Basu and music director Pritam are closely associated with this puja. Bangla band Cactus performed in the evening to a packed audience.

The entrance gate

The walls of the pandal

The idol

In the evening we went Pandal hopping at D.N Nagar. The puja in D.N. Nagar is slightly subdued this year as their chief sponsor Sahara group is going through tumultuous times. This year they have used various masks to decorate the pandal.

Mask Themed Pandal

Pragati near Andheri station is the oldest puja of this region. They retain their traditional charm with daker saaj protima and stalls selling traditional Bengali ingredients like muri, murki, khoi, motor daal, aamsatto, gamcha etc.

Singer Abhijeet’s Durga Puja at Lokhandwala, Mumbai

If you have freshly arrived from Kolkata and missing Maddox Square then head straight to The Lokhandwala Sarbojanin Durgotsav popularly known as singer Abhijeet’s Durga Puja. This puja will make you forget the yearning. This year they have started the Puja on tritiya itself. The Mandap is still under construction but the Protima has arrived along with the Dhakis. Every year 20 dhakis comes from West Bengal who wear red uniforms and play the dhaks throughout the six days of puja. This puja has two separate pavilions for the shoppers and food lovers. The section exhibiting clothes and other consumer goods is known as “Amader Gariahat” named after the famous shopping street in Kolkata and the food section is known as “Pet Pujo”(gastronomy worship). The food section is managed by the speciality group of Mainland China, Sweet Bengal, Hakka fame. Singer Abhijeet supervises the puja himself. This is undoubtedly one of the best pujas in Mumbai.

The Pandal

The Protima

The Dhakis

Singer Abhijeet

Amader Gariahat, the shopper's stop

Intricate designs inside the Pandal

Pet Pujo, the food pavilion