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

Pujo Asche

Pujo asche is what we Bengalis start feeling from the month of August after the monsoon subsides. The black cloud in the sky gets replaced by the floating feathery white clouds, the intoxicating fragrance from the shiuli flowers scattered on the ground fills up the air, the kash ful adorns our river banks, the reddish tinge appears in the sky before sunset, and shops brims with new stocks and we understand that Ma Durga is on her way.

These are not Bengali but Kuwaiti Kashful ;-)

The festivity almost starts with Vishwakarma Puja, which takes place roughly 20 days ahead of Durga Puja. Then on the Mahalaya day we wake up early in the morning to the chantings of Birendra Krishna Bhadra and the mesmerising songs of “Mohishashurmordini” or Mahalaya as popularly known. The final countdown starts with Mahalaya and within 3-4 days Devi Durga is there in our beautifully decorated pandals.

As a child I remember that Ma used to start preparations for puja almost two months ahead. She used to start cleaning the house and throwing or donating discarded stuffs. After that she began her puja shopping. First she used to go to Gariahat alone and buy the clothes that were to be given to relatives. The shopping for our clothes used to be done one month ahead of Puja in New Market. This day Bapi accompanied us. Those were not the days of shopping malls. I wouldn’t be able to sleep the previous night out of excitement that the next day we were going shopping. At 10am we used to board the bus and reach New Market. After that Ma went on a shopping spree hopping from one shop to another looking especially for my clothes. She usually bought my clothes from Treasure Island, our shoes from Bata and accessories like wallets, bags, table clothes, curtains etc from Hog Market.

Lunch was always the yummy Biryani from Aminia. My parents unlike our generation considered eating out sacrilegious. In the entire year we used to eat out only three times once during Puja shopping, once on their anniversary and once on Christmas day at Park Street. My mom would have got a heart attack if she had seen the number of times we eat out, or get take-away. After lunch we did the remaining shopping and by 4pm wrapped up. Before boarding the return Bus, Bapi often bought me a kulfi from Rallis or an ice cream cone from scoops. On some years we used to go for a movie after shopping only if my parents found the movie suitable for my viewing. Only once when I threw serious tantrums they made an exception and went to watch Rocky V (they were scandalised as it had few “scenes”).

After the shopping part was over the distribution part started. That means we went to the houses of various relatives and similarly relatives visited us. I used to look forward to what clothes I will get from my umpteen Uncles and Aunts. Well there was also little bit of recycling involved. If one was not particularly liked it went to someone else. Only we had to be careful that if something came from my maternal side it shouldn’t go to the same side but to my paternal side and vice-versa otherwise it would be a huge goof up.

I used to take out my new clothes and shoes everyday out of the Almirah and have a look. The smell of crisp new clothes makes me nostalgic even today. I made plans when and how to wear them during the Puja days. Some of my plans were often discarded by Ma as she found them very denpo for my age. Finally the day came when Durga idol with her face covered with newspaper came to our neighbourhood Pandal and for me puja began.

Happy Mahalaya

Today is Mahalaya, The end of Pitripaksha, and the beginning of Debipaksha. For a lay man this means the beginning of Durga Puja. The memory of Mahalaya for any Bengali is associated with Birendra Krishna Bhadra’s “Mahishasurmordini”. As a child I never understood what Mahalaya signifies, I only knew that this is the day when we all will get up early in the morning to listen to “Mahalaya”(as “Mohishasurmordini” was popularly known) on the radio.

The previous night, my mother used to tune the radio to the proper frequency and keep it by her pillow so that she doesn’t have to get out of bed early in the morning to get it. She used to set the alarm clock for 4am. The moment alarm clock buzzed she switched on the radio and listened intently with her eyes closed. Next she poked me to wake up and then head towards the kitchen to make tea. My father used to join us from the next room. Both of them sat together to listen the Mahalaya and sip hot tea. It was a ritual for them.

I used to wake up instantly and listen for few minutes, but then slowly snuggle deep inside the duvet and invariably after one or two songs fell asleep all over again but the music hummed in my ears even in deep slumber. I might confess that I have never heard the entire Mahalaya at one stretch. Therefore Mahalaya always to me is like that half forgotten song that chimes.

The year Ma died I couldn’t endure the same Mahalaya. Bapi woke up as usual and switched on the radio, but for me it was unbearable. It reminded me so much of Ma that I felt like my pain will shatter my heart and rip apart my chest. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and I wanted to shut everything out. In a desperate attempt to save myself from the pain and grief of Ma’s memory I covered my ears with pillows.

Ten years after that I never listened to the Mahalaya. Every single year Mahalaya’s noise from surrounding houses troubled and tortured me. I tried hard to run away from the very songs I loved as a child. Then a miracle happened. The year I was expecting my son, I felt like listening to Mahalaya, more than myself I wanted my unborn child to listen to Mahalaya. I wanted the life inside my womb to know my mother. As I was in Mumbai, I couldn’t switch on the radio, rather I played the CD. Maybe I wanted to listen to Mahalaya, as I was away from Bengal. I was in Mumbai where neighbour’s radio would not disturb me and also I wanted my child to know my mother. My child would never meet my mother but at least he should feel her.

Today also I played Mahalaya, but my son was not very interested. He found it boring. Growing up in Mumbai he doesn’t feel the same enthusiasm regarding Mahalaya that we experienced in Kolkata. Unlike us this is an isolated and not part of collective experience for him. I cannot force him to make it a part of his memory. I can just hope that one day he will like it.

5 Places selling Bengali Fishes in Mumbai

Bengali and fish are synonymous (well almost). Therefore when a Bengali lands in a new city the first thing they do is search for the places where they would get fishes.
Mumbai thankfully is a city where fishes are available in abundance. Being next to the sea variety of sea fishes like Pompret, Bangda, Surmai and Rawas are available. Other Bengali favourites like crabs and prawns are also available all over the maximum city. But the staple Bengali river water sweet fishes are not available everywhere. If you are looking for our favourites Illish, Pabda, Tyangra, Chitol, Bhetki and Boyal then you need to scour a little bit. Below is the list of five fish markets in Mumbai where fresh Bengali sweet water fishes are available.


1) Vashi sector 9: The fish market in Vashi supplies mostly Bengali fishes. On a Sunday it’s mood resembles Gariahat or Jogubabur Bajar. The scenario is similar, everybody scouring for the best fish. You will get mostly all kinds of Bengali fish. The fish sellers are helpful and they will even get you fishes as per request.


2) 4 Bunglows, Andheri (W): This is a big fish market but only two fish sellers sell Bengali fishes. The first stall, owner named Biju and the last stall, owner name Amar. They sell only Bengali fishes. Expectedly they are crowded on Sundays, when they keep the best catch. Here you will find Padmar Illish, Chitol,Pabda and likes. Most of the fishes come from Kolkata. They are fresh. On a Sunday many Bengalis including celebrities from Western Suburbs gather here to buy fish.


3) Thakur Complex Kandivali East: Two shops sell Bengali fish here. The names are “Parthos” and “Fresh Bajar”. These shops bring their fishes from Kolkata and Bangladesh. The fishes are fresh and they nicely de-scale and cut the fish. Here fishes like Koi, Puti, Parshe and Morola are available.


4) Star Bazaar, Andheri (W): Here frozen Bengali fishes are available. As this is a supermarket the shopping is slightly hassle free. If you are the kind of person who hate to stand in a queue sweating than this one is your go-to place.


5) Khar: Good varieties of fishes are available here as well. They are fresh and tasty.

Rani Mukherjee's Durga Puja

North Bombay Bengali Association or popularly known as the Mukherjee Barir pujo. Since last two years this puja is being held at Tulip Star hotel at Juhu. If you are a big bollywood fan then this puja should be in your must visit list. Here you would be able to see lots of stars. The Mukherjee family members like Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Sarbani Mukherjee and Aayan Mukherjee even serve the bhog.
Cultural programme by noted artist are held every evening after the Sandhya aarti. The bhog is open to all but usually you will have to stand in a long queue to be served by the stars.

Powai Sarbojanin

Powai Sarbojanin near Hiranandani Powai is another big puja. This one is also organised at a huge ground therefore quite spread out. Food stalls serving Bengali food is available. In Powai the evening cultural event is open to all. Every year they bring artists from Kolkata for the show. Powai was the first one in Mumbai to host “Balmiki Protibha” performed by the inmates of Kolkata jail.

Lokhandwala Sarbojanin

Lokhandwala Sarbojanin at Lokhandwala Andheri (W). Popularly known as the Puja of singer Abhijeet. It is one of the biggest in Mumbai. The area for this Puja is huge and the ambience is reminiscent of Maddox square. Stalls for Bengali saree and artefacts are an added attraction. Food stall by speciality group (the group with chains like Mainland China, siggri, sweet Bengal) serves a variety of food including Bengali sweets. Dhakis come from Bengal and everyday in the evening there is a special Dhaki dance which you ought not to miss. Cultural programmes by well known artists are there every evening, but entry is by invitation only. Khichudi Bhog is served on all four days. It is open to all and very well organised.