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.