Today on Maha Shashti, we bring to our readers a guest post by fellow walker Samudra Sengupta, who joined our Pre-Durga Pujo Special walk at Chittaranjan Park in early September.
A Biologist by training, writer by profession, photographer by habit, foodie at heart, Samudra says ‘adventure is my sustenance … that is how I like to believe I am’…. His earlier Photo-stories can be found here http://samudrasengupta.
Having stayed away from my Bongo roots almost continuously since 2005, the Bengali in me often faces an identity crises. Mostly so during the month leading up to the biggest festival of the Bengali calendar. Durga Pujo.
Though I have long back saved a copy of Birendra Krishna Bhadra’s “Mahalaya” on my laptop, and though having experimented and perfected quite a few bengali dishes, this period is never quite devoid of the ‘Bangaliyana'(OK OK I just coined that term I guess!!), I cannot help the longing for the smell of the ‘shiuli’ flower. Nowhere else can you feel the same festivity in the atmosphere as we prepare for the arrival of Maa Durga and her children.
DelhiByFoot a few months earlier helped me to introduce me to the tradition of breaking fast with friends during the month of Ramadan. On this second walk, the first Sunday of September, with DBF, I found a little bit of the Bengali in me amid the ‘Kumhors’ (Idol Makers) of mini-Bengal, in the heart of Delhi.
An attempt to connect with the roots … an effort to live the pre-durga puja festivities …
After a peek into the essence of Durga Puja through the narratives of Ramit Mitra, the founder of DelhiByFoot,
goddess durga … is invoked …
Its not just hay, sticks and mud … but various colours and other materials …
divine in her glorious form she is embodiment of everything good …
Jai Maa Durga!!
Wishing all our readers a very happy and wonderful time of festivities!!
