No John, no Puja festivities…. Bipasha Basu is  depressed. She couldn't head back home to Kolkata for Durga Puja along with her family.

"It's a family puja started by my grandfather and  we've kept up the tradition every year. The whole family makes it a point to be in Kolkata for the family puja.  But I can't!"

Shifted focus

The last time Bipasha attended the family puja, it was five years ago. "And it was a disaster.  John had accompanied me for the Puja. And the entire focus shifted from the solemnity of the occasion. We were mobbed. It was so embarrassing."

The actress rues, "For the last five years I've been trying my level best to make it home, but it never works out. Durga Puja is the best time of the year for every Bengali. I get into a major sulk because here in Mumbai I don't get to be with the family while they're busy with the festivities in Kolkata. Every year, my parents and sisters go. I can't. I get very lonely as I depend on my mom for all ritualistic pujas. This year, my younger sister Vijayeta is giving her exams in Mumbai. So she too had to stay back. So it's the two of us girls at home missing out on all the festivities on Kolkata."

In conversation with God

To top it all, John is away shooting in New York. Sighs Bipasha, "Normally on Asthami, John and I go to a pandaal closeby to pray. But this year, even he wasn't there." Otherwise, Bipasha describes her relationship with God as conversational. "My everyday interaction with God is one-to-one. I don't know any religious mantras though I love to hear my mom when she chants the shlokas and mantras during any puja in my house."