Thank Durga for small mercies

Durga Puja is easily the biggest or perhaps the only truly community event of Bengalis both at home and abroad When I say home I obviously refer to present day Bengal but abroad does not necessarily mean foreign shores although Durga now makes her annual trip to the world of the mortals by visiting cities around the globeIn this age of global citizens gods and goddesses have adapted to what till a few decades ago were alien lands across seven seas Almanacs transcend time zones and a fiveday puja is suitably tailored to fit into a weekend without cutting corners for Bengalis living in America and EuropeFestive spirit Mumbai has a large thriving Bengali community evident from the number of community Durga Pujas organised in this city PicAtul KambleMy reference however was to lsquoprobashirsquo Bengalis or Bengalis living away from home in India Bengalis were never eager migrants rather than seize opportunities to seek fame and fortune elsewhere they would stay at home even shunning a move from one district to another within BengalThis possibly explains why dialect diet and at times even dress varies from region to region in Bengal Preference for a particular variety of daal vegetable or fish cooked in a certain manner or the pronunciation of words and alphabets for instance lsquoshrsquo as lsquosarsquo or the way in which women drape their saree or wear their dhuti or dhoti can tell those who know which district is a Bengali fromThe turbulent Sixties and the unsettling Seventies forced a change in the Bengalirsquos attitude towards migration First there was a trickle with the best and the brightest young men and women moving out of Bengal for higher studies they never returned That trickle soon turned into a tide as jobs disappeared and employment opportunities shrunk Both whitecollared professionals and bluecollared workers migrated and continue to migrateAmong the cities that received Bengalis with open arms implicit in this is the suggestion that not all were equally welcoming was Mumbai It has a large thriving and wellintegrated Probashi Bengali community evident from the number of community Durga Pujas organised in this cityThe community Durga Puja or barowari pujo as it was known before it became the paararsquor pujo is of recent vintage Earlier old families with zamindari or business roots would organise Durga Puja at their ancestral village or city mansion local residents were invitedThen as the legend goes 12 friends got together to organise the first barowari Durga Puja with community contributions The evolution of the community Durga Puja however need not detain us Suffice to say it is now a cultural identity marker more so for probashi BengalisThere was a time when many Bengalis would travel for a monthrsquos vacation during the Durga Puja season which would begin with Mahalaya everybody would get up at the crack of dawn to listen to Birendra Krishna Bhadrarsquos Chandipath broadcast live by All India Radio huddled over chaabiskut and end with Bhai Phonta or Bhai Dooj two days after Kali PujaBengalis of that generation had this craving for a ldquochange of air and waterrdquo Entire families mdash and those were days of huge joint families with widowed aunts and unemployed mostly unemployable cousins mdash would travel to Darbhanga and its adjacent places others to Ranchi and Hazaribagh where they either had a second home relatives or rented a houseOver the decades families have splintered Bihar and Jharkhand to a lesser extent have become intolerant to lsquobaharisrsquo and now young Bengalis travelling during this season go to exotic holiday destinations They travel on aeroplanes and not by train The mandatory feltcovered water bottle and large aluminium tiffin carrier are relics of the pastYet another tradition of the past that has bitten the dust is the communityrsquos participation in cultural events during Durga Puja The theatre club every paara had one would stage a play for which rehearsals would be held over several months Those gifted with music would showcase their talent There would be something for children too Jatra a popular theatre form was a big thing Utpal Dutt and Natya Company were much in demandNow all that has been outsourced to commercial performers and artistes The bigger the name the bigger the sponsor Even the traditional bhog comprising steaming khichuri bhaja paanchmishali torkari chaatni and paayesh khichri fritters fivevegetable mishmash chutney and rice kheer has made way to caterersupplied meals that are eminently avoidableI am sure some places have stuck to tradition but most have not Times change so do people their lifestyles and preferences My childhood memories of our community Durga Puja are still resplendent with the twin fragrances of Joba Kusum hair oil and Kanta scent mingling with the heady smell of frankincense My children have never heard of either leave alone seeing or smelling themYet for all the departures that have taken place Durga Puja still retains its charms and in a certain way binds a community to a fast disappearing and if I may add diminishing cultural identity We Bengalis should be thankful to the Goddess who has left for her Himalayan abode after her all too short annual visit home for small merciesThe writer is a senior journalist based in the National Capital Region His Twitter handle is KanchanGupta