When autumn comes in our Bengal, there is a festive mood all around. Anand-Ragini is bad in nature as well as in our mind. The shrill in the courtyard, the intoxicating breeze in the white kasban, the magical light of the Kojagari moon rising on the banks of the river, and the coming-song from afar – all in one unique abhirama unfailing joy yajna to our Tribhuvana Mother. The most auspicious time of this festival is the autumn festival. So many words, so many memories around this festival. Remember those pure joyous devotionally enraptured luminous days.
During the preparations for Durga Puja, my mother’s enthusiasm would turn our house into a mecca. In the evening, coconut nadu and moya are made in Henshel and the dhum is fried. The yard is covered with dung. At night, the family used to go to Sahad’s house to listen to the Gita’s hymns sung by a Brahmin who had come from far away. I used to sit in the covered courtyard under the canopy and listen to the Brahmin’s melodious voice reciting the Gita in rapt awe till almost midnight.
Then one day the Puja bells were ringing at Surendra Haldar’s house in Gobindpur near our house. Wearing the best clothes carefully folded in the rack, we would go out for idol darshan. People visited the idols in the mandap in the light of Lokaranya, took Prasad and returned home to watch the Yatra with relatives and friends of the same age. Then everything is unrestricted, permission-free. No restrictions, no rules.
Once upon a time there was a journey of local fine artists. The professional procession from Manikganj used to travel to New Sabuj Opera. I used to watch those journeys with immense passion and fascination. I used to get 10 days holiday for Puja then. No rush to go to school, no urge to study. Only joy and joy. Then on the tenth day, about three miles away from home, at Kalakopa, Ichamati river, after immersing the idol, return home with the laddu thonga in hand. Aha! How sweet! What a colorful! How cordial! What harmony! What a pleasure! Those days!
The festival of union, the festival of friendship, the festival of brotherhood, the festival of brotherhood, the festival of harmony. Sharadiya Durgotsava is universal because it infuses these auspicious elements into the psyche of all irrespective of caste and religion.
Scarborough, Canada
