AASCHHE BOCHCHOR AABAAR HOBE

Dr. Bidyut Banerjee

Aaye Re Chhute Aaye Pujor Gondho Eshechhe… A famous song written and composed by the famous Salil Chowdhury, for me, has always crisply described the sentiment of Durga Pujo being around the corner. Notun Jaama, Notun Goyena (New Clothes, New Jewellery), the excitement of Pujor Baajaar (Durga Pujo Shopping).

Oh wait… Was’nt this supposed to be the regional corner of the magazine? Then why this flea bitten, moth eaten Bangla? That too in English script.

“Aamra Baangaali Hochchhi!” This is how, we, the younger generation of Probaashi Baangaalis of Delhi describe ourselves. This… which literally translates to “We are becoming Bengali”. Not quite there you know… Although that’s not what we mean when we say that phrase. Its because we have spoken more Hindi than Bengali since our childhood days. So “Hum Bangaali Hain” when put to a word-by-word translation gives you “Aamra Baangaali Hochchhi”.

Durga Pujo is our annual dose of connecting with the inner voice (Basically, Parents Voice) reminding us “Kokkhono Bhule Jaabi Naa, Aamraa Kintu Baangaali”(Don’t you dare forget this ever, we are Bengalis). Shuktaara Shaarodiya Shonkha (Shuktaara magazine’s Durga Puja special edition) was my textbook for learning Bengali reading. All this results in a unique mixture… “Aami baangla bolte paari, aaste aaste porte-o paari, kintu likhte paari naa.” (I can speak fluent Bengali, can read Bengali but slowly, and can not write Bengali at all). This is what most of us late 80s, early 90s Probaashi Baangaali kids are like.

Cut to… The Durga Pujo sentiment. Well, to be honest, I could write a full 7 Season Game of Thrones just on this One Sentiment… “Durga Pujo is coming!” Dhan Tan… Tada-Dan-Tan… Oops sorry, don’t get carried away by the background score. I guess, its just the sheer thrill of this anticipation.

We, the Kalkaji Extension Durga Puja Samity (KEDPS), a collective of roughly 120 Probaashi Baangaali families residing in the Kalkaji Extension area of South Delhi, have been living up to this anticipation since the year 1985.

“Maa Jodi Chaaye, Taake Keu Aatkaate Paare Naa” (If Maa durga wishes for it to happen, nothing can stop it from happening). This has been the response of every senior member of the KEDPS, when acknowledged for their relentless efforts towards making this possible despite a few rough years in between.

The year 2020, however, had different horrors in store. It was not Maa Durga’s Agomoni (arrival), but rather the Novel CORONA Virus, puppeteering lives, leaving a trail of bodies behind. Undercurrents of chaos and commotion beneath the apparently quiet Lockdown.

Durge Durgoti Naashini, (Maa Durga the eliminator of all distress) ... Where?

The Govt of Delhi gave standing orders against the celebration of Durga Pujo. This meant, that even the most elite, the poshest, Durga Pujo Committees of Delhi, who were, in terms of bureaucratic, political and law enforcement officials, very well connected, also couldn’t do anything this year.

I see every year one or the other Daadu or Didima come in front of Maa Durga in tears and say “Jaak Maa, Aaro Ek Bochchhor Tomaar Mukher Dekha Pelaam. Jaani na Maa, Aaschchhe Bochchhor Aabaar Hobe, Na Hobe Naa.” (Oh! Maa Durga... Atleast I lived another year to see your face… Don’t know whether it’ll happen the next year or not)

Unlike the others, the anticipation of Durga Pujo for the elderly, has always been very different. It is indeed amazing to see, how these people, who do not come out of their homes unless it’s a hospital visit, gather all the strength and enthusiasm to come to see Maa Durga, be it with their walkers, or in wheelchairs on the day of Maha Ashtami to offer their pushpaanjoli. Their frail bodies, curved and bent backs, wrinkled skin, thick glasses barely dangling by their nose, toothless mouths with furrowed lips chanting the pushpaanjoli montro, every year, thinking that maybe its their last.

KEDPS, in an attempt to keep this flame of hope burning, through their sheer grit, managed to conduct the Durga Pujo this year complying with all guidelines of social distancing, use of face mask at all times, and adequate hand washing and hand sanitization. The only Durga Pujo in South Delhi that accomplished the feat of opening to its public.