Being Bong

The Durga Puja

The Durga Puja

Well if I have to sum it up in one word the word is going to be none other than my favorite word – Awesome!

And definitely there are not enough words in the world to describe it. Durga Puja is the best festival ever! No offence to other festivals. The best place to enjoy Durga Puja is definitely Kolkata.

It starts with Mahalaya and ends with Vijaya Dashami. There’s a few days gap between Mahalaya and Shasti. The main days of the festival are Mahalaya, Shasti, Saptami, Ashthami, Navami and Dashami. I won’t get into more details as you can always google them and it’s much more accurate than I am.

Every time someone mentions Durga Puja I can hear the sound of Dhak playing in the background. I don’t know if it’s same for everyone or it’s just me. Dhak also reminds me of people doing the Dhunuchi Dance.

Well usually I copy paste details from google/wikipedia. But today I’ll just give you the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga_Puja

Durga Puja is much more than just a grand festival. It’s one time of the year when I don’t mind staying away from the internet. It’s that time of the year when you re-unite with your friends and go Pandal hopping.

The entire city is well lit up and it’s when you realize that it’s a city that doesn’t sleep. It’s also that time of the year when you can get out of the home after 12 am and return in the morning.

During that time the crowd is lighter in the morning and so is the traffic. But during night it is much more crowded and you’ll have to stand in a long queue for going inside a pandal and those queues can be 1km long to. But still it’s worth it.

One of the best things about Durga Puja is that food is available 24/7. Most of the restaurants stay open till really early in the morning and there are food stalls outside most of the pandals. Some pandals even serve Prasad a.k.a Khichdi a,k.a free food. And you have to pay for it in some pandals.

Here’s the list of things you should do or avoid during Durga Puja:

1. Don’t lie to your parents about where you are going. You should avoid that not only because it’s wrong but also because there’s a very high chance that you’ll get caught.

The news channels try to cover all the pandals and the parents tune into news channels for watching the pandals.

There’s a very high chance that your mother told you to avoid a certain pandal but you went there and the press is covering it while you are there and your mother is also watching it. Mostly they telecast it live. It’s just an example but it might happen.

2. Go pandal hopping with your friends and preferably the pervert minded ones. Not only they are much more entertaining but you can unleash your pervert side in front of them.

Plus they are much better company than parents. Not that parents are boring or anything but imagine spotting someone really hot and telling your mom “Mom look at that guy over there, he’s damn hot isn’t he?” and now imagine telling it to your best friend.

Break rules on the last day of the puja. By that I mean returning home after deadline, not breaking laws. If you reach home in time during shasthi, saptami and ashthami you’ll get the permission for navami too. It won’t affect your social life as school/college re-opens soon after that and that’s really close to exam season.

And you should spend at least Dashami with your family and para friends.

Dashami is a lot like holi without the pichkari and the only color you are going to play with is red. You can also invent your own dance steps that day and show it off.

Buy a bhopu or a flute. They are fun. Buy the toy guns too. Watching a grown up play up toy gun is really appealing.

Okay now I’ll get serious. Here are the things you should definitely do during Durga Puja.

1. Go pandal hopping wearing a saree at least for one day. It’s difficult I know but still its fun.

P.S: This advice was for girls but if you are a boy wear Dhoti Punjabi. If you want to wear a saree it’s completely your choice. Don’t wear a saree, I was kidding.

2. Try the stamp mehendi. They hardly last for two days but they are much more convenient than actual mehendi as it dries quickly.

(This advice was also for girls only)

3. Consult the newspaper for the puja guide. They come in handy.

Don’t forget your camera.

Don’t go out with your own car. It’s going to be really crowded and at the end you are going to end up walking. Especially in the night. But you can carpool if you want to cover the whole city in one day. But that’s not possible.

Well there’s a lot more I would like to say and advice but I don’t remember them at the moment. I wanted to do this chapter during Durga Puja. I’ll do it again properly during Durga Puja as the memories will be fresher that time.

Other than that the Puja hangover lasts for a really long time. The city looks so empty after the puja.

Questions and other stuff

P.S: Sorry for the crappy update.  I’m getting distracted really easily nowadays and also running out of things to write about. I don’t think I want to post a rant about how much I hate classes and that’s the only thing in my mind at the moment.

Don’t mind if I take really long for updating the next chapters. I would like to do another myth busting rant. Any suggestions?

And I’ve had this idea for a while now. Why don’t you guys tell me about your experience about your bong experience?

E.g: If you are a bong what’s the one thing you love or hate about it? Or What is your opinion of Bengali people? Etc.

Btw how did most of you come across this book? I’m curious.