The time has come when the City of Joy will stand true to its name; when Kolkata is all decked up with lights and shimmers and all that glitters to welcome Durga Maa & celebrate the glorious festival, Durga Puja.
Through the eyes of a Non-Bengali ~
Brought up in Kolkata and have never missed out on one Durga Puja since my birth, of course, the festival holds a very precious place in my heart. It is my father who instilled in me the love and appreciation of the exuberant energy the city is filled up for the ten days. I’d written a blog post a few years ago about the Glory of Durga Puja in Kolkata, do read it. 🙂
Today is Panchami. The fifth day of the festival. I see people on the road, so many people. They are discussing their day. Which pandal will they be covering? Their schedule of the day, which breakfast joint they will eat, which restaurant will gorge into.
Buses autos are filled with passengers even at 7 am.
As I stand by the road, waiting for my transportation, I see a family waiting for their cab. The father says, “Pujo’te ghurbi ar Ola oli korbi, amra 20-20 km hete jetam.” Which means, “You’ll see Puja pandals and you have done Ola cab. When we were your age, we would walk 20-20kms to see, unlike you people nowadays.
I laugh. So relatable. So much!
The city, at night, is brimming with lights. It is the only time when I find the crowd, the chaos, becomes so beautiful.
Durga Puja is not just about pandal hopping, Durga Puja gives us a chance of exploring our hidden talents. It is during this festival, people dive into their hobbies, their interests and give it a much-needed attention. The city is filled with talented people, artists, dancers, singers, actors, musicians and what not! The cultural gathering in any “para” or locality, or complex, invites sees a plethora of performances.
I’m so lucky and brimming with joy that this year I got to do what I’d always been wanting to do. I got to prepare my script, I directed it and partially produced it 😛 The first play of my life, dealing with 12 kids, oh! That’s a story for another post definitely! 😛
ANYWAY!
I plan on writing about the new pandals I’ll be hopping, my experiences in this year Durga Puja. So do stay tuned with Web of words as I’ll update more pics of the pandals! 🙂
This year, as a part of #BloggersDurgaPujo, I along with twenty bloggers will be blogging about our experiences of 2018’s Durga Puja, from around the world.
Do check out their websites & Instagram to stay tuned with #BloggersDurgaPujo 2018! 🙂
List of Participating Bloggers
Dr. Amrita Basu (Misra): https://healthwealthbridge.com
Anupriya Gupta: https://hehttp://www.mommytincture.comalthwealthbridge.com
Esha Chakraborty: https://bookhippo.wordpress.com
Indrani Ghose: https://isharethese.com
Kapila Rattan Bhowmik: http://www.everylittlethinghappiness.com
Dr. Kuheli Bhattacharya: http://www.thefoodietrails.com
Moumita Sen: https://www.socialconnoisseursblog.com
Nehal Roy: http://www.easyhomeremedies.co.in
Paromita Biswas: https://goodtimestrails.com
Rahul Basu: https://bongfooodie.com
Sayanti Mahapatra: http://bingeonbasics.com
Shalini Magdel Das: http://lostloveadventure.com/
Shamik Byabartta: http://www.mixedflavorsblog.com
Sharmishtha S Ghosh: https://letstalkjhaalmishti.wordpress.com
Shruti Dugar: http://webofwords.in
Siya Bose: https://bestylechic.wordpress.com
Sonali Chauhan: https://sonalichauhanreviews.wordpress.com
Sonia Chatterjee: https://soniasmusings.com
-https://happilyfoodies.wordpress.com/
Vasundhara Sarkar: http://thesassyshimmer.blogspot.com
Yes agree Durga Puja is more than pandal hopping…
Lovely insight to the festival.
Hope you are having a grand one.
Very beautiful blog, gave me proper Pujo vibes 😍
Hey What we have here is , a goodoffering
Just click on the link below to qualify
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