Monday, October 7, 2013

Durga Puja Chronicles: Celebrations Galore

It's that time of the year again when I feel my roots and know for sure that I'm a Bong.....well, how else can I describe my love for this big big celebration of all that is so Bangaali? :-)

Since birth, I've celebrated Durga Puja with a lot of fun and looking-forward to. In Delhi, where I've been born and brought up and lived for the first 25 years of my life, Durga Puja was especially special, as it was THAT time of the year when we would proudly show off that we were bongs. The whole year would be spent in jeans and shirts and skirts, but come July/August, and we would start preparing for what to wear in the Puja days and when to begin shopping.


One of the main charms of Durga Puja in my childhood days was the big shopping fest! Coming from a middle class family and being raised up in an age that had still, thankfully, not seen the craziness of commercial invasion of homes and mushrooming of the mall culture, Durga Puja was that one time of the year when we would get new clothes, new shoes, accessories, and yes, a chance to wear perfume !! That was one big thrill for me......

Of course as we grew up, these little things started becoming more 'regular', but the charm was still there, especially since it was still restricted to that one time of the year. And I am so thankful for that....I can see that my daughter does not share that kind of excitement for Durga Puja, even though she does try and tell her father that she likes to visit the pandal, and tries to make him visit as well.

I will re-visit my Durga Puja memories later in another post, but for now, I wish you all a lovely Puja...Ever since I've shifted to Mumbai, my celebrations around Durga Puja have come down to an all-time low. Of course most of it is due to the fact that I'm away from my parents and brother, plus the fact that I don't have my childhood friends in the city, and no bong friends at all......so it's quite a quiet Puja....sadly :-(

But of course there's one tradition I've held on to.....shopping! ;-) hahahaha....not much, but bits and pieces, like maybe a new tote and some makeup....there's always an excuse to that, right?

See you all sometime soon....have fun and enjoy your Durga Puja....

Images from Mumbai of the Puja I attend....








And this is how the Puja shopping begins in Kolkata, right? Images from Kolkata...

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- Debolina Raja Gupta

3 comments:

  1. So nice to read your post and looking at the pictures Debolina. I feel the sadness specially living in a different continent, but your pictures and post bought a smile on my face.

    Rini

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Rini,

      Thanks so much for stopping by...Don't be sad, I'm glad you liked the post...There are so many Durga Pujas in the US as well...hope you can soon visit there and have the same experience, or some of it at least :-)

      Delete
  2. Durga Puja is the biggest fest for Bangalis.

    ReplyDelete

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