Advertisement
Published: October 18th 2022
Edit Blog Post
Kolkata Durga pooja -Piprey on wheels With school holidays over, I imagined it was the perfect time to travel from London to Kolkata on empty flights and catch up on movies in the flights.
Very confidently, I arrived at London Heathrow to be
denied boarding because I did not have a negative RT PCR test. My option for one free change of date was also denied ( I re-confirmed later in Kolkata that I did have a free change). I paid 179 GBP penalty to fly the following weekend.
London Heathrow should be renamed chaos. We were still doing security checks past the flight departure time and asked to RUN to the aircraft.
We arrived late at Doha airport and 8 of us missed our connecting flights. 6 eager Bengalis stuck together, took alternative full flight to Delhi airport but there was no Qatar Airways personnel to receive us. We found our way to Air Vistara from Delhi to Kolkata. One of us was again being denied boarding as his ticket was not showing in the system! We jumped in. Unity was strength.
With a long wait for early morning flight from Delhi to Kolkata, I ate some
hot idl/vadas at the airport lounge. Had a friendly chat with a family travelling
to Andaman and Nicobar islands. A man and his daughter slept with abandon on on
e of the sofas of the lounge At Kolkata, no one asked me for my RT PCR test. Hot and humid, the
air quality was far better than winter months in Kolkata. My dad’s house was clean. The ceiling fan did not work properly and after I complained, my dad fixed it with a brand new one. I
slept long hours and got acclimatised. The week days, I worked UK hours. My internet was good most of the times but towards the evenings, used to be sporadic. The south west monsoons caused some torrential rains. Weekends, I caught up with
Bengali movies, shopping and street food (Egg roll, chowmein, momo, puchkas). I visited the
Indian museum. Such a vast and rich collection of natural life, fossils, mammals, birds, sculptures/rocks including a
Dinosaur egg. There was even an
Egyptian mummy. The following weekend, flew to Lucknow to meet my cousin.
Soon the Durga pooja holidays were on us.
It is indeed a
UNESCO intangible heritage. I visited the Durga pooja pandals in
North Kolkata especially the Ahiritola
and Kumurtolly. Then went to Dum Dum Park.
The theme of musical instruments with a piano going up the apartments was amazing. Kumartully had underwater theme, completed with scuba divers, fishes and sea life projections.
Went to see the
Vatican at Sreebhumi Durga pooja pandal. There was a ashtadhatu (8 metals) idols made which were fantastic. The next day, I attempted
South Kolkata circuit to see a Bengali
comedian themed pandal and a
freedom fighter themed pandals. There was even a South Indian temple complete with gopuram.
A vessel of Rosagollas was delightful and the goddess in it probably had found the sweet spot.
I took
local buses and autorickshaws. The mass of humanity was swimming everywhere. Yet, there was order in the chaos.
In one pandal, the idols were set in the pristine mountains while in the others, they came from a cave. It was surrounded by javelins. In another the goddess has two lions sitting next to each other as pets.
The angry mood of the goddess was amused or compassionate. She was in sitting position instead of standing. Sometimes alone too instead of being with her two daughters and sons. The idol makers had a field day interpreting their gods and goddesses.
We have a family get together with
Indo-Chinese food and
adda with my pocket having a little gadda 😊 In the evening , saw the
red fort pandal with laser show at Lebutala with my uncle.
On final day, I went to visit dad’s friend in
Salt lake ( Bidhan Nagar) suburb of Kolkata using the clean and well maintained Kolkata metro. Saw a replica of the new
Durga pooja pandal-South Kolkata
Sweets from West Bengal. How sweet :) Ram temple, a traditional boat of the Ganges and stress of education on children. Finished with authentic
Hilsa dishes for lunch.
As if it was all enough,
Bengali blockbusters were released during the festive season at Nandan theater. I went to watch some based on Bengali history. Visited
Quest Mall and watched a Telugu blockbuster,
Ponniyan Selvan part 1, a classic written by Kalki on the Rajaraja Cholas’ life. Again some more Indo-Chinese food to finish the day.
Soon, it was time to pack and get ready to fly back. Did some small shopping from nearby shops. Was craving for
fresh pineapple and
sweet coconut water. On the last day, went to
walk by the river Hooghly. Realised that the park was closed but there was a Kolkata river cruise with live band!
We floated on the river by the Nimtola ghat, watched the immersion of the idols, procession of the idols in Ramkrishna mission and samadhi were Rabindranath Tagore’s ashes lie buried. Admired both the
Howrah bridge and
Rabindra Setu which were sparkling with festive colours.
City of joy! While returning, got seat at the back of the plane which meant that we could eat only veg for two meals.
After watching blockbusters, the movies were not interesting though I watched a Sinhalese movies on Buddhism which was aesthetically presented on the wife of Gautam Buddha. It was
amazing to observe deserts, mountains, rivers from the aeroplane on the journey of
9500 miles from Kolkata to London. Too far.
London was sunny but cold.
Two big cities but Kolkata will beat London in its warmth, charm and beauty.
Perhaps, not so nice was the scale of poverty.
Mega cities strive on inequality. Only the rich are entitled to elegance in London. The hawkers claim public spaces like footpaths and roads and create health and safety issues. The administration turn a blind eye because of the vote bank. For sure, the place can be even more beautiful.
Kolkata calling. Coming soon!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0473s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb