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Published: November 2nd 2008
Swiss Cottage?
This one was stunning. A massive chalet in the middle of the high street!And wasn’t it just! ‘Special’ that is.
Durga Puja; 5th - 9th Oct 2008.
This blog will deliberately be mostly pictures as such a spectacle is difficult to describe in any other way. Comparisons to Christmas in the West are made regularly with Durga Puja, but I personally think this is to short change this amazing Hindu fest, particularly the way it is done in Kolkata, the home of Durga Puja. Kolkata is one of the few places left in India that still goes in for Goddess worship and so Goddess Durga’s big day becomes a week long party on the city’s streets. Durga is the ‘mother-god’, the protector, and along with her four kids, who also get quite an outing during Puja, her presence for Hindus is really very auspicious. Durga Puja then, represents her annual visit to Earth when she comes to check we’re all ok. The general gist of the festival is the creation of beautiful effigies of Durga and her family, their display at mindblowingly intricate ‘temples’ that are built specifically for these four days, admiration by the visiting public, thanks-giving to Durga, and then finally she is returned to the holy waters of the river
Toy Town
This one had a tribal theme - it was also sponsored by some massive company, hence the impressive construction. Ganges - with more pageantry than a Royal Wedding!!!!
Huge numbers of community groups, housing developments and indeed collectives of residents on a single street will pool resources and host a temporary ‘temple’, or Pandal as they’re called. Funding sometimes comes from corporations, but generally it’s community-generated. The street will be decorated with thousands of lights, flags and anything else they can think of, and the area will be graced with a grand entrance archway created to welcome everyone to their celebration. All of which is in the name of community and spirituality, not a single ringing till in sight and of course no need for presents, it is considered gift enough if you go to see someone’s Pandal and appreciate their efforts - how gorgeous!
Some of the community groups running Pandals have now been doing so for over 300 years. Every year more and more start up; walk down any main street and you’ll find a Pandal every few hundred metres. The joy then is that you can just plant yourself in one area of town for the entire day and go wandering - no map necessary (good job knowing Indian cartographic skills) and no public
Peacock Massive
This Pandal is only a basic one believe it or not, as it isn't walk-through. It is however 7-stories high!!! transport hassle. Rose and I were lucky to have insider tips on where to go and for one of the days, we had our friend Saswati’s company; graciously touring us around some of the more far-flung treats.
The Pandals themselves are often huge walk-through structures with capacity for scores of people and nearly all have a bamboo shell - no doubt global bamboo prices are distorted for the whole of October. Beyond the shell, the more adventurous the better, and, as is the way here, salvage and reuse are done to magnificent effect. I never found it, but apparently one of the Pandals was built from used coconut husks. Pandal construction can take up to a month and is taken very seriously - competition is tough. The newspapers and some local companies give awards for the best ones. As you tour the Pandals, checking out their trophy cabinet is all part of the experience. What makes one more special then the next one and gets people talking is its creativity often expressed through a theme of some kind. It seems this year global warming was a favourite.
It’s interesting to note what an incredible feat of project planning
Indiana Jones?
This massive temple was created in a playground for the duration of Puja. The guy with the ten heads is Ravan, a baddy of Hindu Mythology that was defeated by Ram and Hanuman. and logistics Durga Puja is. Hundreds, probably thousands, of Pandals were designed, built and decorated and the same number of Durgas & Co were built, painted and delivered taking months of work which culminated perfectly within hours of the festivities. Juxtapose this with the woeful lack and planning and foresight at BNP+ and indeed the generally justified stereotype of India having horrendously inefficient systems and processes; really it defies comprehension.
Apart from the humungous amounts of time off work that Kolkatans enjoy, and the unique experiences of having empty seats on the bus and no traffic on the roads, another beautiful bonus that Puja brings is that Bengalis magically become lighter and more genial people. I guess it could be claimed that Christmas can be equally temperament-warming? Anyway, my fear of massive obstreperous crowds was wholly unwarranted and the whole week passed with only happy and peaceful revelry. Indeed, for us, we benefited hugely from people being especially excited to receive White people into their Pandal and making all sorts of extra effort to ensure we enjoyed it. The explanations, tours and photo opportunities were accepted gracefully, but, much to Rose’s frustration, I just couldn’t let them queue-jump us.
The Arty One!
Some of the Pandals were well classy and went for the modern shiny look. This one housed a stylized metal sculptured Durga. The queues to the best and most famous of the Pandals were over a kilometre long and took well over an hour to pass, but all the more mortifying to be jumping them and making them even longer for everyone else.
I spent three very happy days wandering around the streets of Kolkata having a marvellous time; soaking up the atmosphere, indulging in endless amounts of street food, talking to random strangers and being blown away by some amazing Pandals. I’m afraid the pictures come with the usual caveat in that I tend to be unable to capture much of the real experience in my photos, but maybe that’s something most of us mortals are afflicted with and why being there is the only way forward. What is especially tough to capture without squeezing you all in the middle of it, is the final evening of Puja.
Many of the members of each community group accompany their effigy on the journey to its final resting place. Hundreds of Durga-ladened open-back lorries therefore became mobile parties as Durga was not going out without a bang. As they finally reached the front of the pulsing queue which snaked throughout the
Soft Furnishings
Some of the interiors were as amazing as the outsides. This one was sown using waste materials - really very cool. city, they and their party were spewed onto Babu Ghat where they join the thousands of others and became a cauldron of madness. At this point I need to hold my hand up and say that on that final night I took every privilege that my skin colour afforded me. It was one of those once-in-a-life-time experiences that I just wouldn’t have had if I were pinned behind many thousand jostling Kolkatans - I‘m sorry, it’s wrong, but what can you do? Rose and I were ushered through the ranks of police into the central arena which was basically the river bank that had been barricaded off from the public. The area was full of media crews and there were a few Indian VIPs, but basically, we became part of the show - thankfully, for once, we were not the most interesting thing on view. After all the waving, clapping, shouting, singing, dancing and so on had calmed to fever pitch, Durga would eventually be carried into the arena where we were treated to Durga doing a turn or two before she was run into the fluvial embrace of the Ganges. Rose and I of course were with her on
Mirror and Stone
One of the Pandals was completely lined with this kind of artwork. every one of her final journeys, well at least two hours worth of them, the inexorable waves of devotion and merriment apparently sustained the party all night long, but we just didn’t have it in us. One of the unanticipated bi-products of our grandstand view was that we were prime candidates for TV interviews. Baring in mind our VSO-enforced media embargo, we thought sod it, we’ll do it anyway! Clearly we were careful not to mention VSO, but really we were there as wide-eyed appreciative onlookers and were hardly going to set the world alight with contentious political commentary. Basically what materialised were various interviews with two startled White People who strained to produce an intelligible response to some very unchallenging questions. Isn’t it remarkable how a TV camera can turn you into a jibbering wreck? Anyway, Rose managed two interviews and I, just one, but we had a laugh and I don’t think we embarrassed ourselves too much; although they did get us to talk in Bengali which we could have done without! I believe the interviews were live on the local news that night. Thankfully, although they were there, the national broadcasting companies obviously saw our folly and
Bamboo Art
Another impressive interior was covered in images depicting the Hindu classics. steered clear. The sounds, sights and experiences of that night will stay with me always I’m sure, I can’t begin to describe the passion and fervour with which every person there was living in that moment. It was pure wonderment in the most powerful sense of the word.
That’s it for now. I have loads to tell you all about my last weeks in Kolkata and my first weeks of travelling joy, but I’m afraid that’ll have to wait ‘til next time. Hope you’re all well and full of joy. Lots of love, Xx.
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Probir Das
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http://www.ebizzkolkata.com
It ia a very helpful blog . we know many information related to durga puja.