Women are the front and centre of Durga Puja, the festival of Bengalis and of people of eastern India that is enjoyed by all communities. The five-day event starting today, witnesses family get-togethers and is a time for women-led entrepreneurship. On Mother’s day out, TMS presents three women, three stories.
Her own homely Durga Puja
Within a stone’s throw from educationist Dattaa Roy’s home in Chittaranjan Park there are, at least, ten Durga Puja pandals but she isn’t walking over to any of them right away. “It had come up in a casual adda between me, my husband Indranil and my son that one day if we ever have our own home, we will install her right inside and that’s what we did in 2017, a year after we bought this house where we were earlier on rent,” she says. The installation was important for her at another level.
After a miraculous recovery from a serious ailment, she uttered this wish again to have her own puja before her family—it is this that gives her homely Durga Puja, away from the madding crowds and mega pandals typical of Chitto Park pujas, its special, intimate charge. The work for this family-run- Durga Puja is, however, equally shared—son Iman, a structured- finance lawyer, has flown in from London, as he does every year, to do his bit and participate in the puja of which his mother is the moving spirit.
“I am not a religious person but I do feel grateful for the life I have and light incense sticks each day. I keep my gods well,” says Roy. And many, indeed, have passed through her hands – as family gods do when elders pass away. “For me, the sentiments I have about people are more important than gods”. And this is how the Lakshmi that her father-in-law clutched to his chest when he left the Andamans to come over to the mainland close to India’s independence found her way into her puja room.
As did her parents-in-law’s shivaling. Goddess Durga, however, holds a special place in her heart. “Durga is the only god we call meye (daughter) and ma (mother). All the emotions of affection, longing and gratitude are evoked by her. She also reminds me of my own mother. For me and my brother, she has always seemed to be a woman who would work as if she had 10 arms—like Ma Durga,” says Roy.
In the Roys’ puja room this Durga Puja, as in the previous pujas, there is next to the goddess, the idols of Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh as well, but Roy says she hasn’t felt convinced to establish a puja of any of the other goddesses on their significant days. “Some people have coaxed me to do a Laxmi Puja and a Ganesh Puja before I do Durga Puja but I haven’t felt pulled enough to do it,” she says, reiterating that Durga Puja isn’t for her, a religious occasion.
“For me, it’s family time, a time for friends. We have a cultural troupe, so we sing. When the priest comes in, I start off by telling him to explain the mantras to me…only the mantra I believe in or understand, only that mantra will I chant,” she says. Roy is also planning the bhog, the food and the sweet offering she will place before the goddess after Shoshthi puja.
She will supervise the goddess' entry into the household every step of the way – from the time when Ma Durga’s face is unveiled today (this ritual is called Bodhon) on Shoshthi (the first day of the Puja), and after she is brought in into the mandap (this ritual of welcoming her into the dwelling abode is called Adhibas) in the evening.
“Luchi, mishti, chutney and one kind of torkari (vegetable) is what we offer her for bhog,” says Datta, and switches to the third person without missing a beat while referring to the goddess. “She has never directed me what to give her or not. So we basically cook for her what we like to eat,” she says with a smile.
The art of Durga Puja dressing
Suhrita Basak runs an apparels and accessories boutique around the year in Chittaranjan Park, but it really comes to life during and before Durga Puja. A Kolkata resident, she moved to Delhi after marriage and started her business, initially in accessories, in 2016. But she was persuaded to branch off into apparels by friends and family because they liked her colour and fabric combinations and her take on theme-based dressing.
Kalamkari, Bandhej, Dabu and Ajrakh patterns are common motifs in her puja saris. “Combinations of red and white are huge hits for Ashtami and for all the five days of the puja,” says the sari designer and entrepreneur. The fabrics that are most picked up are the ones that are easy and quick to drape like Tussar, pure silks, Chanderis and Maheshwaris.
“My personal favourites are red and white as well as yellow for puja mornings. My tip is that if you are wearing an elaborate and heavy sari, go easy on the accessories. Designer blouses are in. Wear solid colours with them, or, at the most, a combination of two colours in your sari with a bindi and a jhumka or ‘pasha’. Am expecting to see a lot of ombre saris in puja pandals due to the Rocky Rani ki Prem Kahani craze this time,” she says. Black is ‘untouchable’ for most puja shoppers. “Even a single thread won’t do.” she says. - PG
