Wednesday 5 October 2011

#KashmereGateDurjaPuja: Oldest in Delhi and the best





Kashmere Gate Durja Puja: Oldest and the best


Apart from our freedom fighters and the elderly generation, guess who has seen the transition of power from the days of the British Raj to a free India in the National Capital? The Yamuna, the monolithic monuments lying for centuries and the over 100-year-old Durga Puja festivities at Kashmere Gate, the city’s oldest and the most popular.The Delhi Durga Puja Samiti (DDPS), also known as the Kashmere Gate Durga Puja – currently held in the lawns of Bengali Senior Secondary School, Alipur Road – started way back in the year 1910 at Roshanpura Kali Mandir near Nai Sarak as ‘Barowari Puja’ (public festival).The puja was an effort on the part of the probasi (expatriate) Bengalis living in the city, especially one railway doctor Hemchandra Sen (whose efforts saw it being started from a rented place at Roshanpura). Subsequently, Lala Lachminarayan and his son Lala Girdhari Lal helped the puja samiti grow by providing them space (from 1913 to 1946) in their Dharamshala located near Fathepuri Mosque. With Bengalis embracing English education, many had to leave home to serve in different parts of the country during British times. This brought a clutch of Bengalis to the city. In 1911, when Delhi was officially declared the Capital of British India, a good chunk of them came to work in various government offices. These educated Bengalis formed a close knit community, unhindered by petty professional jealousies. This gave a huge thrust to the annual Durga puja celebrations. At first (in 1910 and 1911), the puja in Delhi was performed by ritually consecrating the ‘mangal ghata’ – the earthenware pot, symbol of the ‘Devi’. Enthusiasm was unbounded when idol worship (pratima puja) started in 1912. With the help of late Parmananda Biswas, who happened to be a Christian gentleman, an idol was brought from Varanasi (Kashi) with help from railway employees. This arrangement continued till 1925. From 1926, the idol began to be made in the city itself. And since then, there was no looking back. Many eminent persons visited this puja venue, including stalwarts like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in 1935 and Smt Indira Gandhi, the then PM, in 1969.“We make it a point to spend a day at the Kashmere Gate Durga Puja. We are following this tradition since the days of our grandfather. There is something about this puja which we don’t get anywhere else,” says Shayamal Banerjee, a regular who comes all the way from CR Park, the hub of puja festivities in Delhi. About the Durga Puja
In all these years, the DDPS has surprisingly been able to maintain the traditional aura and atmosphere of Durga Puja celebrations akin to 'Rajbaris' of Bengal. At the Kashmere Gate puja, Goddess Durga is always in the traditional 'Daaker Saaj' (with one frame idol), her garments are stylish, crimped decoration in silver and gold, with an intricate glittering crown and huge earrings. On Dashmi evening, when the idols are immersed in the Yamuna, DDPS arrives with their magnificent but tranquil goddess on a bullock cart chanting 'Durga Mai Ki Jai' and drum beats by at least 10-12 dhakis (Bengali drummers) accompanied by the men and women in dhoti-kurta and red-bordered saree, respectively. Besides being the oldest, what’s so special about this puja? Samarendra Bose, private secretary of Delhi Durga Puja Samiti says, “In our pandal, we allow only Bengali songs. Over 100 of our committee members are in dhoti kurta and saris. When people visit our puja they get a homely feeling and do not feel like leaving the place.”One more speciality of the puja is the food stall put by the Bengali Club every year (the club is declared as Heritage building by the MCD). “Biryani and korma are the favourite of our stall,” says Bose. Bose is associated with the puja since the ’70s. Ask him about the difference between then and now, and Bose says, “Earlier we used to stage three Bengali plays every year. Now people want to see good plays but it’s difficult to get good play groups. The real art is missing somewhere.”Eco-friendly pujaThe capital's oldest puja is also eco-friendly. The idol is made of biodegradable material so that the Yamuna does not get polluted after immersion. In addition to this, the colours used to paint the idol are vegetable dye-based shades. Non-biodegradable accessories are removed before the final send-off. While the clothes adorned by idols are given away to the poor, flowers collected during the puja period are preserved and handed over to an NGO for making eco-friendly colours.What’s special this year?Barun Mukherjee, president of Delhi Durga Puja Samiti, said, “This year is the 102nd year of our puja celebrations. On Saptami day, a special programme on Rabindranath Tagore is being organised as it is the 150th birth anniversary of Kabi Guru. Out station and local artistes will perform on the occasion. Dance and songs will be the highlight as it is difficult to get good drama group nowadays.”So, if you want a taste of original Bengali culture and experience Durga Puja in the way it is celebrated in West Bengal, don’t miss the opportunity this year and make it a point to take part in the Kashmere Gate puja festivities.
Kakoli Thakur

When the Goddess comes home



When the Goddess comes home
 
 
Ask a Bengali what is Durga Puja for him or her and the answer will be – everything, the excitement of which cannot be compared with anything else. Such is the spirit when Puja happens in the neighbourhood, or even far away. Imagine the amount of enthusiasm and sense of joy if it is celebrated at home. We speak to two such fortunate families who Ma Durga blesses by visiting their homes every year. For Swati Hom Chowdhury, this will be the fourth puja at their home. Swati recalls August 1, 2008, when the idea first struck them. “It was my son and daughter’s birthday and we were sitting in our drawing room when suddenly my daughter said ‘let’s do Durga Puja this time’. Immediately, we called my mother’s place in Assam, where Basanti (another form of Ma Durga) puja takes place every year and took an idea of the budget and everything and that day itself we decided that we will welcome Ma Durga in our home.”At the Hom Chowdhury home, preparations start three months before for Durga Puja. First, they place order for the idol which is made in Sangam Vihar every year by the same person.One month before, they print invitation cards and post them to their relatives who come all the way from Assam, Kolkata and Allahabad. Two dhakis (drummers) come every year from Malda in Bengal. The two purohits (priests) come from Kolkata. On Panchami day, the Pratima (idol) arrives and adibash puja is performed followed by Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami. Dhunuchi nritya (arati) and bhog are important part of the puja. Swati says, “This year, as Dashami falls on a Thursday we will not immerse the idol on that day as we don’t send our daughters to their in-laws place on that day. So Ma will stay with us one more day and bisarjan will happen on Friday.”  They bid adieu to the idol with tears and after seven days they also perform Lakshmi puja. Is celebrating Durga Puja at home tough? Swati says, “I don’t think celebrating Durga Puja is tough. Like, when we do Saraswati and Lakshmi puja at home we need flowers, belpatta and other things in small amounts, since Durga Puja is a four-day puja, we need more of these.”   Keya Chowdhury started doing Durga Puja in her home in 2002. She recalls, “It was not planned. We went to Shiv mandir to see the idol and a spontaneous thought came to my mind to do Durga Puja. I told my husband about it and he readily agreed. We bought a ready-made idol that year which was not sold till then. I was little scared inside that will I be able to manage four-day puja. But things started falling in place automatically. ““There is a puja essentials shop in CR Park. When we contacted them, things became easy. They have a list of separate days and they send everything on their own. Neighbours helped in giving puja utensils and everything,” Keya said.  In the first year the pandal area was small and the amount of bhog prepared for guests was limited. But with the passing of each year, things started happening on a larger scale. Every year they see different designs of idols on the net and order accordingly. Once their idol was designed with the eyes like Lord Jagannath, another year in Madhubani style and once the crown of the idol had a flower design. So what’s special this year? “This year our idol will have two hands instead of 10. In one hand, she will hold a lotus and the second hand will be for blessing. She will wear a white sari with red border instead of Banarasi sari. She will be the symbol of peace with no instruments. There will be no Asura,” says Keya. They invite three dhakis who come from Midnapur. Last year, one of their purohits came from Midnapur and the second from Dehradun. In the evenings, the family members do arati and dance.    Talking about other specialities of her home puja, Keya says, “The puja bhog is made in the traditional way. In most of the places, khichdi bhog is prepared for people. So in our place we prepare polao all three days. We specially think of those senior citizens who move around from pandal to pandal and do not get bhog. We also prepare sukta, ichor (typical Bengali veg dishes) which is very uncommon.”   So folks, when you get tired visiting community pandals, do find some time to visit these home pujas and trust us, you will surely experience the divine feeling.
 Kakoli Thakur