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.
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