Puja Live: Panchami

panchami night. the 5th night of the new moon. one day before the biggest carnival of kolkata, Durgapuja, begins.

I still remember one incident. in our half yearly exam of standard 3 we were to write a paragraph on the panchami night. me, as stupid as usual, wrote all about the puja of our family and how much we enjoy it. later the teacher told my parents that this paragraph was supposed to be about panchami, not durgapuja. so it should have contained the waiting for sasthi ( the 6th day), the thrill of having new clothes and all.

after so many years I felt like re-writing the essay again. but before that let me do a survey, in small scale though.

Nabanita Datta, 3rd year student of B.Tech, feels that pancchami is the moment when along with the forthcoming happiness, she is a bit melancholic thinking about someone . someone with whom her relation has no name. someone she spend the last year with.

Dhruv Majumder of new Delhi thinks panchami is a gateway of an occasion which may divert her mind from the pain of the recent break up with her girlfriend. He has his classes to attend, but he has decided to skip Friday, the saptami, to spend some time alone and with the deity.

Debalina Bagchi, post-graduate student of Botany, Presidency College, Is really happy on panchami night as her boyfriend is coming back to kolkata the very next day. though she has to miss her friends this time. she's really looking forward to spend some time with her love.

I could have asked some more people, But I didn't. because, the scene is more or less same everywhere. Now that leaves only one. Me. what do I think this time??

Some of the idols have arrived to the nearby puja pandals, our idol will come tomorrow from the priest's house. the lights adorning the houses of the locality are shining. The house has been given a fresh look. The pujo special issues of the books are almost finished. I don't have any thrill about wearing new clothes, neither do I feel anything about pandal hopping. The puja has just become an excuse to spend some time with the friends.

but, But I know that The moment I'll hear the dhaaks beating, the chanting of the anjali being offered, the girls looking mind blowing in their mother's saris I'll have an unmanageable urge to meet the chief guest of the carnival, Ma Durga.

best wishes of panchami. for the Bengali souls, panchamir preeti o shuvechcha..