That Time Of the Year ....Part I.

  

Sigh ! .......Why would anyone begin a piece with a sigh ? That is just me letting out the longing/nostalgia for times gone by and for a much loved place .

I am writing this blog at the end of September , on Mahalaya -the first day of the 10 days of worship of the goddess Durga .

Ranchi , a town in the state of Jharkhand in east India,in the erstwhile state of Bihar . The time and place from when and where this nostalgia bubbles up every now and then .

Bihar was known to be a poor underdeveloped lawless land but rich in minerals. But for us folks living in the " colony" , a term for a township , was bliss .

It was a small town then, not the bustling capital of the new state of Jharkhand as it is now . Enough of the description of the ex-town and present city . 

To move on, what is THAT time of the year that I am talking about ? The time when the leaves start to turn yellow and fall off trees , the time when when there is a slight  ( depending on ones' tolerance for cold weather) chill in the air , a mellowness and a general atmosphere of festivities .

End of September ,October and November , which heralded the arrival of 10 days of " puja vacation" in schools. A source of obvious delight , involving running around in playgrounds or within the boundaries of the apartments in the colony and long sessions of other forms of play. Kids are pretty innovative in devising different ways to keep themselves amused and occupied .

That was the time when the -one of twice in a year - buying of new clothes happened . This was because , during this period, fresh stock of latest designs came in from the nearby metropolis of Calcutta for the puja season .How much ever I try, I am unable to call it Kolkata.

The buying of clothes was a major event , and people had their preferences for shops from which to buy . The patrons of these shops had a personal bond with each shop and its owners , exchanging family news etc with them . In return for this patronage and warmth ,the option of buy now pay later , or pay in installments was provided .

I speak of a time when the country was still a closed economy and PSU( public sector undertaking , for the uninformed) folks had modest salaries and the colony comprised mostly of the great Indian middle  class .

Yes , I am talking about the period starting from Mahalaya ( the first day of  Durga puja ) , extending to the Chatth puja ( a festival very important and sacred to the people belonging to the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh) . Mahalaya started at 4:30 am  with AIR ( All India Radio) playing the 'Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu'-the Chandipath chant in the inimitable voice of Krishna Chandra Bhadra ( who has long since passed) . Durga puja wouldn't have been complete without this chant in this particular gentleman's voice, no one else would do . 

During our stay in the colony , Durga Puja ( or navaratri in the south of India) involved pandal hopping , gorging on edibles being sold near the pandals and being an audience for the drum players

( called dhaakis) and participants in the dance ( called dhunuchi naach) performed with  smoking fragrant coals in a mud receptacle ( called dhoop in the north and sambrani in the south)

The sound and rhythm of the special drums ( dhaaks) , brings a smile to my face even now  and I can hear it loud and clear and smell the dhoop . This leads me to look for dhaaki performances on the internet whenever nostalgia strikes. On a side note, dhaakis are specialists in their art and usually are habitants of villages surrounding Ranchi or from the rural regions of the neighbouring state of West Bengal. It is said that they play better and in a frenzied state only when some alcohol has been

ingested. The beats of the dhaak are no doubt trance inducing.

Everyone seemed to be happy for no particular reason 😊😊 . I can still smell the air , clean, fresh , cool.

Dear reader, I absolutely need to let out another sigh here ...you will probably need to put up with my sighs that I am prone to releasing  every now and then.

The human brain seems to have unlimited gigabytes of memory to be able to store a lifetime of memories, smells, tastes, emotions and the associated contexts, a memory bank which can be recovered without any back up storage . You see, the Creator/Maker aka God, had a good idea of all this wayyyyyyyy before the human species got around to inventing the computer.

Coming back to the nostalgia . Day 1 was when the constructions of the 'pandals' , the big palace like  structures ( made of bamboo and cloth) ,started .This was to be the temporary abode and makeshift temple for  the visiting goddess and her brood .  Different associations collected 'chanda' i.e donations from the households in the area and that is what was used for the celebrations . The pandals in every area had a different theme  and there was quite some competition to be the biggest, best and more most beautiful pandal. It is believed that the goddess comes down to her parents' place with her kids for a visit and departs, 10 days later, to her marital home up above . 

That is the background, now coming back to my particular reminiscences.  After we moved out of the colony to another area(outside the colony),the location of the puja pandal in this area was bang in front of our apartment.  The sound of the bamboo being unloaded from a truck heralded the beginning of the puja . That sound was music to our ears. Our bedroom window had a front bench view of the location of the puja in our area . We had a peek every now and then to check on the progress of the pandal being constructed . The construction, beautification etc went on for four to five days in readiness of the goddess's arrival.

The sixth day of the puja or 'shasti' as it is called, was when the goddess and her kids were brought into the pandal with their faces covered . An elder of the area ( which was another small colony), took a basket with the weaponry of the goddess and her offspring, and carried it on his head ,followed by the strapping lads of the area, who were part of the puja organising committee, around the colony, symbolically requesting the visiting deities to protect the residents from all evil . 

In the pandal,the designated priest then began the worship in the evening of this day with the chanting of hymns and mantras and handed over each deity their choice of weapons . The faces of the deities were uncovered to loud chants of ' hail the goddess' . People then brought forward their offerings to the deities .

Here I should mention the deities , Durga , the mother goddess , round faced with beautiful eyes and thick curly black hair , worshipped as ' mahishasura mardini' or killer of the demon Mahishasura . The idol is in that act of killing , with the goddess( seated on her lion) killing the  ferocious looking  demon and his buffalo who are placed at her feet . For some reason, the demon is sometimes green in colour .Then the offspring , Ganesha ( the elephant headed lord of auspicious beginnings ), Lakshmi
 ( goddess of wealth), Saraswati (goddess of learning and knowledge),Karthik ( Subramanyam in the south ) the god of war . 

While the worship continued from day 6 to day 10 , outside than pandal all manner of things, from helium filled balloons( called gas balloons by us folks), flutes ,sweets and savouries were on sale . People turned out in the best attire to fully enjoy the festivities . The air was filled with the smell of the dhoop, the flowers,and sundry perfumes of the people visiting .

Bengalis, to whom the festival is native to and means the world to,  had a new dress for each of the days to visit the pandals . This was also a time for mass socializing. There was music in the cacophony .

(I am now dreamy eyed) ...sigh !!!!! ( don't say I didn't warn you ,dear reader..).

The worship was carried out in the mornings and the evenings and the crowds were at their maximum during these times . The worship reached its frenzy during the 'aarti' or the waving of lighted lamps in front of the deities. 

The eighth and ninth days , called 'ashtami' and 'navami' respectively , were when the star of the event was served . The 'khichuri ' in culinary parlance and ' ashtami /navami bhog' in religious parlance . 'Bhog' is a collective term for the edible offerings made to the Gods . This was a delectable mix of rice , lentils and loads of vegetables cooked in spices ( no onions ,no garlic) . The only frown worthy element in this being the brinjal/egg plant/ aubergine in the bhog . The purple or green vegetable and myself have had serious difference of opinion since I was a child . The bhog was mouth watering nonetheless .
Believe me, I can taste it right now though  I am typing this from thousands of kilometers away.

Day 10 was when the last worship was carried out and the Goddess and her  kids were ready to go back to their home in the clouds . The atmosphere changed from one of joyous celebration to 
gloom .Before the deities departed, something called 'sindoor khela' took place . The married women in the area came to the pandal with flowers and vermilion. The vermilion was liberally applied to Goddess Durga and then on each other as good wishes for a happy and long married
( 'suhaagan/sumangali /married state of a woman) life. The deities were then taken out in a procession and immersed in a nearby water body ( I know, not at all environment friendly) . 

Day 10 was also a day when tall , fireworks filled, effigies of the demon king Ravana , his brother Kumbhakarana and his son Meghnad were burnt . We usually stood on our terrance , a particular corner of the terrace rather, to see this spectacle . The burning was done by actors dressed up as Lord Ram and his brother Lakshman . All these gentlemen, as all of India knows ,are characters in the epic Ramayana. Day 10 is also called Dussehra. 

That finished the festivities , for the moment at least. This was followed by Diwali , Lakshmi puja, Kali puja, Chatth. All of that for another blog .....Part II.
The above described pooja, is celebrated in an entirely different way in the south if India, more on that coming up in Part III..... perhaps...

The above festivals which followed, were a part of autumn , part of our culture and part of our childhood, a time of no worries, no responsibilities and the like , the greatest worry being the unfinished homework..

That is why I said , it is again THAT time of the year .....Sigh......!!!!!