The kumors: The artisans located at Kumartuli deftly create the goddess’s image out of straw and clay. What intrigues us the most is how they paint the third eye of the goddess in one stroke. The artisans are also famous for their etchings of diyas and dhunuchis. Forget all that, what would happen to all those ‘photographers’ who flood Facebook timelines with pictures of the artisans in action!

 

Birendra Krishna Bhadra: Each year he sets the mood for the Puja as we wake up to his Chandipath on the radio in the wee hours of Mahalaya. It is the one day when you don’t crib about being woken up at 4am and actually enjoy the early morning family adda and cha. If by chance you miss it, you make sure you play it on YouTube all morning. 

 

The drivers of hired cars: We are immensely grateful to the people who steer the wheels that take us across the city and from pandal to pandal. Yes, their rents are exorbitant, but imagine trying to take local transport or waiting forever for your Uber or Ola.

 

 

The purohit: You never really pay much attention to the purutmoshai at the pandal, except during Ashtami anjali when you parrot his mantra. But they are the ones who are getting all the pujas done on time.

 

 

The flower sellers: Where would you be without the 108 lotuses for Sandhi puja? Or the hibiscus garland? Or the Aparajita garland? And you need them fresh and early. Well, the flower sellers are the magical elves who deliver it even before you are up. 

 

 

The truckwallahs: They are key to transporting the idols to the pandals pre-Sashthi and taking the idols for visarjan on Vijaya Dashami. There is nothing more unsettling than watching the idol wobble every time the truck slams the brakes and there is nothing more exhilarating than riding on the truck to the Hooghly ghat before getting down and doing the bhashan dance.

 

 

 

The dhaakis: Nothing spells Durga Puja better than the rumbling beat of the dhaak. It is an experience to wake up to the sound of the dhaak, announcing the start of the day’s puja. Big-budget pujas organise group dhaak playoffs, which are a sight and sound to soak in. No dhunuchi naach is complete without the dhaakis and no puja is complete without dhunuchi naach.

 

 

 

The security people: A salute to Calcutta Police for keeping the traffic flowing, giving us a smooth pandal-hopping experience and making us feel safe even at 3am. Another salute to all the pandal volunteers who work tirelessly round the clock to ensure everyone has a dekko of the goddess and keep selfie traffic snarls to a minimum.

 

 

 

The food vendors: Pandal-hopping is more than just walking from pandal to pandal, it is also about the nom-nom in between. Egg rolls, chicken chow mein, phuchka, pizza, biryani — you name it and the crowd will be eating it. Nothing evokes the hunger pangs more than Durga Puja and these are the people who take care of your craving, even at 1am.

 

 

The pandal makers: From traditional ekchala style to avant-garde designs, they make them all. And their creativity makes the aching feet and snaking queues worth it. 

 

 

The hawkers: Pre-Puja shopping apart, they are the ones who you run to for your last-minute outfit fails — whether it is a safety pin or a bindi or a matching earring or even the odd missing petticoat! Thank god they are there till at least Saptami.

 

 

The thakurs: One word — bhog! They are the cooks who make Ashtami and khichuri the best Puja juti. Add the labra and payesh and it is a blockbuster.

 

 

 

Friends and family: Who else would you go out with at 4am hopping across pandals, taking selfies and bingeing without a care in the world? Who else would you complain to about the long queues outside pandals and the new shoes? And then there are the night-long addas!

 

CONFESSIONS OF A RELUCTANT PUJA TRAVELLER

I have not been in the city during the Pujas for the past 10 years, thanks to my parents who didn’t find waiting in serpentine queues and melting in the heat trying to catch a glimpse of an idol appealing. So started the tradition of the obligatory annual family trip, something that is a part of many Bengali families’ Puja plans. 

All is well for the young ones in such families — and even I was okay with it as a 15-year-old — till they join college. Because while your friends discussed their pretty Puja outfits, you would have to trudge through your boring baggy pants and sneakers for the trip. You would be a default part of all Puja WhatsApp groups (because ‘courtesy’) and watch them make Saptami plans while you would reply only in single emojis, fuming inside. 

Your friends would shop for outfits while you shopped for the perfect rucksack. You would invariably have that one forgetful nitwit of a friend who, despite your several disclaimers of absence, would come up to you and go “Ashtami plan-ta on tahole?”

All this pre-Puja excitement kills your travel buzz, making you feel oddly low. But you never manage to squirm out of the Puja travel despite your strongest wishes. You try using your best convincing prowess for the first two years of college, but every attempt is met with passive-aggressive parental replies. Bengalis excel in emotional blackmail and you have to concede and make peace with it. I have made mine. 

When doomsday arrives, you board the flight and while you feel an inexplicable separation anxiety, the eardrum-exploding clamour of the other travelling Bengalis remind you how much of a true-blue Bengali you are. There is a reason people say, ‘these Bengalis, they are everywhere’. All you are doing is following the Bengali ‘tradition of travel’, albeit reluctantly. 

Shreya Paul

 

MUST-HAVE PUJA APP 

App: Vebbler — Group Photo Sharing
It’s a new way for groups to share their stories.
Found on: iOS and Play Store
What is it: Know that feeling after a Puja day out when you ask your friends to send the pictures on their phones and they never do? With Vebbler, you can take photos and instead of saving them in your gallery, you are now able to sync all your photos with that of your friends clicked on the same occasion via Real Time. You can also use various filters for your pictures. You can make a club in Vebbler and sending and receiving photos will never be a problem again. 
Features...
Camera-first: Instantly shares photos with clubs directly from the camera.
Real Time: A live timeline for each club that stitches all the pictures from your friend’s phone as soon as they are captured.