The Durga Puja on the grounds was not the only Durga Puja happening in the Uniworld City complex. A resident invoked the goddess inside her 2,300sq ft apartment on the fifth floor.
“We ordered the idol keeping in mind the size of our lift. It was a detachable structure which was put together inside. The height along with the shola backdrop came to about 8ft, almost touching the ceiling. The ceiling fan in our drawing room space was taken off to hang a chandelier,” smiled Deboshree Ganguly.
This was the second year of the puja but taking place for the first time in New Town. “My son grew up watching one in my ex-husband’ ancestral home. I realised he was missing that involvement over the recent years. So I started the puja last year in my Urbana apartment. This year we shifted to Uniworld.”
A big challenge was managing her new restaurant in Deshapriya Park which had high footfall during the festive days. “I’d offer pushanjali in the morning at home and leave. I’d be stuck at the restaurant till past 2am. On Navami, we had to refuse customers at 4am. I took leave only on Ashtami.”
But her 18-year-old son Anish, she says, managed the show along with his grandfather. “Other than paying for the puja and going to buy the goddess’s sari, I had to do precious little. Anish is associated with Iskcon and attends online classes. So familiar is he with some of the rituals that he pointed to the chief priest that one of his assistants was pronouncing some mantras and doing the associated mudras wrong. The priest was very impressed,” smiles Deboshree.
So involved was the family that they did not even get down to watch the community puja of the complex. “We heard from neighbours that the pandal was huge. Amader flat-ey Ma-er hoy to chhoto jaygay osubidhe hoyechhe kintu amra khub anondo korechhi (The Mother might have felt constrained in the small space of our flat but we had a lot of fun),” she smiled.
