Mridula Sinha stands in the water to make offerings to the sun on the DL Block terrace as other devotees help out. Picture by Saradindu Chaudhury

A DL Block home hosted Chhat puja on November 8 with an inflatable baby pool on their terrace filling in for the river.

“We used to perform the ritual at Subhas Sarovar earlier but it gets so crowded that we shifted the venue to our house. Around 25 families come over and together we observe the rites,” said Shashi Bhushan, who has been hosting the festival in his DL 46 terrace for the last 15 years.

The first day of the puja was on November 6 when all the families went to Dakhineshwar for a dip in the Hooghly. They only ate rice and gourd that day. Women wishing to observe the festival rituals strictly would go on a 36-hour-long fast from then on. On November 8 these fasting women would worship the setting sun standing in water.

This year the only woman fasting was Bhushan’s wife Mridula Sinha and on behalf of all others she stepped into the pool in the terrace, held a winnowing fan (called soop) filled with prasad items (fruits and the traditional snack thekua) and turned five times while others poured water into the pool.

“This year I did not fast as there has been a death in my family and I am in mourning. But not only do I observe the fast on other years but I also come and stay over at Mridula’s for the three puja days so I can observe it to perfection,” said Madhu Singh of FE Block.

The Chhat puja is performed without a priest but those performing it need to be very stringent. “The main objective of this puja is to propagate cleanliness so I thoroughly cleaned the house before the puja. Every time that I go to the toilet during these days I have to bathe before coming to the puja room. I also cannot accept help from anyone for the puja rituals,” said Mridula who did not even sip water for 36 hours.

That evening everyone was served the traditional litti after the rituals. Ukraine-born Oleana Klymyuk Jain, who has recently married a resident of DL Block, had come for the celebrations with her mother-in-law. “The prayers to the sun were fascinating but I doubt I’ll ever be able to fast for 36 hours,” she laughed.

The next day all the families were back at 5.40am to make offerings to the rising sun. This time Mridula had to turn in the water holding a big bunch of bananas. “I’ve been fasting and performing these rituals every year since 1994 and enjoy them. I do not feel fatigued,” said Mridula, breaking the fast with the rice-and-jaggery snack kachvania. “This puja is unique as it is perhaps the only one in which devotees can see the true form of the god they are worshipping. We pray that the sun illuminates our lives.”

A few years ago the family went to Dhanbad during Chhat puja and since the terrace celebrations did not happen that year, all their friends in Calcutta were cross. Thereafter they have decided not to leave the city during Chhat puja.

“It is very convenient for us to come here for the puja,” said Amresh Kumar, who had come from near Ruby General Hospital. “The Hooghly is too dirty and crowded so we depend on this Salt Lake venue for the puja,” added Manoj Kumar Mishra, who came from near Swabhumi.