Spare the voice

At a Sector II puja on Navami, a man asked a woman why she wasn’t on the cultural committee this year.

“Are you kidding? Being on that committee means three weeks of non-stop fighting and shouting. I had a singing gig right before the Pujas and had to protect my voice, so I opted out,” she laughed.

Vanishing asura

Two friends visiting the BD Block pandal were fascinated by the hairstyle of Mahishasura. “Is it only me or does his hairstyle remind you too of Sholay’s Gabbar Singh?” said one of them, while clicking pictures. “Arey, earlier all asurs had this long curly hairstyle. But nowadays, Mahishasur no longer looks that villainish. They are also getting makeovers,” replied the other. “So much so, that in many artsy Durga images, the villain is vanishing!” the youth nodded in disapproval. “Don’t you see? Making things vanish is the most magical of makeovers!” his friend responded with a laugh.

Rickshaw Man

Most children walking into the GD Block pandal had never seen hand-pulled rickshaws, which the puja had showcased. One kid was so impressed to see a man pulling a vehicle by his bare hands that he decided that it must be the “super power of Rickshaw Man”. The rickshaw-puller did not have a cape, like most superheroes, but the fact that his rickshaw had enormous wings helped create his aura.

Source of Hrithik

Visitors to the AK Block puja were left wide-eyed by the huge cutouts on films. But not everyone could guess the theme. “I think they’ve done Satyajit Ray,” said a young man. “I think Uttam-Suchitra,” offered the lady with him. But finding neither, they gave up guessing as their limit of awareness on Bengali films was reached. The theme was filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak. “That’s the person Hrithik Roshan is named after,” a volunteer helpfully added, on finding them clueless about the maverick filmmaker and his works that the pandal portrayed. Finally, their faces lit up.

The Sreebhumi pandal inspired by Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in New Jersey, US. Neelarya Kar

Around the world

A group of friends entering the AJ Block puja pandal were discussing options for pandals to check out. “Did anyone visit the Dubai pandal?” one of the friends asked, referring to the IB Block pandal. “No, I did not get a chance to go international yet. It took me 1.5 hours yesterday to visit Akshardham temple in Sreebhumi,” replied another. “Oh, then you have not only gone international but crossed a couple of continents, an ocean and several seas,” said one of his friends, as the others laughed. Seeing the puzzled look on his face, the youth added: “Don’t you know the Sreebhumi puja is based on a temple in New Jersey?”

Record first

In FD Block, a young woman was hard put to make sense of the pandal décor. “Are those eyes? And what are those heads with wings?” she asked her husband. “Don’t you bother now. Record it all on the video like I am doing on my mobile. You can always see the clip at home and try to make sense then,” he replied, his phone raised in one hand in camera mode over the crowd as he walked ahead amid the bustle, prodded by security guards with whistles.

Compiled by Sudeshna Banerjee, Brinda Sarkar and Shatadipa Bhattacharya