Puja has brought out the best — or worst — in Bengalis who blog. Those who are not in town cannot help but go on and on about being miles away from the party back home.
The Great Bong’s (http://greatbong.net) post titled “I’ve nothing to do with the Pujas” seems to have garnered the most online attention. “Whenever I am away from Calcutta, I impose a total media ban on anything related to Puja… I try to convince myself that Puja does not exist and this illusion helps me to get over these few days. After all, as Durkheim demonstrated in Suicide, you feel miserable when everyone else is having fun, and you are not.”
The ban dates back to Mahalaya, in fact: “The only time I like to hear Mahishasuramardini is at the dawn of Mahalaya, half-asleep, at home in Calcutta... My heart beating in anticipation of Puja to come. Listening to it at any other time is emotionally unsatisfying… It’s like hearing the ting-a-ling of the ice-cream vendor when you know that there is no ice-cream in his cart.”
Prabashi Pujas are not for this Great Bong: “I have never attended that staple of the NRI Bengali — the Durga Puja on weekends... Puja means being at home, in the company of people you know. And for me the NRI Puja would not be that — I would know nobody there, would just go, pay, see the idol, overhear some puerile conversation about Dhakai sari and Makaibari tea, eat and leave. That’s not Puja… that’s a show and a dinner.”
Mita, at 6.31 am on Friday, had something to say to that: “I am in Calcutta… Sector V! It was raining just half-an-hour back, got drenched on the way to office. Here we can’t hear the announcement for anjali over the loudspeaker. Venetian blinds block out the silver-blue sharadiya sky. Shiuli phuler gandho is out of question… We are talking to or working for people saat sagarer pare and do not pine (outwardly) for Puja, when, just about 14 km from this place Maddox Square is teeming with life and laughter! It’s a fast-changing world, friend... does not always matter if you are in Calcutta or Cincinnati.”
M (http://treadsoftlyupon.
blogspot.com) comments on another aspect of Puja gone asunder abroad: “‘Sashthi te ekta notun jama porish’, my mom tells me over the phone. And like always I assure her that I will. Even though I do not have the five days to adorn myself in new saris and jewellery, I will still wear a new T-shirt over my old and faded jeans when I go to work tomorrow.”
Ritu (http://myownfairyst
ories.com) says of the posts: “It’s been the same since the e-boom hit the country: a pre-Puja build-up in online communities, people asking each other if they’re going ‘home’, cribbing about being forced to stay away, ranting and reminiscing on blogs. Every year. It’s the Bengali’s autumn imperative... For most Bongs it’s a one-week window to fix your social/love/sex life. The friendly neighbourhood pujor pandal, is nothing but an exotic singles bar.”
