Durga Puja 2014 in Muscat

The four days of Durga Puja passed in a jiffy and here I am presenting the snapshot of the Pujo revelry in Muscat. This was the first time in my seven years in the Gulf that I could attend the Durga Pujo both in the morning and evening and witness most of the rituals and ceremonies with my husband and daughter. This Pujo was the most enlightening one, since I gathered a few tidbits about the pujo rituals too (Earlier I was not as serious about the Pujo rituals, all I can recollect is the fun part and still I am not as serious but it was fun knowing about the facts associated with every ritual which reinforced the dedication from my side). 

Apart from Durga Puja celebration by the Bengali Association of Muscat in the Shiva temple, another Bengali group performs Durga Puja in Seeb region (towards Waves in Muscat) with equal fervour and dedication and this year was their fourth year in a row. The venue is about 20km distance from Muscat city and this year it was our destination for all the fun and revelry associated with the Durga Puja. The Puja ceremonies were all performed in a villa, leaving sufficient space for prasad and bhog distribution, dhunuchi dance and activities for children too.

I came across many Bengalis from different parts of India; some from Bengal, some from North Eastern states and some expatriate friends who have settled in Muscat over the years and in this process I made some new friends too.

The Idols and the decor

The Durga idol was this time the size of dolls and some kids wanted to play with the Goddess dolls. The pandal design included the idols on a nauka (boat shaped) made from thermocol and beautifully decorated. The rituals were performed in all glory as usual. 

The Durga Puja Decor - Boat shaped pandal

Shashti ( Sixth day)

The Pujo began with Shashti with 'Bodhon' rituals wherein face of Durga is unveiled and this marks the beginning of the celebrations. The children in their best attire romped around the entire pujo premises while the ladies decked up in their best colourful saris and jewelry adorned the premises. The Gents too gathered around in groups with their Adda session in full swing too. 

Children in traditional attire

Beautiful Bengali ladies in their traditional best

Ashtami and Navami

We offered Pushapanjali on Navami (ninth day) morning and happened to miss the pushapanjali on other days since they were performed in the earlier part of the day. This time the Puja celebration of 5 days was shortened to four days with Navami day overlapping with the Ashtami and Dashami day. It was nice to watch the Sandhi Pujo which was performed by offering 108 lotuses and 108 diyas (earthen lamps) were lightened. This typical ritual is performed at the end of Ashtami and beginning of Navami. We all got a chance to light the diyas.

Lotus flowers, fruits, flowers being offered during Sandhi pujo

Lighting of 108 diyas during Sandhi pujo 

Dashami

The last day ended with Dashami Pujo followed by the customary 'Durga Boron' wherein before the Visarjan, married women do Aarti, touch paan leaves on the idols, apply sindoor to idols, put sweets on the lips of the idol.

Durgamaaer Boron 

Sindoor Khela

Thereafter is the most awaited event of the Day - Sindur Khela. Most of the ladies and my friends truly wait for this occasion, wherein they apply sindoor to each other and offer sweets. It is almost like playing 'Holi' again but with sindoor only and a much different feeling. Though both the festivals signify the victory of good over evil, 'sindur khela' is played solely by married women symbolizing married life. The ritual owns its origin to the fact that Durga Maa after her five-day stay at her mother's house goes back to her mother-in-law's house. So we give her a special treatment by offering sweets and performing aarti, and applying sindoor on her. I wasn't much aware of the procedure, but a gentle and sweet Mashima (an elderly lady) instructed me with the details. The younger members touch feet of the elders to seek blessings while the men embrace each other. 

A beautiful Bengali lady after sindoor khela

The Bhog

There were prasad and bhog distribution to all who came to offer obeisance to the Goddess. The bhog included all the Bengali delicacies including the khichuri, chutney and payesh on Ashtami day. Everyone who came enjoyed the sumptuous prasad and savored the sweets including laddoos, kalajamun, rosogullas, payesh, jalebis and gajar halwa too. The bhog on some days also included hot luchis, pulao, delicious cholar dal and not to forget the different chutneys each day including the tangy aamer (mango) chutney, the usual tomato chutney and pineapple chutney too.

Aamer chutney

Volunteers serving the bhog

A fun element in the Pujo was a Puchka stall from Kolkata and it did a good job every day selling off all its puchkas.

The Puchka stall

We also went to Shiva temple to offer our prayers to Goddess Durga on the Dashami morning. Since the day coincided with beginning of Eid holidays in Muscat, the temple was crowded in the morning, with lines of devotees standing to catch a glimpse of the Goddess. 

Dashmi morning -Durga Puja 2014 at Shiva temple, Muscat

The Shiva temple, Muscat on Dashami morning

This Durga Pujo was indeed a celebration filled with fun, lights, colors and sweets. In this era of digitization and Facebook, life has become totally mechanized, and these moments likes the ones spent during the Durga Pujo make us forget the outside world, at least  for the five days of Puja, and as we take refuge in the pandal life becomes  memorable endowed with the beautiful moments of joy, savoring and sharing sweets with friends, joking and poking at friends, togetherness with family and friends, and at the same time paying obeisance to the Goddess Durga. 

The crowd on the last day of the Pujo - Dashami night

So as we go back to our routine life; schools with scary teachers, offices with irritating bosses, home management with housewives dreading cooking, and so on... We look forward to all the fun and merriment again next year.

Quoting these lines that I dug up somewhere on the internet;
Dhaker Awaj holo mridu, Mayer hasi holo mlaan,
Eibar Mago biday tobe, Aashe bochor Abaar Hobe,
Sabai ke Ma rakhis sukhe,
Bijoya hok mishti muke.
Wishing all my family members and friends a 'Shubho Bijoya'.

As Durga Pujo Rings in...

 

Maa Durga's rendition in paintbrush

A few days back was Mahalaya which marks the official countdown to Durga Puja. As Navratri sets in and Durga Pujo rings in, it is time for Bengalis to get geared up for the Pujo Days. I have mentioned Navratri here because both the festivals go hand in hand in many states of India especially in Gujarat (and I happily enjoy both the festivals). Beginning from cleaning your houses, grooming yourselves, for some shopping already done months in advance while for some there is last minute shopping left in hand, and so much more fun. Not all of us are lucky like Mamta Banerjee who recently got the opportunity to select designs for Durga Puja sarees, nevertheless shopping for the Pujos is no less fun.

Durga Puja Pandal in Subhanpura Atithi Griha Vadodara, Gujarat, 2010

For Bengalis, Durga Pujo is more than a religious ceremony; it is the biggest social event that we wait and plan for the entire year. Being a Probashi Bengali (a Bengali living outside Bengal) I have not yet seen how Pujo in West Bengal is celebrated (only on TVs) but recollecting my childhood days of Pujo, I remember celebrating them sometimes in our small township of Mithapur and sometimes in Delhi, with recent memories of Pujo in Baroda too. Wherever you find a Bengali community there is sure to be Durga Pujo celebration, however big or small in scale. My friends from Bengal may tease me that I have missed the real thing; maybe, maybe not, but I have had my part of fun.

Those were the days of pure fun. Being pushed to bed early to get ready for the next morning, taking early baths and wearing new clothes to the Pujobari. Many days and nights were spent in anticipation, and there used to be mad planning from just deciding what clothes to wear on what day, keeping best ones aside for Ashtami and Navami, planning for get-togethers, rehearsing for the dance shows or songs to be performed later in the evenings, praying to the Goddess to grace us with good marks for our exams (usually the puja coincided with school exams), adda sessions with my bengali friends (hours were spent on catching up with them just chit chatting) and finally gorging down all those mouth watering sweets viz. rasgullas, gulabjamuns, darbesh, sandesh, rasboras, payesh etc. made by mom (and I still have my mouth watering as I list them down). 

As years have passed by, everything else has gone but still there is one hope and we eagerly wait all year long for the Durga Pujo, just to catch the glimpse of Maa Durga and get her blessings - even thousand miles away from home.

Some Nostalgic Moments of Durga Puja celebrations

·         The Bhogs: 

I remember the hot Khichudi spread on leaf plates (also called Patravali or Pattal) with Labda (a mixed vegetable), Fries(potatoes or brinjals), tomato chutney, and mouthwatering sweets such as rasgullas, gulabjamuns to name a few. However hard you try at home, these bhog recipes cannot be duplicated in taste. And I used to love the way the probashi Bengalis who in various roles, as organizers or volunteers, came together in this benevolent act, lining up behind huge pots and served this bhog during the hot autumn afternoons and chant in unison "Jai Durga Ma".

·         The Stalls: 

In the evenings it is nice to find the brightly lit puja Pandals surrounded by food stalls that will offer you non-veg dishes (at prices sometimes too high but you won't mind it since it is pujo time) including chicken, mutton and fish. I remember the Chicken Mughlai paratha, Egg rolls from stalls in CR Park in Delhi, Kosha Mangsho from Nivedita Enclave in Delhi, Dimer Devil from stalls in Baroda and a hoard of other mouth-watering delicacies that makes you go weak in the knees by just glancing at them.

·         The Cultural Fiesta:

Every Pandal had Dhakis (the drum players), who played the dhak during the 'aarti'. I can still hear them loud and clear (that would blast anyone's eardrum if standing nearby). During the festival, the Dhakis are especially invited to the play the beats. The Dhunuchi dance goes in tandem with the dhak beats. In many places there is Dhunuchi dance competition, wherein the men and women perform with incense burners. I used to enjoy watching them, and as the beats grew louder, we would see some Mithunda's fans going berserk with the beats. And then we had the 'alpona' competitions wherein the ladies used to make beautiful designs with just rice paste diluted with water. 

·         Theme pandals:

This is one thing all of us eagerly awaited each year to see. We would go all around the city (in Delhi and Baroda) to visit the various pandals just to glimpse at the idols and the themes adopted. I have seen themes ranging from an antique old village to Maa Durga out in the space. 

Maa Durga in a space ship - ONGC colony, Vadodara, 2008

·         Entertainment and competitions

My township was small with not more than 15-20 Bengali families, but we still managed to celebrate the Durga Puja with all fanfare. There used to be all sort of competitions (open to all school kids) in the morning viz. debates, dance, singing, garba (being in Gujarat this was one way to get their willing involvement too), drawings, quiz and so on. In the evenings for four days, there used to be movie shows (most of them that I remember were Bollywood movies). The movies were projected on a big screen in an open playground and people from all sections of the society (Bengalis and non-Bengalis) used to watch them sitting down on the ground. Yes, a scene similar to Shahrukh Khan's Swadesh movie. 

·         Bijoya :

Celebrations would end with the Vijayadashmi. Every woman looked beautiful during the Durga Puja celebration but on dashmi day she looked the prettiest after the vermillion bath. I remember doling out sweet after sweet from my plate and everyone around me enjoying sweets, taking blessing from elders and each one cherishing his moments of love and sheer joy, though with a little quiet tear that Pujo was over this year but with the firm belief in his/her heart that 'Ascher bochchor abar hobe' (It'll happen again next year). 

Durga Puja in the Gulf:

The Durga Puja is held by Bengali communities everywhere around the world. I have witnessed and have also been part of the Puja celebrations in the Gulf region in the cities of Dubai, Muscat, Sohar, and Salalah. There is active participation of Bengali families here and the five days are spent in equal joy and cheer. Despite the restrictions by the local government on minority religious practices, the Bengalis do a fine job here with the Puja celebrations in Muscat every year in the Shiva temple. Here, you do not get to listen to the real beats of the dhakis, but have to be content hearing the recorded dhaki beats. There is a constraint of space here, but nevertheless the Bengali Associations have managed to do really well.

Durga Puja in a temple, Dubai, 2012 Durga Puja in Krishna temple, Salalah, 2011

All of us Bengalis, whether in India or abroad, tend to get overly religious during the Pujas, some do, some do not...but one thing that brings us all friends and families together all around the world is the spirit of celebration filled with laughter, fun, music, color, and sweets. For five days, all of us forget the world outside the pandal and cherish the moments inside the pandal with the dhakis be it live or recorded.