Cheering on the Life Force/ On Mother's Trail

[Guest guest]

Here are two brief but excellent Navaratri editorials from two of

India's biggest daily newspapers:

 

1. CHEERING ON THE LIFE FORCE

 

September 24, 2006: For a vast number of people in India, explaining

their relationship with their religion can be a difficult exercise.

Outsiders find it hard to understand how Indians can "celebrate"

their faiths so openly and yet so privately. For us, religion is not

strait-jacketed in the either-or of a matter of personal faith and

that of a communal glue. It is both. The best time to showcase this

synthesis is during the festival season that is now upon us.

 

Navaratri, the nine nights of "adoring" the three manifestations of

the supreme Goddess — Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati — is a perfect

alchemy of worship and festivities. With Durga Puja unfolding this

week, there will be another festival that obliterates the divide

between the singularly religious and the openly communal. In fact,

the pujas — that short form to signify the few days that are

protected from ordinariness — need not appeal only to the religious

or the Hindu alone; it is a period that is a smorgasbord of

holiness, the carnivalesque as well as a period in which disbelief

is temporarily suspended.

 

It is human nature — the human condition — to celebrate life even as

we are buttressed by forces challenging life. That is what the

festival season underlines. Last year, 59 people were killed in

terrorist explosions in Delhi while the rest of us prepared to

celebrate Diwali the next day. It is not apathy that makes us

continue to embrace religious festivals in the face of such gloom,

but the will to live and engage with life. Essentially, that is what

all religions and religious festivals are.

SOURCE: Hindustan Times. Unsigned editorial.

URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1805099,0012.htm

 

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2. ON MOTHER'S TRAIL, BEYOND BOUNDARIES

 

September 25, 2006: It's not just Kolkata where the excitement is at

an all-time high. Be it nationally or even across the seven seas,

Durga Puja can never lose its vibrant spirit.

 

Pujas are just around the corner and Kolkata may seem to be the

right place to be in during Durga Puja. After all, is the most

happening city for that span of four to five days. But what about

pujas outside the state? And how do those who live overseas

celebrate their pujas?

 

Be it Delhi or Mumbai, or in cities in USA or UK, the basic puja

framework remains the same. The fervour is sky high and everyone

tries to be as innovative and different as possible.

 

The pandal at Matri Mandir in Safdarjung Enclave, Delhi, gets a

special treatment this year. The very traditional kulo (winnowing

tray) has been brought all the way from Kolkata to give the pandal a

new look.

 

"We also make it a point to bring in the lotus flowers for the

sandhi puja from Kolkata. We get someone to fly down from Kolkata on

that day to carry all those 108 flowers. The entire budget for this

year's puja celebration is Rs 15 lakhs and most of this have been

generated from the sponsors and souvenirs,"says Debashis Saha, vice

president of the puja committee. The budget for Delhi's Chittaranjan

Park K Block Puja nears Rs 18 lakhs.

 

Moving to the western part of the country now, one of the better

known pujas in Mumbai is the one at Lokhandwala, where the driving

force is singer Abhijeet.

 

The arati here is a crowd-puller with all the Bengali playback

singers of Bollywood leading the dhakis. "We have four purohits from

Kolkata for the pujas. One of the unique features of our puja is

that all the members of the organising committee sport similar

traditional kurtas with Devi Durga's face printed on them. With the

increased security threat, we have also got an electronic security

system at all the entry points of our pandal."

 

Other than shows by the leading Bollywood singers, there will be

also a dance performance by Hema Malini as Durga. [NOTE: A film clip

of Hema Malini as Durga can be seen at You Tube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_reoZy23mU ]

 

Miles away from India in Scotland, the Bangiya Sanskriti Parishad,

has been celebrating their Durga Puja since 1981. Organised in

Glasgow, it is the only puja in Scotland and people from the north

of England too join in.

 

The pratima goes all the way from Kumartuli and the dhakis are flown

in from Kolkata. Though the pujas are celebrated on all four days,

unlike in the US, the actual activity is confined from six in the

evening to 10 at night.

 

And the donations for a day could be anything from £5 to £25. A

typical day's bhog would be the traditional food for most Bengalis –

cholar dal, torkari, payesh and chatni.

 

In the land of the Big Apple, Durga Puja is no different as Bengalis

have a strong presence in almost all the states. Dates of

celebrations do not necessarily tally with every organiser in the US.

 

Most of the organisers prefer the weekend pujas and sometimes a

particular organiser finishes the dashami sindur khela while another

organiser is yet to start with the Shashti rituals.

 

In North Carolina, the Hindu Society of Greensboro celebrated their

puja on September 24, in the traditional way.

 

"There are only seven Bengali families here. So, we have to involve

the other Indians in our puja. I must add that all of them are very

sporting. Our purohit Dr Devdas Pai is a professor at the A&T

University and we prefer to use a permanent pratima,"says one of the

organisers.

 

The fervour is surely not missing. So, let the celebrations begin!

 

SOURCE: The Times of India. Editorial by Ashok Chatterjee.

URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2026694.cms