Shubho Sharodiya ......

Its Shoshthi today!!!For those who didn’t get it – It’s the day that marks the beginning of the most awaited festival for us Bengalis – Durga Pujo…..

I am sitting here 3000 kilometers (not to scale ;)) away from home slogging with this Mp3 Decoder codec and behaving as though nothing’s special about the day…..but deep down my heart the Bengali in me is desperate to break away from the monotony! I do not mean to be a regionalist here….I definitely am not. But these are few moments where you miss home a bit too much…..

Durga Pujo is more to us (us includes everyone who’s tasted the fervor of those crazy 5 days at Kolkata) than a mere festival….Its an expression of our joys, fashion , mirth and a panorama of emotions which would probably have been latent otherwise. No wonder one tends to rush home every Pujo despite all other engagements. No wonder people dress up in their possible best to match up to the most gorgeously decorated city and its people. No wonder pandal hopping breaks all regular limitations of perm-time. No wonder there’s a different atmosphere of dhuno, khichuri, onjoli and dhhak in the air (spellings have been kept as close to the Bengali accent as possible). No wonder the “coolest” of us shrug off our image of a cosmopolitan and secretly shed a tear or two missing home.

That is the essence of Pujo – a feeling which perhaps no one would ever gauge or understand. And perhaps that is where we are compelled to go back to our roots – to feel the fragrance of “shiuli phool”, the beauty of “shorot kaal”, the breeze of “kaash phool”. …And that is where Durga Pujo attains the grandeur it so deservedly has been labeled with over the years….

Here’s wishing the world a lovely pujo and a beautiful year ahead... “Shubho Sharodiya” :)