A Durga Puja Prayer
There is a math to this. The rate at which the number of
cars in CR Park increase, as the days approaching Puja decreases, is
fascinating. That’s all that fascinates me about the ‘grand festival’. As the
clock strikes ‘Navratra’, my pulse starts quickening – with sheer frustration.
At the inane consumer habit of travelling far and wide to buy ‘things’ ( have
they not heard of the internet?), the further lack of logic of blocking entire
streets to conduct ‘bhandaras’.
As the 6th day approaches, it is now
very trendy to make a beeline for CR Park to see the enormously wasteful
Pandals – replete with plastic and asbestos, dust and dirt. The sudden interest
in Bong Culture is very overwhelming! I welcome the last day with joy, as the
crazy melee ends and I can start getting out of my house again, and utter
despair at the ecological damage that the immersion and the burning of Ravana cause.
If you want to really destroy evil and bring good, please do it with less toxic
pollutants and more plants.
But despite all my angst, I am a bong. And when the ‘Dhaaki’
starts his drumming, I have to sway. And send up a fervent prayer to the visiting
goddess – that maybe someday festivals will be about rhythm, beauty and plain common sense. I am certain, gods like clean and green places.
Comments