Shubho Bijoyar priti o shubhecha....kichu elo melo moner kotha...nostalgia..

সবাইকে জানাই শুভ বিজয়ার প্রীতি ও শুভেচ্ছা .....

What a wonderful experience! Durgapuja in The Netherlands!

We are the proud organizers of Durga Puja in TheNetherlands. I have to admit that starting the pujas last year was no small feat. This is a huge thing to arrange...four days complete with decoration, puja, food and cultural program. And we were SUPER SUCCESSFUL last year..

and AGAIN this year...........

Joy ma!



Arno with Kasor ghonta



1986: Puja vacation for me was the "best" time of the year. The day school vacation started, we were off to Jamshedpur (my parents home town) to spend puja with extended family. Back then we did not have mobile phones to inform about our latitude and longitude throughout our journey. Neither did we have Facebook to update status "leaving for vacation". I remember vividly how my cousins would be waiting for us to reach home.Even after so many years , I can clearly see our auto stop by the gate and they would come running down the stairs. I would get down from the auto only to be engulfed in the loving embrace of my grandmother and my cousins. We would rush to the pandal immediately where the artist would be giving his finishing touches to the Durga idol. I can still hear my grand mother shouting from far, "kichu kheye ja,,etota journey kore eli [please eat something , you must be hungry after such a long journey]".

Small things like hunger, thirst, tiredness did not matter anymore....actually NOTHING mattered!!

The season of unlimited happiness had just begun..............

2011: Yesterday, at our Puja hall, when Arno came to  me to ask for a pack of chips , I gave him five euros and asked him to spend it on "WHATEVER" he wants to buy. It took me back to my childhood days when during the four days of pujas we used to get pocket money from relatives. Small amounts to spend during the day on icecreams, fuchkas, jhal muri, cutlet, chop. moghlai porota.....ooo...it was like treasure...to take it out from the purse, buy something, count the change before carefully putting it back...was pure bliss!

I saw the same happy gleam in Arnos eyes...as he and his friend Piya rushed off to the small  shop in the hall. They came back with a pack of chips, munching away to glory....chatting away about some thing ...as the two of them passed by me, I heard Pia ask," is Durga ma going back to India or she is going to stay in Italy?"

..Kids.... innocence at its best!!

..to be contd....