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Showing results for tags 'Durgapuja'.
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My last post here said how happy I am to go home. Ironically, last night I recieved a call from my mom telling me, my childhood best friends dad has died. He was suffering from Parkinsonism for a long time, had a mass compressing his spinal cord, which was found to be thankfully benign and he was bed-ridden since early last year. But, he was recovering well. The physiotherapy was paying and the last when I saw him about six months ago, he was able to walk on a surface but couldn't take stairs yet. He was mentally sound and we talked for long hours just like old times. Now out of the blue, this news hits us that, he died four days ago due to renal failure and must have been hospitalized for a period before that. My mom is in a total shock. My friend's parents and mine were close. My mom had met his mom a couple of months ago, and she did not mention anything then. We live in the same neighbourhood. Their house is 6 houses away from ours. We did not have a clue this was going on there all this while. The whole incident makes me sad. I liked that man. He was a good teacher, a good human being, had very good taste in music and arts, was religious and definitely a good father. Being a math teacher, he was good with numbers and could communicate well with any age group. He had a congenital deformity, so always walked with a small limp and yet used to walk miles over miles. He was a humble man. He was a right wing Hindu fundamentalist and we used to have political discussions, yet never once he tried to indoctrinate me. Above all, he had a good sense of humour. I will surly miss him. May God grant him peace. I will never truly understand, why my friend had contacted me and my family so late. He could have done that earlier. We could have visited him while he was still alive. But, he didn't. May be he didn't think that I could help him carry the burden. And this enrages me. This is not the person I know. Not the jovial athletic musician math-wiz who was always there for me since grade two. Yes, we went to the same school too. We have grown apart since I came to Bangladesh to study medicine and he went to another part of India to study engineering. Could it be that the fundamental difference in our trade that has come to divide us? He is a working engineer now. Has his own peer group. And must be just as popular with them as he was in the old days. May be he moved on with life, while i am still stuck on mine. May be, he found a place for himself in the world and does not wanna continue with his old self. I don't know. May be I am just reading too much into this. There is a reason why this whole thing hurts me so much. And it's October. You must be wondering what that has to do with anything! You see, October is a cursed month for us Majumdars, especially around Puja. Someone always ends up dying. Last year my paternal grandfather died after a prolonged illness on 29th. My maternal grandmother, with whom I was exceedingly attached with since birth, died on an October day, on a Puja day, Ashtami. That has soured that day for me for the rest of my life. Now, this happens. So, does this mean I am gonna loose a loved one every October? Who is it gonna be next? My dad? My mom? Someone else? Why? I know death is a natural process of renewal. I believe in rebirths as well. But, that does not stop the pain of estrangement, of losing someone you cherish dearly. You will not be able to experience that person in the corporeal plane ever again; Not in the same way. And it hurts to see that. This is one dreaded aspect of Durga Puja for my family. We just don't want to hear the phone ring in the wee hours of the morning, telling us we have lost another member; that there will be one less elder to visit during the coming Bijaya Visitations. I just wish this would stop once and for all. But, as they say, Death and Taxes... P.S. I still don't know how to tell my dad. He was close with the man. And he is on the wrong side of sixty-five now. [This post is dedicated to Late Ashim Kumar Ganguly. May his soul rest in peace and may his family members recieve closure.]
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This is my first blog entry here in GA, and I must tell you I am a lousy bloger. I have started three blogs in my online life and abandoned all three after a while because of lack things to post. Then, why am I doing this now? Do I have more things happening to me now? Well... for starters, I am indeed going through a period of change, no not Sex change, but a change regarding my career, my life, my surroundings and what not. More over, I have matured over the years to be able to find few stuff that I wanna write about and share with my friends. Especially so, since GA has provided me Safe Space to do that, where people are most non-judgemental and supporting in what I have encountered all over the internet. I am glad, I am a member of a proud effective community like GA, and am capable of giving a hands up to other members when they are in need, in turn. My life has changed dramatically since I had discovered GA early last year and ever since I have become an active member, it has become simply divine. I have all my GA friends and authors and admins and lurkers and posters and blogers to thank for that. GOD bless GA and its people. So, the Durga Puja is here. For those uninitiated in Indian Culture, it is the biggest event of the Bengali calender and the festivities are celebrated in a larger than life level in all over Eastern India, especially Kolkata, my hometown. It is centered around the worship of Mother Goddess Durga Mahishasuramardini, the Slayer of Buffalo Demon. The people erect practically thousands of Pandals(makeshift temples) through out the city and eachone houses her idol and worship commences. In recent years, Theme Puja has taken place of traditional puja, and Themes can be as bizzare as Sugarcane Fiber to Tea Leaves to Glass to Bull shit. There are entire Pandals made out of this with intricate designing and decorations, sometimes even the Goddess idol. It is an awe inspiring experience to be in Kolkata during the festival. I term it the Carnival of Kolkata, quite adequately. There are amazing street food all over. Restaurents come up with great traditional and fusion delicasies in this period. People literary clog the streets, the night lights up amazing effulgence and people mostly opt for the whole night outings, which is a good idea if you think about the merciless autumn sun during the day, but becomes a less happy notion if you consider the horde of people in the streets at night. The puja traditionally starts from Shashthi and continues till Dashami, that is the sixth to the tenth of the current lunar cycle. But, the festivities start from last day of the lunar cycle, some places even earlier. And ends with Laxmi puja, coming full moon. Then another heavy dose of celebration comes along with Kali puja, Dewali, Bhai Fonta in another fortnight. So, in essence this is a time of many celebrations. For those in the western hemisphere, you may not know but this year the Eid ul Azha, the Eid of Sacrifice has also coincided with Durga puja. This makes it doublely celebratory, especially for our muslim brothers who work tirelessly in all those pandals and idol work shops to make our Puja special. It is impossible to catch puja in so few words, that has so many facets in our Bengali minds, in a single post. So, I am gonna write about it soon and more will come. Durga Puja is when the Goddess comes back to her parents as per the traditional Bengali thought, long way from her in-law homes. It is the time when our daughters come to visit their parents' houses as well, with their husbands and children in tow just as Ma Durga comes with her sons, Kartik and Ganesh and her daughters, Lakkhi and Saraswati. It is a time of homecoming. I am gonna go home too a day before Shashthi and my married big sister gonna come stay with us for few days. In olden days, this used to be the only time the daughters were allowed to see their parents after marriage, even get out of their houses in most aristocratic homes. So has been the tradition for last thousand years. I guess you can understand why the flood gate of emotion just bursts around this time. I am gonna take a bus from Dhaka, cross the border at Benapole and then straight to Kolkata. It's an almost 14 hours long ride and extremely exhausting. And on top it, I have a bad cold. Taking multiple meds to get it under control. Also, have a truckload of school work with me. But, anything is worth it, if I get to be with my family and friends during the puja. I will be happy.