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DURGA PUJA IN MY VILLAGE:AFTER A LONG TIME...


Being in the village certainly brings about with itself, a lot of goodies for me.I after some planning decided to spend my mid semester break,in my village.It had been quite some time since I spent a week in my village and hence a visit seemed almost necessary.Well there was not much time for a reserved seat and hence I was forced to spend my time sitting 16 hours in the train.It was not much of a difficulty and I reached Patna at midnight after starting from home in the morning.Well to my surprise I found the station clean and hygenic,something I did not expect,not in Patna at least!Well I then boarded a bus in the morning and the trip was more enjoyable than I had expected as the roads have become extremely comfortable nowadays in Bihar and I was home at around 10.People in the village are extremely nice and the contrast seems completely when you just arrive form a city like Delhi.
Well it is festive season here and Durga Puja is everywhere in the environment.People are extremely religious and the charm of our religion is at the best display here.Well Durga Puja is a long festival,10 days to be exact and each and every day people are immersed in devotion to the supreme power 'Maa Durga”.Its a lucky break for me from otherwise a busy and fast life back home in Delhi.
Now as I sit back in the train returning back home,I remember the pleasure I had in the past week at almost no cost!I reached home well in time and for the first two days I met with everyone in the village and elsewhere.On the sixth day we set out on a bike for two very auspicious temples in our region.I although atheist by nature,still enjoy the environment and beauty surrounding the places of worship so I never miss a chance to visit a temple although I have nothing to do with the God there.So after visiting the temples we headed towards the puja pandals.One thing I find very pleasing in the village and it is the simplicity.Everyone whether rich or poor,customer or shopkeeper seems astonishingly simple back here.The other thing is food.I'm a food enthusiast and never miss a chance to have awesome street food.We used to have street food everyday as it is a part of the puja celebration.There is a small 'mela' attached to every pandal ans people can be seen having food,paan,tea etc there.The mood was very enthusiastic everyday and I noticed that.
On the day of maha-ashtami,there is a ritual for sacrifice.It is still prevalent in Bihar and Bengal.I had never witnessed an animal sacrifice in my whole life,so when I was offered a chance to see one how could I miss that!There were approximately 500 goats ready to be sacrificed to the feet of maa Durga.It appears to be a brutal ceremony,I was almost near to the place where the goats were being killed or I should say sliced.The guy just pulled up his sword,there was a chant of “jai maa Durga” and bang!There goes the head of the goat flying on the ground.The pandit then picked up the head which was later placed on the feet of the goddess.Similarly around 500 heads were collected.I witnessed around 50 of them and the could not bear any longer.That very day I visited my grandmother and stayed with her whole night and visited another very famous pandal there as well.
Then on the next day,we hired a vehicle and went to a temple(again) far away.The whole day was consumed in visiting the 2-3 temples there.In the evening we visited a nearby pandal again.Then came the concluding day-the dashmi.On that day the Durga idols are taken out of the pandal to be immersed in the river.We planned to accompany the brigade to as far as we can but thanks to the typhoon and its after effect our plan was ruined.Somehow we gathered courage to accompany them and at around 4 pm we reached on the road and then luck played its part.As soon as we reached the road we saw a thousand people shouting and hurling towards us.They were the guys with the Goddess Durga on their chariot.We joined them as soon as they neared us.At that point there were tears in my eyes.I wanted to pour'em down but any attempt to slow down means you are trampled under two thousand feet.There were guys with large sticks on their hands and then there were highly charged people pulling the chariot and the energy well I can't describe it in words.I felt the power of the human spirit there and right then I realized the meaning of Durga puja.The energy which i felt there can't be described in words.It can only be felt.Actually at the river many pandals bring their idols.So it is a gathering of thousands of people at the river bank.Then after the conclusion ceremony the idols are immersed in the water and thus concludes th durga puja.
I,till date never had a chance to see the durga puja in such a detail.I was very young back when we used to reside in village so I have some memories but faint ones and this one well,it'll be etched in my memory for the entire lifetime at least.I extracted as much as I could from this break and will definitely be looking forward to having such experiences in future again for these experience are a welcome change form otherwise a routine dull life!!

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