Durga Puja of My City: Mundane celebrations in villages and exciting in cities

        Durga Puja is famously celebrated in North India marking the victory of good over the evil. It romanticises the people to meet collectively at a place where the observance of fast and the listening of Katha are completed marking the conclusion of nine-day long carnival.

A Durga Puja Pandal in Gardanibagh, Patna on Oct 04, 2022 (pic- R. Suresh Bhardwaj)

        The Puja seems not only festival of reciting mantras by the pandita and listening these by the devotees, but also a mean of blossoming joy and happiness in the people. Children start managing to wander the fair organised near the Durga Puja pandal. Teenagers, adults and the old also celebrate the festival with full enthusiasm. 

        Sweet smell of the Jalebi attracts the people and spicy Chaat-Chhola* is joyfully eaten by the visitors. (*a snack-dish that is prepared with a combination of Samosa, boiled Chhola, spices, onions and chilli. For giving a flavour of taste, tamarind water (Imali kaa Paani) is poured.)

A Durga Puja Pandal in Ara city, 50 km away from Patna, on Oct 04, 2022 (pic- R. Suresh Bhardwaj)

         Preparation for the festival gets its tone and pace days before the commencement of celebrations. Organisers prepare Pandal and decorate the surroundings in a way which give a spiritual, religious and festive look. Almost every chowk, adjoining centre of roads and grounds are suitable places for the celebrations. 

         Every man/woman visits the pandal to get blessings of the goddess that makes the place crowded which demands a better crowd management strategy so that the stampede would be avoided. For this, organisers do a good job along with managing the incidents of fire, electrocution and safety of women. We should salute them for the successful completion of the festival.

         Now a day, the festival also gains importance for the business purposes. Vendors sell Jalebi, toys, festive materials and other items to the visitors. They earn money for the livelihood of their family. Some of them are lucky to earn more but other some get neglected by the people and gain less amount. Mischievous activities create trouble for the people and also become a problem for organisers. But, in end, the festival is completed successfully  by the spiritual powers of the goddess.

        “It’s not too old when people came out with euphoria and joy even after crossing knee-deep mud on road. Today, roads have been made of concrete; brick-made houses have replaced the primitive houses and all decorations have been done with more money, but people have lost their jolly mood because Lakshmi (Euphoria) has gone, it seems”, an old man says.

Durga Puja celebrations at a place, 50 km away from the city of Ara. (pic- R. Suresh Bhardwaj)

         His words are not waste. Agriculture has lost its importance as money-gainer activity, industry is not located in villages and there is no scope for the service sector that make the rural areas a no-money and a no-benefit group of villages. People are struggling to earn money because many of them are unskilled, uneducated and clean-heart. Minimal persons are able to get government jobs that is highly respected in the villages. Except this, there is no actual source of income. Festivals have now become a celebrations of money and without it, the Durga Puja is nothing more for them except a mundane celebrations.

Durga Puja celebrations at a place, 50 km away from the city of Ara, Bihar (Pic- R. Suresh Bhardwaj)

        But, in the cities, Durga Puja is celebrated more excitedly. The pattern of gaining income in the urban areas are totally different in respect to villages. Industry is majorly located near the cities. Service sector has now become core of the urban economy. All offices are situated in towns and employees working there also reside in these areas. They have sufficient sum of money that provide them a  way to celebrate the festivals more excitedly.

        We can’t ignore the view of Yuval Noah Harari, Israeli public intellectual, historian and Author of ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’: “Money is the only trust system created by humans that can bridge almost any cultural gap, and that does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, age or sexual orientation.”