Divinity at a Distance

The holy month of Ramadan is over. The Eid celebrations have just ended. People are back to work, but for a small community of Dubai, it is celebration time.

These days, the probasi Bengali does not fret if he cannot be in Kolkata for pujo. Neither does he necessarily want to. While the zealous charm of visiting a puja pandal down every block can only be experienced in Bengal, Bengalis in different part of the world celebrate Maa Durga8217;s homecoming in their own distinctive styles. A probasi Bengali tells us what puja means in their corners of the world

The holy month of Ramadan is over. The Eid celebrations have just ended. People are back to work, but for a small community of Dubai, it is celebration time. As the relentless Dubai summer melts to a more tolerable winter, the small but boisterous population of Bengalis in the city are all geared up for Durga Puja .

The Sindhi community hall which is generally used by the Bengali association of Dubai for Durga Puja celebrations, is the bastion of the teenaged volunteers of the community, who happily stay up late in the night, decorating the hall with festoons and streamers . The housewives play an important role in the festivities as they willingly take up a number of responsibilities.

The Bhog an essential part of the festivities, is lovingly prepared by a Brahmin woman of the community, and every year there are a number of them eagerly awaiting their turn to display their culinary skills. The purohit usually a family relative of one of the members of the community arrives from Kolkata, the lists of the puja essentials are faxed or emailed well in advance. Some essential items are bought by the purohit himself.

The small six inches statutes reminds us of a child8217;s dollset, but her diminished stature does not diminish the devotion of her followers.

Mahastami is the day when most Bengalis try to make it to the hall for the maha pushpanjali, office and school notwithstanding. Held according to the Indian timings, the puspanjali is a crowded affair. The women, decked in their finest sarees and jewellery are a sight to behold. The men, howling children in tow, take on the responsibility of handling the children while their better halves socialise before offering prayers to the goddess.

The sindoor khela is another occasion which the Bengali women of the city don8217;t miss, clad in trademark red-bordered sarees, try and recreate the fervour of the festivities backhome. By Dashami evening, a pall of gloom descends upon the hall as the bhashan procession is carried out quietly in the dark, as immersion of clay idols is illegal in Dubai. Instead of the muddy waters of Ganga, our beloved Maa is immersed in the turquoise blue Arabian Sea.

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The Bongo Parishad members hold a bijayasamelani at the posh confines of a five-star hotel, where kurta and saree clad members gather to plan the next year8217;s festivities.