Far from the Madding Crowd

If we assume that the drone of the dhak in the nearby Puja pandal, the confusing flavours of the mix of khichudi, payash and labda in a earthen cup, and the sweaty crowd dressed in crisp new clothes clicking pictures of the goddess, make the day for any Bengali of the faith, it would be an audacious generalisation.

Too much crowd, too much madness and too little faith push quite a few people away from the giant circus that is Durga Puja in Kolkata today

If we assume that the drone of the dhak in the nearby Puja pandal, the confusing flavours of the mix of khichudi, payash and labda in a earthen cup, and the sweaty crowd dressed in crisp new clothes clicking pictures of the goddess, make the day for any Bengali of the faith, it would be an audacious generalisation. Because, the Durga Puja that is today, have a lot of our clan thinking otherwise. Anirban Ghosh, a second year student of mass communication and videography at the St Xavier8217;s College, suffers from mild claustrophobia. 8220;It8217;s not all that serious otherwise but these pandals filled to their capacity make me feel very uncomfortable,8221; says Ghosh.

Add to that the music, the din, the organizers shouting out instructions over the microphone, the Pujas, for the likes of Ghosh can turn out to be quite disappointing. Ditto for Bishwakshen Bandyopadhyay. The research student at Hyderabad Central University, finds today8217;s Puja too blinding, too flashy for his taste. Reason why he tries staying away from the 8216;indulgence8217;. 8220;The Pujas these days are neither ritualistic or spiritual, nor do they give you a feeling of home. It8217;s too plastic for my taste,8221; says Bandyopadhyay, whose parents too refrain from the festivities because their son keeps away from them.

8220;Any celebration, at the end of the day, is about feeling good. I guess my parents don8217;t feel greater than usual, during the Pujas because I don8217;t. Their feelings are naturally very closely aligned to mine,8221; smiles Bandyopadhyay.

The contemporary idiom of the Pujas in Kolkata pushes several away from the festivities. Like Tapati Talukdar, a housewife. 8220;There8217;s too much crowd, too much sound and madness around,8221; says Talukdar, who used to celebrate the Pujas in her home as a child. 8220;The Pujas these days feel very distant. There are TV channels, radio channels, corporate giants 8211; all running competitions etc. It all looks like a circus,8221; says Talukdar. What with the security checks, the serpentine queues that move at snail8217;s pace and a whole fetish for crowd count, the likes of Talukdar have little charm left in the Pujas.

Veer Sen, a retired professional, says that despite their being Brahmo, Pujas have very important implications in their life. 8220;It is a time when we do what we love doing 8211; travel that is,8221; says Sen. Sen hunts out places which is not frequented by the usual revelers and usually goes on a long drive. 8220;The chaos of the Pujas in the city, the publicity blitzkrieg, are a little unnerving,8221; says Sen.