It’s that time of the 12 months whilst Kolkata gears up for her largest pageant. The streets are decked up with lighting. For the following couple of days, the metropolis isn’t always going to sleep. Airports put on a look of cheer with the many homecomings. And sooner or later, plans made six months earlier with friends over calls and texts are going to be lived. And if you are far from the metropolis of joy, nostalgia wets your eyes. it’s the splendor of Durga Puja. For a few it’s a competition, for plenty extra, it is a carnival.
ultimate yr, Sreebhumi’s Burj Khalifa-themed Durga pandal grabbed the spotlight. This time they located Maa Durga in Vatican city’s St Peter’s Basilica. She changed into additionally depicted as a mom, exploring the lives of intercourse people in some other pandal. once in a while she will become a migrant mother, one of the loads that walked miles taking walks during the coronavirus pandemic. And every so often, her pandals are decorated with shoes to echo the pain of protesting farmers. For Bengal, the mom is not just put on a pedestal to be worshipped. She becomes one of the many that is going through existence with all its misery and glory.
For a long, the Bengali ‘bhadralok’ culture has been mocked for its apparent lack of religiosity, however in terms of range — no one does it as the Bengalis do. At a time whilst a film scene related to Kaali invitations litigation or a remark about the Prophet sends us off into a tizzy, the Bengali chutzpah approximately religion merits a pat on the back.
It became an early introduction to the English language and, through books, a Western worldview and much later, a three-decade-long affair with Communism that made Bengal now not averse to faith, but open-minded about festivals. It isn’t here that you’ll discover needs that Muslims are not allowed. We keep directly to our ideals, but we agree with embracing all.