Government and community initiatives, besides innovative packages by tour operators are seeing to it that Durga Puja in Kolkata is available to a wider audience

Durga Puja is to Calcutta (or Kolkata as it now called) as Diwali is to north India and Christmas to the Christian world – a time for festivities and family reunions. Pujo, as it is popularly referred to in short, is an event that has an unbroken run for three centuries and is completely spontaneous. There is no ‘organisation’ which runs it; it is really a people-run happening. The panorama unfolds itself regularly as clockwork every year. Myriad individual and local worship centres spring up; they are a synergy of explosive emotional energy and creative enthusiasm accumulated through the entire year in the hearts and minds of Kolkatans. But it was only three years ago that members of Concern for Calcutta, a group of citizens in love with the city, thought of organising a Puja Parikrama of pandals with a history and tradition of their own. A team of 20 young men with a penchant for research went round the city documenting their origin, backgrounds, evolution, anecdotes and nuances of the presentation of Durga Puja. In the following two years, tours were organised for Kolkatans with the same 20 young men now acting as trained guides.

Those joining the Parikrama learnt for the first time why the lion Durga rides has the face of a horse as well as a moustache in pandals with a zamindari tradition. Because this reflected the prerogative of kings who rode horses and the moustache was a symbol of power. Another fact the team brought out is that while Durga’s image is immersed the weapons are not; these are used again and again every year. The team has also recorded the evolution of the pandal structure over the centuries, from a simple design to intricate replicas of great monuments and such creative use of materials as broken LPs and cowdung. Another finding was that Lord Clive, after his victory at Plassey, came to the Shobabazar Rajbari Pujo, and could well have been the first foreigner admitted to a pandal.

Around the same time Concern for Calcutta discovered that in a parallel effort the West Bengal department of tourism under Jayanta Sanyal (currently senior consultant with the Planning Commission) was also toying with the idea of extending Durja Puja to a wider audience. Hotels and travel agencies have been involved in the exercise. The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industries is giving a helping hand.

Sita Travels has put together a five-day tour beginning October 2 and the package cost is US$ 425 per person on twin sharing in luxury hotels and US$ 325 at the Country Club. A CD – ‘Durga beckons, Pujo happens, Calcutta welcomes’, promises a unique experience to the visitor from the time he/she lands at the airport to a welcome of the Dhaki (the indigenous drummer of Bengal), the traditional flowers-and-lamp welcome by the ladies of Kolkata, to the subsequent unfurling of more, and increasingly more, exotic happenings.

After the first introduction to Kolkata, and Bengali cuisine (there is also a choice of western food), there is the Calcutta by Night Pujo party. Exotic rituals in selected pandals will be the last activity of the first day. The next day begins with a boat trip on the Ganga to witness the worship of the Child Goddess - Kumari Puja at the Ramakrishna Mission premises and a visit to pandals famous for their innovativeness or antiquity, with an opportunity to mix with families which trace their ancestry to the city’s origin and its noble lineage. The evening is reserved for the Raj experience and dinner at the Tollygunge Club. The third day has a leisurely tour of the city covering among other places, Victora Memorial and Fort William and in the evening a taste of the rustic beauty and rural artistry of India - village handicrafts and authentic entertainment accompanied by food and drink. On the final day, when Durga bids goodbye till the next year, the visitors will see the diversity of Kolkata - the festival being celebrated by other groups, of other communities in their own distinctive way underlining India’s unity in diversity. Before the grand finale, there is the Sindur Khela where the goddess is bid farewell by the ladies. And, finally the emotional scene viewed from a specially arranged boat, when the goddess is immersed in the river. And, for those who have the time there are add on trips to north Bengal and Sikkim as well as to Assam, India’s tea country.

Experiencing Pujo for overseas visitors is a path-breaking initiative on the part of citizens of Kolkata and food for thought for those who live in and love the other great cities of India.