Bidhannagar Sree Chaitanya Bhagabat Samaj
It had just finished showering but was still drizzling and those without umbrellas wondered if they would get wet while pulling the chariot.
Any doubts were laid to rest by MLA and minister Sujit Bose. “Come rain, come storm, the rath will roll!” he declared and devotees happily gathered to pull the Bidhannagar Sree Chaitanya Bhagabat Samaj chariot.
The chariot rolled out of Central Park, crossed City Centre, and took a right from Vidyasagar Island. It reached First Avenue and made a right turn from CRPF Island. “We already have a Rath-er mela on at Central Park, which will continue till Ultarath on July 15. The idols and chariot will be stationed here too,” said Kumar Sankar Sadhu, general secretary of the organising committee.
Some pulled the rope while balancing umbrellas between head and shoulder, while others left it to the lord. “It was raining heavily as we travelled here from Kestopur. We prayed to Jagannath that the rain would stop and we could pull the rope comfortably,” said Nilashma Basak, a Class IV student. Her prayer was soon answered.
Siddharth Majumdar of Karunamoyee jumped to escape a puddle but still had an ear-to-ear smile on his face. “I have been away from the city for work and am attending Rathyatra after many years,” said the IT sector employee. “There’s something special about this festival that unifies everyone. Just see how people from all walks of life are working together to pull the chariot.”
Indranil Sanyal was waiting for the procession under the Metro viaduct, not just to pray but to capture it on his camera. “I mostly photograph nature and the downtrodden, but my daughter Tania and I have set off today to capture as many raths as possible,” said the enthusiast from AK Block.
This is the 36th year of this Rathyatra, and at the inauguration, Swami Sevabratananda Maharaj of Ramakrishna Vedanta Math spoke of service above all. Priest Debashis Mukherjee, who has been a permanent fixture on the chariot since 2000, said the numbers only swell every year. “A chariot is heavy, but there’s never a dearth of hands to pull it. Jagannath is the only deity who steps out to the streets to greet devotees, and lucky are those who get to pull the rope,” he said.
Chairman of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation Sabyasachi Dutta spoke of visiting the Rath-er Mela in Moulali with his mother as a child and returning with plants, birds, and rabbits. Mayor Krishna Chakraborty spoke of the Puri Jagannath temple replica that’s getting built in Digha. “I was in Digha a few days ago and saw the temple. It’s going to be marvellous, and even though it’s covered with tin sheds now, devotees are already praying outside it. We await its opening next Rathyatra,” she said.
Shri Jagannath Utsav Samiti
Every street that the Shri Jagannath Utsav Samiti chariot crossed got flooded by a sea of people. The chariot rolled from CB 54, along with cultural performers, trailers, devotees, and loud chants of “Jai Jagannath!”
Ananya Chakraborty of BC Block couldn’t find her husband in the crowd. “In other years, Rath is on a working day and my husband is in office. So I pull it and show it to him on video call. This time he came before me, and now I can’t even spot him,” laughed the Hindi tutor. “But I’ve spotted a student of mine, and so their assignment tomorrow will be to write an essay on their Rathyatra experience today.”
Some BB Block residents were so charged up that they considered starting their own rath next year. “Many Rathyatras are getting organised now, and blocks are wondering if they should join the bandwagon,” said Soven Dutta of BB Block. “It would also be a good way to stay engaged since many residents are elderly and their children are settled away from home.”
Amit Poddar, a volunteer of the festival, said it was difficult to guess how many people had joined them as many did so for brief distances. “But our convoy itself was serpentine, beginning with a Ganesha idol on a float, followed by chhou dancers. the deities Balaram, Subhadra and Jagannath had their own chariots, and before each of them were trailers with dancers performng to live and recorded music,” said the resident of CB Block.
The streets were so choked that even some performers got stuck! “Jai Shri Ram!” screamed bystanders several times as an artiste dressed as Lord Rama got off a car, walked through the crowd, and climbed up a trailer. Sita, Hanuman, Radha, and Krishna were all with him. “We hear this chant often as people love Rama,” said Bapi Sadhukan, the artiste. “I simply smile and raise my hand in a posture of blessing.”
At about 4.30pm, the chariot from Central Park — Bidhannagar Sree Chaitanya Bhagabat Samaj — crossed CB 54 even as the final chariot of the Utsav Samiti was yet to leave. The route of both these processions overlapped somewhat.
The devotees were overjoyed with the bonus. They leapt over the road divider — quite a high one at that — to pull the second rath. “Every chariot has the same God, so why not pull both?” reasoned Disha Basu happily. “I had actually come for the CB Block chariot as I live in CA. It’s convenient for me, and we come for bhog and cultural programmes. Yes, the road in front of my house gets choked, but that’s hardly a price for such a festival.”
Residents of highrises flocked to the balconies with hands folded in prayer, and those on the ground floor stepped out to give it a pull.
Autorickshaw driver Narayan Singh had been waiting for more than 15 minutes at PNB Island as the road was closed. “I knew this would happen as it’s Rathyatra; customers aren’t complaining either. I just hope we get some prasad,” smiled the driver on the Karunamoyee-Ultadanga route. Prasad was being distributed by volunteers on the move.
Plants and prasad
A near-stampede occurred when two vans in the convoy started distributing saplings. People rushed like there was no tomorrow, some diving in and jostling out victorious, with plants in both hands, while others tried to sweet-talk the driver of the van into giving them a sapling, only to be told off. Before long, the flex on the van had got ripped by overenthusiastic revellers.
“This plant is nothing short of prasad for me,” smiled Pompa Sarkar of BC Block, almost embracing the plant. She stepped out of the procession to marvel at her find.
“Last year we gave out 500 plants, but this time since Rath is on a Sunday, we knew the crowd would be larger. We’ve got double the plants,” said Ajay Poddar, a resident of BH Block and a member of Goseva Parivar, which was doing the deed. “The theme of our trailer is plants this time as we need to create awareness about climate change. We are glad at the response.”
There were 11 aarti sthals along the route. These were homes of volunteers, where the chariot paused. Aarti was performed and those pulling the chariot were offered water and refreshments. The first such halt was at the Lihala residence of AC 15.
Bidhannagar Ramakrishna
Vivekananda Kendra
By around 5pm, many pedestrians around City Centre were asking one another if they had missed the rath. Enter children like Sabuj Bagdi, who were playing on the street and gleefully guided them to DD Block’s Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra. “We ourselves have been waiting since morning to pull this chariot,” said the Class VI student of the same block.
This festival was inaugurated by deputy mayor Anita Mondal and the chariot travelled around DD Block.
“I’ve been living in Salt Lake since the 70s when, forget chariots, there were barely any houses in the township. Then this centre came up (in 1975), and we’ve been associated with it all through. So even though there are many more chariots today, this is the one I came to,” said Sima Sinha, an elderly resident of CE Block. “I wasn’t sure of my steps today and was hesitant to comebut my domestic help escorted me and I pulled the chariot as far as I could.”
The institute runs a school too, and students ran alongside the rath. “We are new students here,” said Ananya and Ankuri Lama of Class III and IV. “Till last year, we drew our own little rath at home, but this is our first time with such a big one,” said the sisters from CK Block.
Two-year-old Sharanya Banerjee arrived shortly after the yatra was completed as she couldn’t wake up in time. But she was happy to sit on her grandfather, vice-presidentSandip Mukherjee’s, lap and munch on papad that was served toeveryone.
Lopamudra Sarkar, a teacher of Spanish language at the centre, loved how many outsiders joined them along the way. “People got out of their cars to pull. That was so nice,” said Lopamudra. “It’s been a long time since I visited Puri, but being part of a rathyatra here kind of makes up for it.”
Secretary of the centre, Chanchal De, recalled when they began their festival 25 years ago. “A proposal from members set us on course. We began small and drew the chariot indoors in our hall. Of course, we always wanted to see it grow and are happy with how big it has become now.”