The Jagaddhatri Puja at BL Block’s Paul residence turned 10 this year but the Pauls themselves laugh at how it all started.
“We love a good get-together and always appreciated how we met up at pujas held at relatives’ houses. So we thought of holding one at our home too,” says Debaditya Paul, a 20-something student who helps out with his father’s publication business.
“But both Durga Puja and Kali Puja are already held at my father’s mamar bari. Ganesh Puja is held at my own mamar bari and Annapurna puja is held at my pishir bari! Only Ma Jagadhatri was free and we booked her,” laughs Debaditya, who hopes to visit Chandannagore some day to watch the puja at its grandest.
His father Dibyadyuty Paul says they start work on the puja right after Durga Puja, booking the idol, gathering the puja materials…
Due to the pandemic, meals for guests are no longer outsourced to the caterer but prepared by a thakur at home. “Earlier, about 120 guests would come but these last two years, it’s within 90. Still, we are lucky that the Covid count has been less in both years during this puja. Our relatives who perform Annapurna Puja, in April, could not do so for two years in a row,” Dibyadyuty says.