Durgotsav in Salt Lake’s AL Block the year before last was a shrunken affair, like something seen through the wrong end of a telescope. In the months leading up to the festival virtually all block residents, save the bold and the reckless, had isolated themselves in their houses in the middle of the fear of being infected with the Covid-19 virus. Then as death tolls mounted everywhere, there was a slew of judicial and governmental orders on the holding of community Durga pujas, and we, the organisers of the Sarodotsav in AL Block, were left uncertain about the future of the puja in our block.
Flanked by the Kestopur canal and hemmed in the expanses of Sector V and the approach to Rajarhat-New Town, AL Block happens to be one of the smallest blocks in Salt Lake. Home to only around 280 families, mostly small, our Durga pujas have always been intimate affairs when compared to the big-budget extravaganzas mounted in larger blocks. But many in AL Block believe that small is beautiful, and that our Durga pujas are like barir pujos in which all residents participate.
Since the faces are familiar and almost everyone knows everyone else, the coming together of all over the days of the Puja is like a get-together of familiar faces. Even the participation in the Puja rituals, from the giving of pushpanjali to the mandatory dancing on the streets just before the Goddess and her family depart the block for immersion, assumes a spirit of togetherness and fraternity.
The AL Block idol at the immersion ghat. The Telegraph picture
Under Covid shadow
But the scenario last year in 2020 was radically different. As the world lay darkling under the shadow of the pandemic, and more and more people were being struck down with Covid and there were no vaccines in sight, there emerged the feeling that it may not be possible to hold Durga Puja in our block this year. Questions cropped up about how safe it would be for chanda collectors to go from door to door, and about how it would be possible to maintain proper safety norms.
However, in the end it was decided that the puja would be held on a much smaller scale with funds being raised from donations made by the members of the puja organising committee itself and a handful of other willing donors. The venue of the puja was shifted from AL Park to the community centre in the block, and thanks to the fact that no less than four of the organising committee members, including the president and the secretary, were doctors, a strict Covid protocol was put in place. The tradition of getting everyone in the block to join in community lunches during the festival was suspended, residents were asked not to collect in groups and to stay at a distance from the deity, and to offer to the Goddess only whole fruits as puja offerings etc. The result was a toned down puja, more limited and constrained.
Vaccine hope
The year 2021 however dawned a trace more brightly with the majority of the adult populace in AL Block having received two doses of the vaccine. Due care was taken nevertheless, and keeping in mind the economic hardship faced by many in the previous year, the subscription/donation amount was reduced to a minimum sum of only Rs 1,000 per family. The tradition of community lunches was revived with packed food being provided on Saptami, Ashtami and Dashami afternoons. The menus, both veg and non-veg, were varied, ranging from khichuri, French fries, labra, and a dessert of chutni and bonde on Saptami; luchi, chholar dal, alu dum, chutney and bonde on Astami afternoon; and pulao, chicken curry, chutney and sweets on Dashami. Nearly 700 parcels of food were distributed each day by a few volunteers and the members of the managing committee.
Pushpanjali took longer this time, with only about 30 devotees being allowed at a time. Sanitisation and the wearing of masks were made mandatory, and the very few who had come without these were given masks which they had to put on right away. No early morning Mahalaya procession was held this year, and on Dashami evening, there was no going around the block in a parikrama with the images before immersion.
And unlike in the years past, there were no bright illuminations, no floats and no bands. Sadly, the customary dancing at street crossings within the block in front of the trucks carrying the deities could not be done, and there were no morning competitions or evening cultural performances of dance, songs, music and drama performances staged either.
The evening after Dashami was quieter this Sarodotsav as the guidelines in place did not allow the usual Bijoya Dashami gathering with kolakuli, sweets and radhaballavi and mutton ghugni and fries and sugary tea and coffee for all. The signal that the puja was over for another year came instead with the sound of the drums of the dhakis as they went around the Block collecting bakhsish.
Taste of freedom
Yet the days of the pujas this year were not without a sparkle. After nearly two long years spent in either total or partial lockdown, for some many long weeks spent in illness and suffering, Durgotsav 2021 came as a return of sorts to normality, to the rhythms of social and communitarian life.
As we, in AL Block, stood in humbleness before the Divine Mother in all her resplendent glory and prayed for one more year of life and health, happiness and contentment, we felt peace in our hearts and a sense of satisfaction in being able to live in a block that, come Durga Puja, does not overflow with visitors from outside pushing block residents to the margins but allows each person to individually enjoy a taste of freedom, a touch of lightness and a spot of joy. And then the wait begins for the goddess’s return the next year.
Prof. Subir Dhar was associated with the AL Block Abasik Durgotsav committee this year. He is Dean, School of Humanities, Sister Nivedita University.