At high noon on polling day. Ma Kali is walking down First Avenue, not far from Kwality More. But there is hardly anyone out in the streets or in the verandahs for the goddess to bless or to cross Samir Adak’s palm with silver.
Adak is in a despondent mood. “I had no idea Salt Lake had election today,” the bohurupee, whose avatar for the day is Kali, laments.
He has come all the way from Tarakeshwar, the seat of bohurupees. Though he is the first one in his family to take up the profession, there are enough in the locality to keep him company. He had earlier donned the avatars of Shiva, Durga and Loknath Baba. But it is Kali that is the most profitable. “She has the most devotees.”
In the trade for 15 years, he has started coming to Salt Lake for two years now. “I come about twice a week. People here are generous. No one gives under Rs 5. Shopkeepers in the markets know me.”
But it was a futile day. “On an average, I collect Rs 500-600. Today I have not managed even Rs 100,” said the 35-year-old, who has a wife to support.
Being Kali means having to paint a coat of black all over the exposed parts of the skin. “Make-up takes an hour and a half,” he says. Though it is not a problem in winter, he concedes that the summers are challenging.
But he makes light of the risk of going around maskless amid the pandemic. “Amar kichhu hobe na (nothing will happen to me),” he declares, adding that he did not have a choice. “I have to put the tongue on. How can I wear a mask over the tongue?” he asked, pointing to the metal sheet he had unclipped from his teeth to have this conversation.
Tarakeshwar had voted on April 6. Ask him who will win, and he turns to a banner carrying a picture of Mamata Banerjee hanging on an adjacent wall and raises his right palm in a posture of benediction: “Didi-y jeetbe.”
His house is five minutes away from the Tarakeshwar station. And it is by train that he travels from place to place to ply his trade. “Didi had started the Arambagh-Howrah line. I don’t have to pay on any form of public transport,” he says. One seeks blessings from the goddess, not ticket fare!