Durga Puja At 41, Deblane

Even At The Time of "Coronasura" (2021), Ma Durga Was At Her Destructive Best!!!

I came across this post on FB by chance in the year 2021, just before The Puja. It contained the feelings of my niece who has been living in Canada for the last decade or so. Though it is written in Bengali, it shows her love for 41, Deblane.

আড়াই বছর বাড়ি যেতে পারিনি .. জানিনা  কবে পারব .. আমাদের কোলকাতার বাড়ির  দুর্গাপুজো অর্থাৎ দেবলেনের ভট্টাচার্য্য বাড়ির দুর্গা পুজো এই এলাকার সবচেয়ে পুরোনো পুজো .. আমার বাবার ঠাকু্রদা মহামহোপাধ্যায় শ্রী হরিদাস সিদ্ধান্তবাগীশ ভট্টাচার্য্য সর্বপ্রথম মহাভারত সংস্কৃত থেকে বাংলায় অনুবাদ করে পদ্মবিভূষণ উপাধি পেয়েছিলেন .. তাঁর ব্যবহৃত ছাপাকলটি আজও বাড়িতে রাখা আছে ।শরৎ কাল এলেই আজও বাড়ির পুজো, ছাদ , উঠান , গলি , ছাদের টব সব নিয়ে একটা অদ্ভুত মন কেমন করা মনে জমা হতে শুরু করে । আমার বাবার প্রাণ ছিল কোলকাতার আমাদের এই বাড়িটি । বাবা চলে যাওয়ার পর এই বাড়িটি আমাকে অস্বস্তি দেয় তবুও একটা অদ্ভুত টান ব্যথা হয়ে আজও বাজে …

I love 41 Deblane, the heritage house that bore witness to the meteoric rise of one of India's greatest academicians, Haridas Siddhantabagish. It is no lesser than a hermitage for me. A place of pilgrimage, culture and learning. 

Anyway, this writing is neither about 41, Deblane nor is it about my late grandfather. 

I had been meaning to add to my page: Durga Puja at 41, Deblane on Facebook but I was still in the dark about the Puja at my ancestral home in the year of the Coronasura. I ought not to have been so doubtful though, as a representative of the late Jogesh Chandra Bhattacharjee. Agreed, I may not be as cultured and educated as most of my siblings are, but I never disrespected my parents. Nor did I do anything to let their heads down.

Now, I am sure of one thing though. Whether I am alive or dead, The Pujas at 41, Deblane will be celebrated with great pomp and gaiety in the years to come. I may be audacious, and outrageous in sharing my views here but I sincerely think that there are not too many places like 41, Deblane in the whole of Bengal where Ma Durga comes twice a year on Her own accord. Remember how She made her way to 41 accompanied by a shooting unit a couple of years back? What were the words that my late Ma was very fond of stating?

"Dekhbi, Baba, Maer Pujor byabostha, Ma nijei kore neben.." (Ma Durga will arrange Her Puja Herself at 41 Deblane. Mark you my words, my son). 

Ma has been gone for a decade and a half but how true her words ring even today! 

I know some people will try to show me and my family in a bad light, that we are not important, that The Puja can be held without our participation. But that morning in 2021, I told myself not to make an issue of matters as small as this. Even the year before, I got involved at the eleventh hour when there were just some two weeks or so left. My Sister while going to the Kumor's  (idol maker), asked me to accompany them - a nephew was also there. I was so furious to have been kept in the dark till then that I refused straight away. She came back to inform me that the kumor was asking for an exorbitant price of ₹16,000! Besides, he would not be responsible for transporting the idol to ours. I told my sister to contact Bablu Pal, the one who had made the idol the year before. When Ma Durga decides to visit our ancestral, who are we to brag and boast about our roles and contributions in The Puja?

Talking about contributions, I never talk about such trivial. If you believe in Ma Durga, you will do all you can for your own benefit. If someone can't help financially, s/he must have her/his own problems. If one is lucky only then can one do his/her bit for Ma Durga. I felt sad when I had to pay less last year than what I had paid in the previous years. Let Ma Durga forgive me for thinking of my family and me first. 

To come back to the Puja at 41, I was busy washing a plate when a bald-headed man called out :

"Dada, ektu asben.. ?"(Will you come here for a second, bro?) 

He soon transpired to be one of my childhood schoolmates, Gobinda Sarkar. Having caught up with the happenings of the bygone, blissful days, he asked me mostly about my late grandfather. Whether it was true that the title "Padmabibhusan" was bestowed upon him by the Indian Government or not. 

I said it was. I also went on to add that the civilian award of "Padmashree" was also conferred on him. I apologized to my friend for not knowing much about my Himalayalike Grandfather so far as his contributions to the field of Sanskrit and Bengali Literature are concerned. While I was shamelessly admitting to my ignorance about my grandfather, my mind kept on pondering over whether he was awarded "Bharat Ratna", the highest civilian honour in India. Sorry, I am, after all not a very educated person like my late Mejdi or Barda, for that matter. Yet, I felt ashamed for never making an effort to find out more about my FATHER'S FATHER. 

What brought me out of my stupor was when Gabinda asked me if the image of the Goddess Durga was still worshipped at my ancestral home. I nodded my head in response, not sure though even then, if The Puja was to be performed at Deblane in that dreadful year of the Coronasura.

My friend finally informed me that he was approached by one Mr. Pathak, a very learned man, to come to ours for a research paper or something. Having obtained his degrees from a university abroad, he was back home and he contacted Gobinda through a mutual friend to find out more about The Puja at 41. I ought to have known better, dear reader! That was the signal, you know what I am talking about, dear reader? That was the first signal of Durga Ma having already decided to visit her Maike that year too as usual.

I told him that I did not know much but I could always find out from my siblings. I even went out of my way to give him my phone number in this connection. He left soon afterwards, very happy and relieved. 

Hardly did I get back to my dishwashing when I realised, to my utter amazement, that Ma Durga had started making preparations for The Visit to Her Earthly Abode, unbeknownst to most of Her ungrateful sons and daughters. 

I also remembered how I had used her image from my Gallery for an article for an online magazine that very morning. And that was when I made up my mind to finish off this inaugural article for my page for The Puja, 2021 with the same photo that was snapped the year before.

 

It didn't matter if I used the previous year's photo or the photo of Goddess Durga clicked the year before last, so long as the heart of Ma Durga remains the same - loving, forgiving, compassionate and benevolent.

She was making preparations for Her visit to 41, Deblane, Coronasura knew that his days in the early paradise were numbered. It's time he started packing up. Ma Durga is always deadly against any such Mahasuras inflicting untold misery and suffering on Her beloved sons and daughters in this amazing world.

Coronasura or not, The Pujas went off as usual before Coronasura meekly surrendered to the destructive power of the Goddess like the way Mahisasura did, without so much as a slight protest.