When we stepped out for pandal hopping it was somewhere around 5.30pm in the evening but one look outside and it felt like it was 8pm (Bombay time). Surprised we asked Ant R who reminded us that we were in the East where the Sun rose and set early. We realised this when it was broad daylight at about 6am the next morning similar to Bombay’s 10am.

Anyway we set out and were left spellbound at the sight of the festive decorations. Every nook and corner had set up pandals (aking to our Ganesh Chaturthi mandals) with the entire celestial family comprising Maa Durga (on her vehicle, the tiger), Godesses Laskshmi (wealth) and Saraswati (learning), Lord Ganesha (with a shy banana tree as his consort), Lord Kartikeya (on his vehicle, the peacock) and Mahishasur (the demon killed by Maa Durga in the form of Goddess Kali). The pandals were beautiful, each better than the other and depicting the festival in its own way. Some had terracota work on them, some had illustrations from mythology yet others depicted rustic life. But the most noteworthy feature of these pandals was its eco-friendliness. From clay, grass, hay to cane, bamboo, jute and vegetable colours, these pandals were and epitome of environment friendliness. No POP (plaster of the paris), no artificial colours, no OTT (over the top) decorations (standard trademarks of our Ganesh mandals), the pandals were elegance personified in a humble way. All the extravaganza of our Ganesh Chaturthi notwithstanding, the decorations of Durga Puja are a treat for sore eyes. Couple this with soulful Rabindra Sangeet playing in the background (unlike our remixed Bollywood Bhajans) and you truly feel closer to divinity.

As I mentioned earlier, pandal hopping is a big activity during Pujo. Families throng the pandals in droves…almost seems like they have set out to achieve a target of covering ’x’ number of pandals. Debargha’s 50-60 pandals was probably an understatement. Some take their cars and check out pandals from out, some halt at every pandals for darshan, most go in the evenings as it is pleasant and yet other like Ant R & here friends set out at night from 11pm onwards till about 2am or so. Since there is no 10pm deadline unlike Bombay, the pandals are open all night. However SK & I managed a measly 5-6 pandals and cheated on the rest by clicking snaps from the confines of our car. However to make the number more respectable, SK decided to keep a track of all the pandals we passed on our way. Trust a Bombayite to use shortcuts .

Majority of these pandals serve food to the devotees. This food is known as ‘bhog’ (offering) and consists of the staple maach bhaat and tarkari (barring Ashtami or the 8th day which is strictly vegetarian, Bengalis have non-veg food all days during Pujo).

Pujo is indeed West Bengal in all its glory with streets lit up in fancy lanterns and people in their fineries. It is difficult to not be cuaght in the Pujo fever.