Why this means nothing to me!

I am tired of this. Year after year, it is the same story, since I have moved away from Kolkata.
This time of the year, wherever you see a few Bengalis discussing something, it must be about the pujo. You cant escape it offline. You cant escape it when talking to a friend.
You cant even escape it on social networking sites. I am getting sick of this.

And before I appear as another suddenly-homesick Bengali, that is hardly the case. I can perfectly understand why people there will be excited about the biggest festival of the year. You must be excited when you are forced to make multiple forced voluntary donations, have to fight with millions of people to reach anywhere or enter a restaurant, and have the unenviable pleasure of listening to non-stop free music loud and clear from the adjoining pujo pandal.

However I see no reason why I would be excited. Or anyone living in any part of the world, where pujo means nothing. And no, I do not count the social get-togethers organized in these parts. The whole point of a festival is the ambiance, the surrounding. Seeing everyone around you having fun. In spite of all the inconveniences, that is why we want to go back to Kolkata this time of the year, although whether we will be able to survive the crowd is an open question. But I digress.

I am an atheist, so the religious part of it does not mean anything to me anyways. I suspect that is true for a lot of people, pujo is a social occasion, not an overtly religious one, no matter what the name suggests. The social aspect is completely missing here - no matter how hard you try to recreate the environment here. It is either you meeting up with all your friends, which you do once in a while anyways, or worse, an awkward gathering of complete strangers. A festival can not happen in isolation, and more importantly, it cannot happen without a buildup. You cant getup one fine morning, see your scheduler, get dressed, and go to a pujo. Even football games in Florida had more buildup, more expectations.

All festivals are critical functions of the surroundings. That is why pujo means nothing to me sitting here. Now, please stop asking me how I am spending my pujo. And, no I am not interested in listening to how was yours, or hear dhak on youtube. I see everyone working around me.

The 2006 Pujo for Me

So it is that time of the year again, when every alternate email or scrapbook entry in Orkut I get asks me about my Pujo plans. And if that is not bad enough, once I reply that Pujo does not really mean anything here, they start making funny noises like how a Bengali can live without a Pujo holiday.

Now I am not exactly right about Pujo here. The Benagli Associations in most big cities do organize Pujo's, albeit often just for a day on a convenient weekend. Our Gainesville is just a small college town, but we do get to go to the Pujo's in Orlando or Tampa and those are just a couple of hours drive. I must appreciate the tremendous effort put in my the organizers at all these places, after all it is no trivial thing to put together the events. However, its just not possible under the given constraints to make it feel like the Pujo's back home and none even pretends that they are.

These are more like a social get together to most people here, where they meet up, discuss about their kid's achievement and show off their latest acquired saree or jewellery, while letting their kids recite Bengali poems with a hugely American Bengali accent. Nothing wrong with that per se, except that I don't really enjoy it as a Pujo. Rather it is kind of like a day out for me with semi-authentic Bengali food and long drives with saree clad Bengali girls! (Too bad, rarely any of them to "look at" in the Pujo venue, that robs half the charm of Pujo!)

Anyway here is some moments of the Pujo at Tampa yesterday.
http://picasaweb.google.com/deepak.kar/DurgaPujo2006TampaFL

However, all said and done, I do miss Pujo back home. But I do take issues with people suggesting that I should leave everything I am doing and rush back to Kolkata during Pujo to reinforce my Bengali credentials. Apart from Kolkata, nowhere in the world Pujo is a holiday and for those of us outside Kolkata, there is realistically a very little chance of landing up there during these days. And when when you are actually away from Pujo-land, you do not miss Pujo unless you are reminded everyday!

Of Sox , Wilma and the Goddess

Back after a long unforced hiatus. A graduate student's life always remains largely uneventful - but events of momentous magnitude are happening elsewhere.

Recap: After Boston's curse-breaking-run last year - its turn of Chicago White Sox this year - they cant possibly lose the World Series now.

We escaped Wilma's wrath being in North Central Florida - but the damage to South Florida was significant.

Gators lost in Baton Rogue in a game where our offence was non existent - and the season appeared all but over - but Georgia's QB injury is giving us a glimmer of hope before the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" (Yeah thats how annual Florida-Georgia game is referred to).

I planned to write something about the Orlando Durga Pujo, where we were a couple of weekends before. But then I realized - the traditional attractions of a Durga Pujo were overwhelmingly missing here - the Pujo part is highly non classical - the ambiance is utterly American and worst - hardly any female to attract my attention. The food was good - Khichuri in the afternoon and Luchi at night - so I wont really complain - but its more like a day out rather than a socio-religious occasion. Still I would applaud the fine people who put in so much effort to make this happen.

Why I dont miss Pujo

This is that time of the year. Whenever I have a conversation with anyone from back in Kolkata - they would inevitably ask whether I miss pujo and then without paying any attention to what I say - mumble some sympathetic words.

Let me get this clear for once and all.Ladies and Gentlemen - I do not miss pujo.Yes - I repeat - I do not. And now having made it amply clear - let me explain why.

I am an atheist. Now I know pujo is more of a social occasion than religious - so me not believing in the powers of the Goddess is not the issue here. You miss something only when you actually realize other people are enjoying it while you cant. Being 10,000 miles away from Kolkata - immersed in work - chasing deadlines - you never realize its pujo. Pujo is not only four days of pandel hopping - its the expectation from months back, the shopping, the preparation. The overall ambiance makes pujo what it is. That whole ambiance is absent here - nothing around me tells me its pujo - so pujo days pass like oh so normal days for me.

Ignorance is indeed a bliss sometime.