THE PUJA CHRONICLES 2.....

THE PUJA CHRONICLES 2: KALI PUJA AND DIWALI

After those awesome days of Durga Puja, I was anticipating the Kali Puja and Diwali to seep into a state of festive frivolity once again … or more so coz it would be fun to catch the two Bollywood biggies releasing on the 9th with all my friends. But maybe, just maybe, I was looking forward to making amends for last year’s lost chances of celebrating the festival of lights… you won’t believe when I say this, but I spent last year’s Kali Puja evening cooped up in my stupid room. I don’t know why, but I gave the entire celebration a miss, and it was the first time since I can remember that I spent a year without burning a single firecracker.

So as you might expect, I started planning for this year’s Puja quite early. I was supposed to go out with my school pals to Saawariya and my para pals to Om Shanti Om. I queued up in front of the nearest movie theatre on the fateful Wednesday with my para pals, but the rush was unimaginable and we ended up with tickets to Saturday’s noon show instead of the much-wanted Friday’s. And we got the Saturday tickets only because a friend of ours knew an insider of the theatre who managed to smuggle some tickets out for us. So I had to tweak my plan with my school pals a little, until my spoilsport bunch of friends decided to give Saawariya a miss for a myriad of reasons. To begin with, there was our good old Arindam with his, “Na re, kali pujor din barite kichu kaaj ache re, hobe na re, bikele ma-r sathe berote hobe re!” And Alapan with “Saturday hole jete pari, Friday parbo na!” You might wonder why he’d have problems on Friday! That’s a stranger mystery than those in Agatha Christie novels, if you ask me! No doubt they were avoiding Friday for the sake of avoiding Friday, to put it bluntly. I mean, I know for a fact that they had nothing on their hands on that day! What could they be doing then, maybe preparing to face the ordeal of burning firecrackers that evening? Ooh… those crackers are so scary… especially the phuljhuris and the rongmoshals.

The other friends were a little “Na, forget me” too! To start off with, Soumyajit would off course stay back in Rampurhat… alright, he has his reasons, and so I won’t lash out on him! Then there was Sohini who threatened to bail out at the last moment! Barsali would’ve skipped the thing too, had Shah Rukh Khan paid a visit to the city… in that case, she would’ve been off to try and take his interview! (Alright, not a bad reason to give a day out with friends a miss, I give her that!) But annoyingly enough, she was hesitant even when it was quite clear that King Khan won’t be making a pit stop in our city of Joy! And I seriously don’t know why! Why are people so averse to having fun nowadays? One should learn from Shilajit, who decided to join us the moment he was requested, no, ordered to! So, on the 9th, Friday, Kali Puja, the five of us, meaning me, Shilajit, Barsali, Satabdi and Sohini watched the first day first show of Saawariya at Navina! (The last time I watched a first day first show, it was Navina as well and I had seen Spiderman 3)

To put it in a sentence, I liked Saawariya, a lot, no matter what the critics say! We walked a little way off to the Golf Green area after the show, where most of my friends live, and as they made their way to their respective abodes, I headed home as well.

I was determined, absolutely determined not to let history (or the ghost of history, more like) repeat itself, and so, was one of the very first ones to tear out of home in the evening! It was time to have the fun of the year with an enviable array of firecrackers.

The fun picked off as the madness started, and we even got a telling off from a household for all the noise our crackers (read: crackers! Coz chocolate bombs are banned, aren’t they? We can’t be breaking the law!!! No way!) were making! The fun abated slightly, for me, when a cracker (again, don’t read chocolate bomb! Okay, you can if you reaaally want to) burst centimeters from my hand. My palm, in an instant, felt like it had gone through a grinder, and there were black and slightly red spots all over the place! Immediately, an aunt from the nearby house sent her son up to the house to bring some ice-cubes for my hand, and thankfully (for me) the weird feeling in my hand subsided after a few seconds! It wasn’t pain, really… it was just this stupid feel I can’t describe. Anyways, I restrained myself from going near that particular cracker again that night, but went ahead to burn the crackers of the other types!

Around 10 pm, three of my pals proposed to visit the nearby pandals and I went ahead with Rishav, Ripujoy-da and of course, the indomitable Babusona-da! Something about Rishav was striking me all night, as he appeared unusually disinclined towards the firecrackers. It was only during that night-walk sightseeing that he said that his grandma, mom’s mom, had died that very day and that’s where his dad and mom had headed. He was willing to go, but of course, his parents didn’t think it wise to take him with them since all his friends would be enjoying a lot that day and he was bound to feel sadder than he was. It’s a pity how joy for all turns into sadness for some.

Anyways, we got back to our homes shortly after returning from that trip and that was the end of that highly enjoyable and tiring day!

But guess what, picture abhi baki hai!!! We were heading for Om Shanti Om the very next day, of course! And you’re right, we had a blast!!! It was a blast alright, and we were nine in number, armed with our voices which went hoarse by the time the picture ended! Its 3 hours of pure fun, drop your logic in your homes and you’ll enjoy till you say ‘I quit’. The same me, who was condemning the Navina crowd for cheering for the stars on screen, made his voice hoarse by cheering for the 31 stars in that Deewangi Deewangi number, the gorgeous Deepika and of course, King Khan!

Well, that’s basically it! It might not be much, but I’m happy with this year! A befitting finale to the festive season! An awesome Durga Puja, a satisfactory Kali Puja and Diwali! I just wish Christmas comes early this time!!!

Signing Off,
Sometimes, life doesn’t suck,
-Jagannath (Jesse)