Pujo in Pune

Pujo time is beyond exciting for anyone from Calcutta. It means stuffing yourself with great food and mishti, wearing new clothes, going pandal-hopping with friends and of course, the endless pseudo-intellectual adda on the streets.

I’ve never had the chance to celebrate during Pujo like a true Calcuttan and it’s something I’ve always regretted. It’s been many years since I’ve been in Calcutta during Durga Pujo and I don’t know when I will be again. I still have this childhood memory of clutching on to my grandfather’s big hand amongst the massive clutter of overexcited, sweaty Bengalis. I remember the energy and excitement all the Pujo pandals exuded. I remember my father and my grandfather talking about how they would count the number of pandals they visited and all the food they would eat.

Pujo is not the same in Bombay and Pune. The atmosphere doesn’t quite match up to Calcutta and the people aren’t half as excited about it as they are there. I remember my grandfather asking me how many ‘thakurs’ I had seen that year and I always replied with two or three. I wonder how many they used to see.

These are pictures from a place in Pune where the idols are made. All the men who make the idols are from Calcutta and they travel here for 2 to 3 months to make them. It’s such a mysterious and fascinating place right in the middle of the buzzing city.

Visiting the place made me want to forget about these trivial exams and take the next train to Calcutta, spend the next couple of weeks there and absorb all that beautiful energy that Calcutta is always exuding.