The Puja Diaries

day six - dashami

depressing, anticlimactic, nostalgic, regretful, somewhat relieved - what a medley of feelings on dashami! first there's the inevitable sadness because

1. the pujas are over, therefore
2. the pandal will be stripped down
3. no more dressing up at the drop of a hat, no more day (and night) long adda sessions, music and word games, no more sponsored prizes, no more community lunches, no more traipsing around the city, no more group photos
4. back to the crushing grind of the educational system

then there's the relief

1. can revert to my normal tomboy dress sense
2. less pressure to socialize
3. good things always come in sizeable but restrained portions, except at the pujas. any more of this hysterical party merry-go-round i've been on and i might never readjust to having my feet on the ground

yesterday, the high point of my day was the bhashan. two lorries of people, one of which broke down on the way back so everyone had to crowd up on ours. setting the murti afloat on the river at the exact moment the sun fell below the horizon, which is supposed to be auspicious. insane dancing and singing, calling out and handclapping on the journey there and back. synchronized dancing in a circle at the ghat, and then again in the pandal back home. cold drinks and balloons on the trip, the bruises on my feet and arms, even the tetanus vaccine shot when i got back because i scraped my wrist somewhere, then the evening trip to adda bites for drumsticks of heaven, the round of word games up until eleven at night sitting in the dim lights of the park. the chocolate i got for my mom to say sorry for never being at home for about a week. the chores i did in the morning because of how exhausted she looked. the pictures, the videos, the extremely sumptuous community lunch.

i can't describe all this in coherent joined sentences apparently. in my mind, i have a filmstrip of memories, and hopefully the picture files on hard disk as back up soon. but perhaps the best part of yesterday was watching casablanca with my mom for the very first time. what an iconic film! "here's looking at you, kid" "this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship" "play it again, sam" man, oh man what a classic golden oldie! although ingrid wasn't as ethereally beautiful as i was told. she's swedish, go figure, must've been 5'10 at least.

and last but not least, the saddest part was us taking the photo gallery and some mishti to shanky's house for his parents. aunty cried, we sat around for a while making plans to have the cardboard gallery properly framed, they gave us sprite and cake, bless them, and we might've cried a bit too. rest in peace, shanky, dear friend.

what a day, what an ending, what a grand finale! am too drained to type any more now. be seeing you. much love, and subho bijoya!

[!!(~^~*~^*)!!]