The Puja Diaries

epilogue

yes, yes, i know the pujas are over. but with the inevitable sense of letdown comes the realization that life (implies parties implies fun implies life again) does not stop. living proof of this edict? 'charlie's angels' , well, just two of us, me and at-present delhiite shoili pal, are proud to present the 'Stupendously Calorific Recipe For Good/High Living' a la chocolat. - serves two.

1. first, confirm earlier in the day where you want to meet. why's and wherefore's are extraneous if the two of you are comrades in arms. city centre, saltlake, and highland park are recommended.
2. secondly, turn up. this is all that is required to make your companion(s) happy, if you're lucky.
3. then, sit, chat, catch up on good times and old friends, gossip, scandalmonger, say obscenely improbable things whenever aatel people pass by.
4. later, walk around, browse in shop of choice, like (insert name/brand ________)then make your way to the nearest confectionery.
5. buy chocolate cake. lots of it.
6. go somewhere else. buy drinks like club soda, apple juice, 7UP, and mountain spring water (last was frickin' delicious, incidentally)
7. find a nearby park. sit down on the grass, preferably barefoot. bring extra napkins.
8. mix the drinks. taste. adjust in proportion.
9. buy every kind of junk that goes by, like jhaalmuri and spiced tea, to add bangali zing to the chocolate and club soda mix.
10. do not start with the creamy cakes first. if you're like me, you could actually get punch-drunk on the chocolate and wobble and giggle and feel lightheaded when you try to start on the serious stuff like wedge sliced chocolate cake. leave that for twenty minutes before you have to leave, then have orange juice and black spiced tea to shake it off.
11. sit there till its dark, and inevitably the parents start ringing. give them ten minutes leeway, then make for home.
12. buy something nice for your mother (like purple shimmer nailpolish, for example) to make up for leaving her alone so much.
13. come home via the bypass. don't go straight home, though. make time for your neighbourhood friends who will then want you to join the mishti and aam sorbet party hosted by your favorite parar aunty, the same jayanti aunty who brought me noodles and sympathy when i was down with the flu on my birthday.
14. come home after extended chat. do something nice for your father too, to make up for not touching a textbook since the midterms ended, like making him hot, sweet tea.
15. blog about everything in detail, so that others may benefit from the precedent set by you.
16.sign off.

we, the authors, are pleased to inform you that this method of access to the good life is tried, tested, and virtually idiotproof. precautionary warning - avoid the jhaal aka the lanka in the jhaalmuri if you're like me, allergic to having a flaming fire on your tongue.
well, enjoy yourselves in moderation, and drive safely. good night, friends, indians and party people across the world. a special shout-out to pal, for making my day.......much love, buddy! ciao.

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!

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

The Puja Diaries

day five - nabami

woke up to the dulcet tones of my cell phone - titan's own strident tones followed thereafter, peremptorily ordering me down for the Spot Quiz. therefore i rushed down in an Olympic record of shower-and-change-in-ten-minutes, and within fifteen minutes acquired a gift voucher for answering the question (in which of shakespeare's plays is the heroine called Hero?) duh- much ado about nothing - and thus won the right to squander 75 bucks of corporate money on formidable guzzling at monginis. sidenote - hehehehe...........

in the evening i wore my new black glitterati top with (heaven forgive me) d's HUGE red bracelet (that everyone but me was freshly astounded by, in a good way, i hope) and then taira di, mitu, titan, raju, ayan da, me and akash da made the tour of the housing pujas in our areas (smirks derisively) and endured simmering jealousy at the sight of manjulika a's fantastic turnout this time. on our return, well, i got some bad news about a friend (there is nothing to discuss) and was later cheered up by naughty story games and an impromptu backstage dance around and after midnight. an extremely fun day it was, all round, and am already anticipating going for the bhashan.
anyway. i returned to the parental abode after one in the morning, took a bath, and then settled down to wait for d to call for our usual midnight chat. he obliged within ten seconds of my "i'm free now" missed call and he kept me up until two fifteen giggling at his extended family's antics. after making him promise to wake me up at ten this morning with an elongated call, i flipped over in bed and FINALLY finished Richard Bach's Curious Lives. must've been the adrenalin rush keeping me awake. anyway, gotta rush to go shower, change, and go downstairs to hang out friends. already missed calls and 'whr r u' messages abound. ciao all. stay tuned for the grand finale of the puja diaries,

much love,

trisha
(~_~)

The Puja Diaries

day four - ashtami

my grandparents came to visit today, after a hiatus of two years of illness, operations and stress. my grandma watched speilberg's AI in the afternoon with me doing the verbal subtitling for her and cried, bless her. my grandfather snored gently beside me for most of the day.
later i went down to the community pandal, hung out with friends, watched the antakshari, etc. high point of the evening - i debuted in the most expensive ensemble i possess, an ethnic mishmash of gold and sunset colours.will upload pix later.
stayed up quite late, first in the pandal with friends, and then a delicious dinner at home, followed by a quick midnight chat with d before bunking down. not a very spectacular day, unless you count the ensemble, which i don't.
night all.
god, my feet are killing me. why are beautiful shoes always the most painful?

The Puja Diaries - Photographic Evidence-II

THE BOSEPUKUR THAKUR


akash da, taira di, me

The Puja Diaries - Photographic Evidence

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The Puja Diaries

day three - saptami

woke up relatively early for the three-minutes-to-fame hosting gig, which turned out to be exhausting, drainingly heating my skin for what felt like hours as i tried to find new contestants to perform (although titan and i were told later that we did a good job). suki di and pal turned up, letting me know only in the morning, thus catching me off-guard and effectively blindsiding any sophisticated hospitality plans i may ever have harboured. we had fun, though. even my uncle and aunt found time to drop by during lunch........
later, i went to meet d at the crossroads, while suki di and pal tagged along, got introduced, passed lifted-eyebrow-judgements (as usual) as we all took a patuli bus. d got the tickets, thus (hopefully) impressing the heck out of my friends with his generous notions of male chivalry -lol- and he and pal and i roamed around hiland park for a bit - suki di had to go meet her Baby (!!)- until about 4, when we bundled pal on to a bus back home, and then went off to watch drona. although we laughed or gaped unbelievingly through most of the movie, it was still fun, if only for the almost skeletal script and storyline. the special effects were stunning, though, much like the silver bracelet with the enormous red stone that d thought fit to bestow on me today.
and although part of me appreciates the fact that he remembered that we went into a shop the previous week and i wistfully stared at the blue version of the same bracelet and told him about looking for the red in my spare time, thus leading him to scour malls near and far till he found the right one, perhaps this is after all a case of too fast, too furious, too much.............even though i do, too, like him a sizeable lot. wondering now what i should get him in return. perhaps a faux leather belt with a wrestlers' tag, hehe....
anyway, i even won a 300 buck gift voucher for longhorns' for being the first person to get the middle row struck out in housie this morning, despite (nearly) getting into hot water regarding the planned Great Indian Pen Hijack Heist (concerned parties and common friends will know what i mean - and by the way, i replaced that pen with a brand new one of the same color ink), and then photographed well tonight in my new white shirt-jeans-black-waistcoat-silver shoes-pearl drops-ensemble (smirks, bows), so all in all, a very positively memorable day of the pujas. long rule the goddess. ended it by playing silly singing games in the park with a bunch of nice friends close to midnight. irresponsibility is such bliss.

P.S.- am uploading pics of the last few puja days here, tonight. feel free to comment and link up!

patiently yours,

trisha

!!!!!!!!