Durga Puja Comes to our door step!

We are blessed with a corporation play ground in front of our home in Sastri Nagar (14^th Cross) in Chennai.. The play ground, however, turns into a mini lake during heavy rains. Last week we were surprised to learn from our Rotarian friend Bhowmik, who also happens to be the President   of South Madras Cultural association( a Bengali Association) that after a gap of two years, this year  the Association will be holding their annual Durga Puja Festival at the corporation grounds in front of our house. The Festival used to be held at the Corporation Community hall opposite Besant Nagar bus terminus for the last 40 years. Since the hall has been demolished to make way for another structure  the association had to look for alternative venues.

 While Bhowmik was happy that the new venue offers much bigger space,  I was worried about the possible disruption to our normal lives, especially the possible traffic jam that the hundreds of cars  which will be visiting the venue will cause making it difficult for our own vehicle movements, besides the security aspect.  Bhowmik assured us that arrangements had been made to regulate the vehicle  movements so that the residents are not  badly affected. I am happy to report that the experience of the first two days for the residents has been positive. Many of them have decided to visit  the  prayer  area  every day and ensure that they also have tasted all the varieties of lip smacking snacks available at the venue during the five days  of the festival.

The venue has been well laid  out with clear demarcation of the Puja area, food stalls selling street food from Bengal , an auditorium and other stalls offering  a variety of products and services.

` From beats of dhaak, the smoke of Dhumunchi to smell of kichudi bhog, a mini Bengal is being created at the venue. On the last three days bhog ( Prasad) will be served to devotees visiting the venue. Every evening there  will be  entertainment programme featuring music, dance , plays and fashion shows` said an organizer.

There was a mixed reaction to the news from the residents in the colony. Most  of them felt happy that a big festival was  happening at their door step and some were excited about the possibility of consuming the variety of Bengali sweets and snacks available at the venue during the course of the festival. I visited the puja area with my sister yesterday  but resisted the temptation to go for the goodies at the food stalls  as I am not confident of my ability to digest street foods.