A palette of vermilion

Pictures of "Boron" and "Sindoor-khela" from our neighborhood Durga Puja on Dashami :-)
Flickr Album

Shubho Bijoya from a troop of monkeys @ our terrace

BaNdor r baNdrami
Today morning a troop of monkeys came and greeted us "Shubho Bijoya" :-). There were six or seven of them - jumping, dancing, thinking, eating, playing, chasing each other -- so funny. They were sitting first on our neighbor's terrace, then they came to our terrace and jumped on to our mango tree.

I never looked up the name of these species before. Now browsing pictures on the Internet, I think they are black-footed gray langur. They are also known as Northern plains gray langur (Semnopithecus entellus) or Hanuman langur which are the species of primate in the Cercopithecidae family.

                                                            

So these gray lengurs are our distant cousin (Thanks to Pokai for pointing it out).

Here are the photos: Flickr Album

Traditional House Puja @ North Kolkata

Historical anecdotes always fascinates me and if it is about old Kolkata, then it's magical. I can listen to these old stories for hours. Surprisingly, on Maha-Ostomi I had an unique chance to visit some of those very traditional old pujas with WB tourism. The tour was fantastic. It was like going back to those old time and revisit our old Kolkata. There are few famous house-puja in North Kolkata (Uttor Kolkata) that are still carrying that old traditional style puja.  They are also known as "Bonedi barir sabeki puja" (traditional house puja). We started the tour around 8am and finished around 1pm.

First we visited Rani Rashmoni's house at Janbazar (central Kolkata). It was started around 1780. Padmamoni Dasi and her husband Rajchandra Das were the main organizers. This puja was sanctified by Ramakrishna.  He performed this puja in special "Sakhibesh" attire. Bhog is cooked with holy Ganga water.

After that we went to Chandra bari. Bharat Chandra, the head of this family, came to Kolkata from Nadia in 1781 to avoid "Borgi invasion". "Ganesh Chandra Avenue" was named after Ganesh Chandra who was one of this family members. Goddess Durga is decorated with "Daker Saaj" and it is an "Ekchala" thakur. The "Thakurdalan" was really gorgeous.

Chattubabu-Latubabu's house was next. This puja was started in 1780. Ramdulal Deb, ancestor of two famous Babus - Ashutosh Deb (Chattubabu) and Pramath Nath Deb (Latubabu) started this puja.
As a tradition, a "Neelkantha" bird (a model bird was kept inside) was set free on the day of immersion.

Next was Khelat Ghosh's house. It is one of the important "Bonedi bari"-r pujos. Many legendary musician came here and performed at this place including Ravishankar. This puja is 166 years old. The "Thakurdalan" is one of the largest of such structures in Kolkata.

Finally we arrived at "Shovabazar Rajbari". Raja Nabakrishna Deb started this puja in 1757 to commemorate the victory in the battle of Plassey by Lord Clive. This puja is performed according to the "Brihadnandikeshwar Puran". "Daker Saaj" was totally awesome. This "Rajbati" organizes two different puja at two different addresses, almost next to each other. We were given coupon for "Bhog" here. What a delicious lunch to end our trip :). The "Bhog" consists of - luchi, chholar daal, dhoka, pulao, paneer curry, chatni, papad, laddu and jilebi :) ... yessss a total yummy meal !!!

This was an amazing experience.  Especially during Durga Puja, visiting those old "bari"s in Kolkata undoubtedly added a special showcase in my memory.

Here is the album: Flickr Album

Kolkata pandal-hopping on maha-sasthi

Durga puja is like new year to us. We, the bongo-sontans*, plan everything for these five days. There is absolutely no comparison between Durga puja in Kolkata and anywhere else in the world. After 12 years finally I had the chance to do pandal-hopping on maha-sasthi day of Durga Puja. I got down at Kalighat by metro and started walking. It was a really awesome experience after so many years. It took me about five hours to cover my area of interest and finally ended up at Jadavpur thana. The entire walk made me so nostalgic. Weather was not so bad, little humid though. Mudiali, Seba sangha, Gorchha, Madox Square, Hindustan Park, Ballygunge cultural, Tridhara, Ekdalia, Singhi park, 95 Palli, Jodhpur park, Babubagan, Selimpur and others were among those. Theme based puja now a days is very popular. Decoration was gorgeous. I also tried to take a peek at the tallest Durga in Deshpriya park, but due to huge crowd the police closed it for public viewing. Smell of the street foods, road side merchandize stalls, sounds of dhaak, exciting faces of teenagers - everything was just so Kolkata-ish :) It was an one-of-a-kind experience that took me 12 years back in time, reminding me of those college days in Kolkata - our ever-special kollolini tilottoma.

*bongo-sontans = bengali-kids

Here is the map:

Here is the album: Flickr Album