Durga Puja festival is not celebrated just in Bengal. Today besides Bengal it is widely celebrated in every other states of India. Delhi alone has more than 400 registered Durga pujas while Mumbai and Bangalore has hundreds. Even the smallest state of India also celebrates this festival. There is saying that it takes two bengalis to start a Durga puja! Durga puja is also celebrated in many countries across the world. Hundreds of puja celebrations happen in US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Africa, China, Europe and South East Asia. This section is dedicated to all these pujo celebrations across the world and other parts of India. If you have a story to share on how you celebrate your Durga Puja away from Bengal, do write to me at pujomoments@gmail.com and I will post it in this page for everybody to read about your pujo celebrations.
Pujo Economics
The net spend in Kolkata alone during the Durga puja festival goes upto a few thousand crores of Indian rupees. If you are getting surprised at this statement, lets analyse the statement in more details.
Pujo and consumerism: It is a tradition among Bengalis to gift each other new sets of cloths during the Durga Puja festival. Every person the rich or the poor buy new cloths for their families and relatives. People wear new cloths, shoes during the six days of pujas. This trade of cloths and accessories like ornaments, shoes, cosmetics etc will alone lead to more than INR thousand crore of trade. Buying new cloths is not the only fresh purchases Bengalis do during Durga Puja festival. Buying new television for home, or a two wheeler or a having a fresh coat of painting for one’s apartment or going for a holiday – people plan different kinds of spends during the Durga Pujas. Price of an air ticket to and from Kolkata to any destination shots up to more than twice the average price throughout the year. Train tickets from Kolkata to different destinations during months of September and October gets booked on the first day the reservation opens. Approximately 300000 mobile handsets gets sold in Kolkata during the Durga Puja festivals. There is a proportionate quantity increase in sales of any goods or gadgets that one can imagine during this festival. Roaming around the city and pandal hopping is one of the key activities of people in Kolkata during these six days. Not only people from Kolkata but also people from nearby places in Bengal visit Kolkata to have a look at the extraordinary display of pandals. With this comes eating out. Starting from mere eggrolls, jhalmuri, bhelpuri, softdrinks, icecreams to more elaborate lunch and dinners, the food business alone does few thousand INR crores of trade in just six days of Durga puja festival in Kolkata. To add to this will be the purchase worth a few hundred INR crores of sweets on the eve of Bijoya when people gift each other sweets at the end of the puja festival.
Pujo and commercialism: Companies have identified Durga puja festival in Kolkata as a great opportunity to grab share of eyeballs of consumers. Due to steep buying behaviour of consumers, these companies generate high revenues from trade. Besides they also use this opportunity to make their brand popular among consumers. Firstly they offer huge sponsorships to the clubs who anyway spend millions every year on their pandal. Companies literally fight for space, stalls, gates, banners in key locations of famous Durga pujas. Sometimes the money offered to these clubs as sponsorships are so high that they even agree to prefix or suffix the brand name along with the club name. Brands like Times of India, Star Ananda, Pepsi have done this very successfully in the past. Secondly companies also organize multiple events through which they choose the best puja pandal of Kolkata, best artist of Kolkata, best ambience etc. This not only provides a platform for the puja pandals and artists to get recognized, but also helps the brand to get consumers’ attention. One brand which has done this really well is Asian Paints. Asian Paints has an important role in raising the standards of Durga Pujas in Kolkata. They started Asian Paints Sharad Samman in 1985 and have continued the tradition of identifying the best puja pandals of Kolkata every year. Asian Paints also involves celebrity jury for choosing the best puja pandals of Kolkata and continuously updates the people of Kolkata on shortlisted pujos through newspaper and television announcements. There are many similar Puja awards now in Kolkata like True Spirit Puja Awards, Pujo Perfect etc which choose the best pandals in Kolkata. These awards have proven to be very motivating to the puja organizers and artists and have raised the artistic creations of Kolkata Durga Pujas year after year. Finally companies along with co-branding with media (television channels, radio channels, newspapers) make live shows and promotional programs in the puja mandap premises where visitors participate and win prizes. In this way, not only the media gains their popularity, but also the companies who have co-sponsored the events with them.
I think with this brief two pictures (from consumers’ angle as well as companies’ and brands’ angle), I could give you an idea on the Pujo economics of Kolkata.
Pujo Culture
Durga Puja is not just a religious festival. It is an important part of the overall culture of Bengal. It is a tradition in Bengal to wait for pujo music launch, pujo new release of literature, annual pujo editions of Anandabazar patrika, Desh, Aajkaal, Anandamela, Anandalok, which are called pujabarshiki. Many Bengali movies also get launched on the puja eve. There was a golden age in Bengali art and culture when every single music album, literature, movie, theatre that was launched in the pujas was superhit and this probably led to the culture of pujo releases. In the nice autumnal climate of Bengal, it is a treasure for kids or adults to cling to their favourite pujo edition (pujobarshiki) and read through the novels of their favourite authors. Somewhere in the distant there would be a tape recorder or a radio playing the pujo releases of Tagore songs or Adhunik songs! Off late there has been a new addition of band songs (which I also feel are adhunik songs) from Chandrabindu, Parash Pathar, Bhumi, Lakkhichara etc. Pujo also is a time when women in house will make nice delicacies like gurer naru, tiler naru (meshed coconut balls in jaggery), nimki (salty snacks).
These days we are in the age of Facebook, Google+ and Youtube and today’s generation won’t have to wait for anything. Although this has a pro side, I also observe lack of knowledge among present generation around the rich Bengali literature repository. These small elements of Bengali culture are on a decline. However there is still hope and although there are pockets of Kolkata which is overshadowing these traditions with present modernism, we still have good pujo releases and lots of followers of this rich Bengali culture not only in Bengal but also among prabashi communities.
Celebration in Bengal
There are many ways in which Bengalis celebrate their favourite Durga Puja festival. Kids wait to wear their new cloths and run around their own apartment complex puja or parar pujo with their friends. They also want their parents to take them for some pandal hopping and treat with some delicious food and snacks. The youth and teens are more independent; they make their own pujo plans. Some of them just enjoy the pujo through long adda sessions, food, music, while others go for a tour far from the madding crowd. Young teenagers or older college-going groups also go for pandal hopping spending whole nights on the streets of Kolkata standing in long queues to get glimpses of celebrity puja pandals. Families also plan their get together or gather in the local pujas in Mahaasthami bhog bitaran (where everybody in the community enjoy a lunch together). Nearly the entire state of Bengal comes to a standstill during this festival. Kolkata alone has more than 2000 registered Durga pujas. While most of them put up simple structures (pandals), many of them put up elaborate structures and pandals and sometimes the planning for them goes for the entire year. Talented artists and professionals choose interesting subjects (imaginary or historical or something related to current affairs) and demonstrate them through their pandals. As Kolkata puts up large number of highly creative pandals, this entails lots of dedication and hardwork. So for the members of these clubs, celebration means working hard to successfully create and manage a puja pandal. Many clubs arrange for cultural events which gets participation from local para members. Some people also enjoy the Kolkata pujos by watching Pujo Parikrama in television channels. One great move in the recent years has been from the NGOs of Kolkata who are making an attempt to provide some enjoyment to the street children. These kids are taken for pandal hopping. A similar move has also been made for elders of the society and for differently abled people.
Durga Puja Festival
Durga Puja festival or Sharadiya Durga Puja (autumnal worship) as it is known among the Bengalis is the largest outdoor festival on earth. Durga puja festival came into prominence during the British raj in India and the first such pujo festival was performed by Raja Nabakrishna Deb of Shobhabazar rajbari of Kolkata. During the eighteenth century, celebration of Durga Puja became a prominent event among Jamindars, babus and other eminent Bengalis from Bengal. Some of these families have maintained the traditions and still continue to perform Durga pujas in their palatial houses. Today however most of the pujas are called Sarbojonin Durgotsav (meaning, it involves everybody). Sarbojonin Durgotsav is also called Baroyari Durga Puja. Mahishasuramardini which is a two hour radio programme aired by All India Radio since 1950s marks the start of festival moods among Bengalis. Bengalis wake up at 4 am in the morning to listen to this programme which is a recitation from Late Birendra Kishore Bhadra and late Pankaj Kumar Mullick. Mahishasuramardini consists of hymns from Devi Mahatmyam or Chandipath.
Durga Puja is a festival of celebrating the win of good over the evil (Mahishasur). It’s a belief that during autumn season, Maa Durga along with her four kids – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh makes an annual visit to the earth and leaves the earth on Dashami to reunite with her husband Shiva. Worship of Maa Durga happens from sixth day to ninth day of waxing moon fortnight (Devipakshya). While brahmins offer puja to Maa Durga, crowds gather to offer their prayer (pushpanjali). The pandals are full of rhythmic music from drummers (dhakis). The immersion ceremony happens on the day of Dashami which is also called Bishorjon or Bhaasan. After Dashami people forget the grief of departure of Maa Durga and embrace each other. This is called Bijoya and people treat other with sweets and delicacies.