Saraswati Puja 2008...A Snapshot

As everyone woke up to the dense fog enveloped morning of 11th February the mood was upbeat and the mercury of activity touching the heights of columns. The day was Vasant Panchami, the day of saraswati puja and the 2nd year students of Silchar Medical College were thronging every corner of the campus.

Almost everyone was awake and in motion only a few motionless soul lay in bed as they had put up the entire last night adding finishing strokes of the aesthetic aspects of the puja. The kitchen became a culinary hotspot of exothermic reactions accompanied by rich aroma and essence that could liquefy the nasal mucosa of many. The puja mandap was surrounded by an aura of beauty and divinity that was radiating in all direction. A common thread seemed to connect everyone, students adorning their traditional wear and costumes, a hustle bustle going on everywhere, some busy preparing the puja offerings, some busy managing the last minute details, bikes rushing in and out at the wink of your eye. And an intense tremor of multiple emotions of excitement, anticipation and doubt running down our spine. This was the first big event entrusted to us and although everything was set yet there are certain things that can’t be predicted, till the last minute. But the event turned out to be a cracker of an event. Real turned out as in reel and events were executed scene by scene, without cuts and retakes and broadcasted live with minor faults (man our programme was all OK , mind you those faults were telecast hitch and trick photography).

Soon after the early morning preparations were over and almost all details finalised, questions regarding when “ANJALI” will take place began buzzing our ears from all scores and we kept assuring them …10mins, 15mins, 20mins, …….ultimately at quarter to ten arrived a gentleman clad in shirt and trouser with a cream colour sweater and breezed in through the hostel rooms to reach his final destination and in a tip of moment changed his dress to adorn his majestic dhoti with NAMABALI( a yellow cloth with hindu vedic mantras printed in red in Sanskrit) and marched down the hostel corridors and reached the mandap, my friend Babin (Avisek….the saraswati puja committee conveynor) introduced me to the gentleman as Sishir Mama, soon the salutation changed from purohit moshai to mama and I welcomed him to the mandap where we had made a final check to see if all puja items were on place and ready but inexperience was writ large on our faces, but the co-operating gentleman or Mama seemed to be a modern day 21st century purohit who winded up the entire puja performance in half an hour to bedazzle me and pushpanjali began at 11AM sharp, soon the entire place around the mandap that was scarcely populated all this while , there was not an inch of space to spare , everyone wanted to avail the first possible chance for pushpanjali and batches began flowing like river, imagine the purohit conducting the puja and me distributing flowers collecting them back to offer it at the altar, amidst the hustle and bustle people continued to offer their pushpanjali , took the holy communion( in this case the amrapallav in milk) and went out to sit in the pandal that was buzzing with people, laughter, giggles, loud conversations as if to fill the atmosphere with the spectrum of noise. Soon after the havan (holy fire) began and the purohit performed the actual vedic rituals of purifying the entire place and process with agni(fire) as the witness to this divine intervention. The fire though a short lived flammable entity is a very important part of any hindu tradition. As the fire faded away to make room for the smoke that died out to churn out the black sooty remains (traish as called in Sanskrit), devotees and students once again queued up to get a smear of the sooty remains as tilak on their foreheads as a symbol that they also are a part of the divine entity (earth , water, fire and ether). Well well well….enough of religious intricacies and technical maneuvers friends. Now it was time for the Luncheon, the centre of attraction of the entire puja. This time it was a click that took the most vivid foodie by a surprise. Unlike every year this year Khichuri wasn’t the staple base, instead a generic variant Bhuna Khichuri a much more dry and delicious form had taken centre-stage(credits: Shubhasankar Das and food and marketing team), for the first couple of batches hardly we could find some one who could guess what was it, when ultimately Dr. S.K. Biswas , our professor of Medicine could decipher the traditional dish as Bhuna Khichuri and was pleased to know that our conveynor, Avisek too was aware of it. The other delicacies too did their job well and the Bon appetitẽ factor of the luncheon was high, last but certainly not the least came the traditional Bengali sweet Payesh (a cousin of the English porridge) to show the final ace in the deck of cards, servings went on and people kept thumping the entire semi liquid sweet mass down their gut canals to treat their taste buds to an gastronomic extravaganza. But one must eat less to keep fit, but who cares about that, even I don’t whenever my eyes detect an edible delicacy….that’s truly Bengali. Batches went on and we kept running around the place to cater to everyone’s needs and demands. But the ample reward came as the facial expressions of those who ate, was telling it all. Der hai par andher nahi…when ultimately our turn came we were too exhausted to relish the true flavour of the food at least I wasn’t.

BLANK ( a extreme late afternoon or evening nap of about an hour)

And back to business at 6pm , at the ground between the two hostels….Rupak the cultural In-charge was running around trying to stitch the pieces of cultural performances in a single thread but most of it was in vain ultimately when he reached the verge of losing his cool and temper that I intervened to enquire the status quo to find out that things were almost Ok was a few last minute flip/flap , and after some more sweat drenching with the audio controllers and performers, the artistes , that the things were finalised and the host and hostess (bani and Sparshita) for the evening were briefed with their final script and rushed to the green room …what followed should be enquired from people who witnessed it. But if we are to sum it up I would say it was a good effort that had reaped even better result. A few performances by child artistes, some solo song, a beautiful musical symphony ,

The release of the Magazine Panchami, with a speech from our Principal sir Dr. S. S. Dhar on the occasion. Some more solo and a rocking sufi music couplet with an accompanying electric guitar to spice up the air. A final dash of cultural emotion by Seema Paul madam , with two Bengali devotional songs and a Rabindra sangeet ( Boro asha kore asechi go………..), Santi da(Santi Bhatt as my friends referred to him)sang some more bengali solo to end up the evening with minute strokes from tapashim da in the end. A cherish able memory , one that’ll be a source of perineal delight in the years to come and a sweet memory for all of us in the 2006 entrant batch of Silchar Medical college. Our moment of glory onenes and togetherness ....together we can and we will make a..................?

(fill up the dash with our deeds taht'll bloom all the way always and inall ways)

Biswarup Purkayastha, 4th Semester