Aagomoni

Saw a burst of Kaash among the rubble and concrete construction and suddenly felt a burst of happiness. The sky looked blue with tufts of clouds and the half constructed pandals on the middle of the road , all giving  that happy feeling  next week poojo will begin.
When we were young our main anticipation was the new clothes. Every year my grandmother (Didi)would send me a parcel from Benaras, her own creations for me. She would go over the latest designs in
"Femina"( the only in- mag those days) and conjure up some wonderful ensembles. I was probably the first few among friends to own a maxi or wear a hep version of the Burmese Lungi :)!I remember how I waited for the parcel and that was the first question I would ask after I got back from school was ," Parcel esheche?"

Strangely, most of my earlier poojos were spent in Benaras. Come Poojor chuti and me and my mother would board the AC Deluxe chaircar and take off - Dada  (grandfather ) waited for us at mughalsarai and from there we would go to that bunglow in Varanasi cantonment. This was much before Varanasi cant had its own stop.
I hardly saw the poojos in Kolkata then.And I didn't miss it either .

It was all before the "Mainak" bug bit me. It was 1978and we moved into an aparment from our three storied house overlooking Puddapukur. I missed my Thakuma and the entourage of workforce that we had there- with "poki' being my best friend ! But here at "mainak" it was a different world. I met our neighbour Mohua and promptly hit it off with her and the others of my age - thus began our poojo fever. Of working late after school over the natoks that Supriya kakima directed.  I remember me and Mimi being at the receiving end of scoldings because we would erupt into giggles after each dialog. And at another time Piklu had a bout of stage fright and hid in the bathroom cause he had to sing "hasta maniana " with us ! Some debacles , some accolades- and I moved on and out of Kolkata !
Life for me comes to a full circle when our generation next is all agog with the same gung ho spirit for poojo. Babui never misses the "thakur ana" ,whichever corner of the world he may be in . The gang is always together till the wee hours of the morning - However our parents group is depleting ! Supriya kakima is long gone , and this time we will miss DJ kaku and his stylish dhutis ! The poojo with all it's financial and logistical connotations is becming a responsibility that is difficult for any shoulder to bear. Baba being the President has his own take - and the gen next has theirs. In the chaos we know will reign the cosmos- cos "ma" cannot stay away from those 5 days of glorified love - and me ? I am already feling sad that 2 weeks from now it's again 'ashche bochor abar hobe'.............Why can't we sent a refrendum to the lord to let "ma" come twice in a year ?