The Puja season, this time around, has come upon us a might too 
early, sapping some of joy - what with having to contend with an extremely muggy weather, the lack of the warm ‘Sarat Kaal’ sun and overall the general ‘puja’ flavour that the winds bring in, while ushering in the Goddess in our midst. Kolkata though, true to its undying spirit, refused to be held back and put up, as it is wont to,
a kaleidoscopic show trying to be mightier and grander than its previous shows and it is here that I step in. While the Puja’s have their own folklore surrounding them of how Goddess Durga, bestowed with powers from the entire pantheon of Gods that make up the Hindu religion, defeated Mahishasura – an embodiment of evil, to us mortals it is more of a long string of pure abandonment and bliss…no studies…no work…stay out as long as 
you want…eat what your soul craves for…and the list is endless. In the midst of all this, I have a sinking feeling that as puja’s after puja’s go by, we are, to some extent, running the risk of losing the very essence of divinity in the race to differentiate one Puja from the next. Today, creativity and the need to create crowd pulling ‘themes’ has become such a fad that the simplicity in the act of worshipping – putting your palms together and bowing before the divine has been substituted with being able to quickly flash out your digital cameras or your mobile phones and start clicking away. Can you blame the common man for losing the very essence of bhakti in the face of, the awesome creativity that is laid out before him to feast his eyes on. Experimenting is good and has to be encouraged – by all means, but haven’t we taken it too far?
a kaleidoscopic show trying to be mightier and grander than its previous shows and it is here that I step in. While the Puja’s have their own folklore surrounding them of how Goddess Durga, bestowed with powers from the entire pantheon of Gods that make up the Hindu religion, defeated Mahishasura – an embodiment of evil, to us mortals it is more of a long string of pure abandonment and bliss…no studies…no work…stay out as long as 
you want…eat what your soul craves for…and the list is endless. In the midst of all this, I have a sinking feeling that as puja’s after puja’s go by, we are, to some extent, running the risk of losing the very essence of divinity in the race to differentiate one Puja from the next. Today, creativity and the need to create crowd pulling ‘themes’ has become such a fad that the simplicity in the act of worshipping – putting your palms together and bowing before the divine has been substituted with being able to quickly flash out your digital cameras or your mobile phones and start clicking away. Can you blame the common man for losing the very essence of bhakti in the face of, the awesome creativity that is laid out before him to feast his eyes on. Experimenting is good and has to be encouraged – by all means, but haven’t we taken it too far? At the cost of sounding puritan, I would rather that the puja’s be a showcase of both 
creativity but while holding on to the age old essence of the festival – a time that we take to find the God in us and immerse ourselves, albeit whatever little, in the Omnipresent Power. While it may be a good idea to showcase our creativity – and believe me there is an awful lot to show – we should seriously introspect on how we are tending towards depicting the Goddess. To my mind this is one area where we have threaded a bit to far for comfort. Take the case of a theme puja in South Kolkata this year, where the organisers fashioned the pandal as a giant 
weaver bird’s nest – and it was really a magnificent piece of craftsmanship, but they ended up botching the image of Goddess Durga, who instead of holding her weapons had different kinds of birds in her hand! Then there was this excellent puja organised in Salt Lake, built around the Buddhist theme, which was again extremely well done but again when it came to depicting the Goddess they took the theme too far. All this brings to mind Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s famous poem ‘Buddha aur Naachghar’, from which I am quoting a few lines…
creativity but while holding on to the age old essence of the festival – a time that we take to find the God in us and immerse ourselves, albeit whatever little, in the Omnipresent Power. While it may be a good idea to showcase our creativity – and believe me there is an awful lot to show – we should seriously introspect on how we are tending towards depicting the Goddess. To my mind this is one area where we have threaded a bit to far for comfort. Take the case of a theme puja in South Kolkata this year, where the organisers fashioned the pandal as a giant 
weaver bird’s nest – and it was really a magnificent piece of craftsmanship, but they ended up botching the image of Goddess Durga, who instead of holding her weapons had different kinds of birds in her hand! Then there was this excellent puja organised in Salt Lake, built around the Buddhist theme, which was again extremely well done but again when it came to depicting the Goddess they took the theme too far. All this brings to mind Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s famous poem ‘Buddha aur Naachghar’, from which I am quoting a few lines… “Jaaha Khuda ki nahi gaali daal,
Waahan buddh ki kya chalti chaal,
Wehey thea murti ke khilaph,
Esnea unhi ki baaniye murti,
Wehey thea puja ke virudh,
Esnea unhi ko diya pujj,
Unheay Eshwar mein tha abiswas,
Esnea unhi ko khay diya Bhagwan,
Wehey aaye thea phailane ko vairag,
Mitane ko singar, patar,
Esnea unhi ko baana diya Shringar,
Baanaya unka sundar aakar,
Unka bel mund tha sheesh
Esnea laagaye baal ghungar-daar,
Aur mitti, lakdri, pathar, loha,
Tamba, peetal, chandi, sona,
Moonga, neelum, panna, haathi-daath,
Saab ke aandar Unhe dhal, tarash, kharad, nikal,
Bana diya Unhe bazaar mein biknea ka saaman…”
And if we are to keeping riding the crest wave of creativity don’t you think we really run the risk of taking all forms of God to what we have done to Buddha…read on…
“Peking se Chicago taak,
Koi nahi curio ki dukaan,
Jaahan bhalei-hi aur na ho kuch,
Buddh ki murti na milea jo maango!
Buddh Bhagwan,
Aamiro ke drawing room, Rahiso ke maakan,
Tumhare chitra, tumhari murti se shobha eeman,
Paar whey hai tumhare darshan se unabhig,
Tumhaare vicharo sey unjaan,
Saapney mein bhi unhe eeska nahi aata dhyan,
Sher ke khaal, hiran ke seengh, kala-karigiri ke namuno ke saath,
Thum bhi ho aaseen,
Logo ke soundar priyata ko deete huay taasken
Esi leye Tum ne eek ke thi aasman zameen?”
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