Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Hail to the Goddess Durga-Destroyer of Evil!


Am back folks! Missed blogging a lot. It was a hectic trip to Delhi with the agenda of looking for some documents which we had misplaced during the shifting and meeting friends and family. The brat enjoyed herself the most as she had her fill of going on the swings in the puja pandals and meeting her ex-classmates. I met a cousin after a long long time and also visited a few family friends and ofcourse Jamia! But most of all I was glad to set eyes on the most beautiful, the most awe inspiring and goose bump inducing Goddess Durga. If you are a Bengali then it is a given that the goddess will give rise to a feeling of joy, thumping heart, moist eyes and all. Inexplicably this flamboyant lady makes my Bengali heart skip a beat the moment I see her. From the time that my grandmother gave me her pictures from Pujo shonkhas (Magazines that come out during the pujas which are replete with her image and which are another part of the Bengali pujo ritual, must possess a pujo shonkha even if I do not read it!) and asked me to make her drawing on the first page of my drawing book. She is so beautiful and at the same time powerful and magical. Her slaying of the demon Mahishashur is much more dramatic and grand than the killing of Ravana by Rama. At the same time she is the mother of four who has come to visit her parent's place- so typical and commonplace yet juxtaposed with the supernatural the divine. She is so many things! I love and adore her and I wish I had ten hands like her to carry out the chores around the house. Surely, she is the invention of one such harassed mother who wanted to do everything- kill demons, raise children and visit her parents at regular intervals! Oh Goddess, please help us moms to be like you and tweak the evolution process so that women can be born with more hands to perform the various tasks that she has to perform. Amen!


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