He was a great help in the Kolkata Book Fair

Here is the twenty sixth unforgettable character in my life …

When we attended the Calcutta Book Fair for the first time in 1992, we had innumerable first-time experiences. The most memorable was the setting up of the stall. We had requested for the smallest space and were accordingly allotted a ten feet by ten feet area with tarpaulin roof. That was the normal practice – whoever rented the stalls had to get the decorations done by themselves.

Immediately we arrived at the venue to identify our location and take over the stall, we were besieged by hordes of people. They were decorators who wanted to take our contract. They explained their ideas and we listened and asked for rough financial estimates. In between, we rested in the makeshift tea stalls and pondered over the pros and cons. Our budget was literally a shoestring one. We had scraped together the minimum finance necessary to book the stalls and had vague estimates but the estimates of the field decorators floored us. It was at this point of time that the cousin of one of my partners came to our rescue.
He assured us that he would get the stall set up and would see that the expenses were kept to the barest minimum. He was experienced in such work because he had a couple of friends who built the local Saraswati puja pandals. They were in the know of things and, since the fair was being held during the Saraswati pujas, we heaved a sigh of relief. He arranged to shift bamboos and plywood to the venue and he and his team stayed up three nights to erect the structure.
When the fair doors were thrown open, ours was one of the stalls that was complete in all respects. He was our savior in the two subsequent years 1993 and 1995 that we participated in the Calcutta Book fair.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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He sang Rabindra Sangeet and looked after buildings

Here is the sixth unforgettable character in my life …

I met him in the hospital – I had gone for my monthly medical checkup, he had come for some other ailment. He was happy because he would be taking his son the next day to the American visa office – the boy was preparing for his MS in Engineering in an American University. It was good news.
My mind went back to the seventies when he had arrived from Calcutta, ostensibly to escape from the Naxalites. He had a diploma in civil engineering and possessed a wonderful voice, suited to Rabindra Sangeet. He got employed in the Civil engineering department and had to look after the maintenance of buildings.

Within no time, he became a favorite of the Bengalis and assumed a permanent role in the festivals like Rabindra Jayanti, Saraswati puja, and the Durga Puja. He even participated in non-Bengali programs because one who can sing can do so in any language. In due course of time, he married a local girl – she was ambitious, she also could sing and dance. The pair was a made-for-each-other couple. As luck would have it, she got a job on compassionate grounds in the same organization after her father’s premature death.
They had struggled in the initial stages and their son has made them proud now. He has retired from service and, once his son completes his MS from an American University, it would be still more feathers in their caps. My friend is an example of how Lady Luck can shower her blessings, if she wants.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Saraswati Puja means entering a new phase of life

Saraswati Puja is the ritual of worshipping the Goddess of Learning and it opens up the doors to a new world for the Bengalis. There are many positive aspects of this festival. Yes, it is nothing short of a festival for not only the tiny tots but also for boys and girls in schools and colleges as well as elders in any firm of entertainment.

Saraswati Puja is performed when the parents bring the tiny tots before the Goddess to earn her blessings as they step into the world of education. The kid sit on the lap of the priest who makes it hold a chalk and initiate the moves necessary to form an alphabet. The kid enters the world of writing the alphabets on a slate. Of course, kids today know the alphabets and numerals in advance, thanks to TV channels meant for the tiny tots. The worship of Goddess Saraswati is just a ritual.
The next phase of life is adolescence – the step is when the girls are old enough to wear the saree. And, the boys blush when they meet the girls. Saraswati Puja to them is an opportunity to shed inhibitions and enjoy each other’s company. If one goes by what participants of TV game shows admit – many of these feel-good bonds have become permanent in future. They admit that they had first met during Saraswati Puja!
And, as the devotees age, they worship the Goddess to help them assimilate knowledge – in any form. There are the singers, the musicians, the glittering stars of the silver screen as well as the small screen. And, writers.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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