Shoppers enjoy last minute Puja shopping in Gariahat, New Market and Hatibagan

With a few days left for the Durga Puja, the markets and malls across the city of Kolkata wore a festive look. There were crowds of enthusiastic puja shoppers, many of them without masks. The focal points were in Gariahat, New Market and Hatibagan. People arrived early in the day and kept increasing as time passed. Many of the shopkeepers at these markets kept their shops open for a longer time to take advantage of the rush. Shops that sold clothes, jewelry, bags and crockery were a huge hit amongst the shoppers. Even the food stalls were kept busy making rolls and spiced cold drinks. The customers included both shoppers and passersby. Similar scenes were witnessed outside the Esplanade metro station with people making a beeline for New Market. As evening descended, the crowd grew in size. A senior official of South City Group said - “The Saturday footfall was around 1.2 lakh. Going by the trend till evening, today’s count should be more.” another official of Acropolis Mall, said the entire weekend saw an impressive turnout. “This week we have seen 3 per cent more footfall and sales than 2019.” Kolkata sees rush on last Sunday before Puja, malls crowded, restaurants chock-a-block.

There was heavy police bandobast to ensure that the traffic was on the move, especially at the Gariahat intersection. The civic volunteers lifted the nylon ropes to allow people to cross the roads. Once in a while, an officer would reprimand a jaywalking pedestrian. In places like Gariahat and New Market, the pavements were jam packed with not an inch of space on the pavements. Restaurants near the shopping hubs did roaring business and witnessed a never-ending queue of people. Similar was the experience on Park Street. Obviously, there was happiness all around. A restaurant in Deshapriya Park had several people waiting outside, in queue. As the director of a restaurant admitted - “Our outlets in New Market and Hatibagan have been witnessing a rush even during the lean hours. Basically, there is no lean hour.”

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Preparations for Durga Puja 2022

Durga Puja is the greatest festival of Bengal and Bengalis all over the world. It has become a mega event for Kolkata and there are hundreds of Pujas held at various locations in the city and its suburbs. Normally, the organizers begin the preparations much in advance – some of them have a lead-time of several months. In order to attract the people, they identify themes for the design of pandals, arrangement of lights and decorations. Huge sums of money are involved and the source is usually through sponsors. Few of them are prominent names and they make their presence felt through banners. These display their products. Already it is August and this year, the dates for the festival are in the first week of October. Obviously, work is on in full swing in Kumartuli where artisans create the idols. They make use of moulds for the faces and most of the material used are environment friendly like bamboo, straw, clay. Many of the idols go overseas where Bengalis want to retain the tradition even though they might be thousands of miles away. Durga Puja 2022: Goddess Durga idols ready for export; artists from Kolkata’s Kumartuli hopeful for more orders this year

Durga Puja is a festival when people buy new clothes, ornaments, jewelry and footwear. With very little time left, shops have begun to work overtime and stock up their inventory. Many of them dispose their old unsold stocks at reduced prices and there are buyers. This is a craze among a section of Bengalis. They usually cannot afford to spend too much money. Most shops of this category occupy space on footpaths. As a result, traveling on foot becomes a nightmare. These shops are at Gariahat in South Kolkata and Hatibagan in North Kolkata. Alongside them, there are the fast food vendors who are assured of a steady stream of customers during the festive season. After all, in order to strike a bargain, the customer has to check out different shops and move from one to another. Therefore, once they have purchased what they need, they search for a food outlet and relax with egg roll or mughlai paratha or samosa or kachuri or chicken chow or momo. Alongside eatables, there are tea, lassi, ice cream and a huge variety of sweets from rosogollas to sandesh. The choice is huge provided one has the means

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Shiva learns about dhanteras from Durga (satire)

Lord Shiva wore a worried look in his abode in the wilderness of Mount Kailash. Durga had returned with her children and was settling down to the dull dreary routine life but the bombardment of ads on the TV was a major distraction for Shiva.
He was unable to concentrate of how to lay hands on fresh tiger skins. Yes, he had got used to the duplicate stuff but, the feel of the original was missing.
Durga guessed that Lord Shiva had something on his mind because he was twirling his trident between his fingers.
‘A paisa for your thoughts,’ she said as she sidled up to him and occupied a seat beside him on a hillock.
‘What is this dhanteras?’ he asked.
‘You know what is dhan?’
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘It means wealth.’
‘Well – dhanteras is a word coined to mean accumulation of wealth.’
‘I see,’ Shiva mumbled. ‘That is why jewelry shops are offering discounts on making charges of ornaments to attract customers, right?’

‘Partially. In fact, dhanteras has become a huge business opportunity for even the online fraternity. They are selling items from jewelry to sweets and clothes and footwear apart from TV sets and smart phones.’
‘You forgot to add – buying two and four wheelers on instalment. In short, dhanteras is yet another festival to milk the people.’
‘Yes, it is another festival to spread a feeling of goodness and well-being.’
‘Then why are they banning firecrackers during Diwali?’
‘That is to prevent air pollution and keep the children safe.’
‘But they burst crackers on the roads when they win elections.’
‘Those are exceptions. Remember, exception proves the rule.’
‘Then what about those who do business in firecrackers? Do you want them to switch over to making jewelry or making rasogollas or pickles?’
Durga sighed.
‘They can go in for alternate jobs like making clay lamps for Diwali. Clay lamps, wicks, bottled oils. These are in great demand because there is a ban on imported toony bulbs and Diwali means lights to drive away the darkness and evil.’
‘I doubt if Evil will ever be frightened by lights and run away,’ Shiva said. ‘They need to be bombed out.’ (to be continued …)


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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