A cat has nine lives, I have many more – 4

This happened in 1979. It was Mahalaya – a day when people pay respect to their parents who are no longer with them. It would be a first time for me because I had lost my father the previous year. Therefore, I decided to drive on my scooter to Ram Kund in Nashik. This place is on the River Godavari and considered a holy place. On days like this, there are innumerable priests available to perform the rituals. One of my friends wanted to accompany me. He, like me, had also lost his father the previous year. We decided to leave our township by 6am, drive down to Ram Kund, carry out the tarpan and be back by 6.45 am. That way we could return in time to attend our duties at 7am.

At such an early hour of the day, the traffic on the highway was less. It was the Mumbai-Delhi National Highway No 3 – and it had only two lanes. Today, it is an 8-lane highway. Anyway, we reached the holy spot, did the tarpan and began our journey back. It was the start of another day and traffic had increased on the road. I was driving the scooter and as I approached our township, I saw a truck ahead of me. It was moving at a slow speed and I wanted to overtake it. As I edged out towards the right, I saw another truck coming from the opposite direction. Instinctively, I tried to squeeze into the space between the two trucks – and succeeded. Of course, the drivers let out expletives and I did not wait to hear them out. I had to hurry because the time was nearly 7am! I added this incident into the category of other similar near-death incidents in my life.


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Durga Puja and cultural programs

Durga Puja today is celebrated on a grand scale in Kolkata and anyone remotely connected with the celebrations invariably enjoy the fruits of labor in the form of fringe benefits. It happens irrespective of the size. I remember in our township where it was on a scale much smaller than that in Kolkata but large by local standards.
The venue was fixed – it used to be in an open space that the organizers covered up to ensure sitting spaces for those who would come to enjoy the entertainment programs in the evening.
I am talking of the period of the 1970s when TV was an object of desire that was available in only a few selected houses. The TV set was B&W and the programs were only from Doordarshan.

Anyway, in those days, the organizers of the Pujas in township would make arrangements to have one entertainment program every evening for all the four days. Due to the proximity with Mumbai, volunteers would go there and contact orchestra groups and reputed drama groups. The intention was to have programs that would appeal to different sections of society. The entertainment would be Bollywood based with artistes who would sing, dance, and perform mimicry. The drama would be Marathi. And, then, there would be a local program where local talent would go on stage.
Obviously, all these involved finance and, since the number of Bengalis was limited, the organizers had to reach out to others. Volunteers would fan out beyond township and collect donations. Everyone who donated would be given passes to attend the entertainment programs in the evenings and arrangements would be made to request the MSRTC buses for special trips at the end of the show.
However, all good things do not last for long and, in this case also, the social scenario gradually underwent a sea change – the reason was the arrival of color TV and a variety of entertainment channels. The days of ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’ on Doordarshan was over, it was replaced by serials like Hum Log and Buniyaad. (to be continued …)
Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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