As a child Kali Puja has always been about fire crackers.
The streets became a war zone of an unofficial cracker competition as the kids
in one house tried to outdo the others around.
The more crackers we got the happier we were. The 28(athaish), Atoms, and
the Rockets were the best of all. Alas, I never got any of these bad boys.
In a firecracker competition the more noise your crackers
made the closer you are to victory. I never won any of these competitions.
Thanks to my father, who believed Diwali is the festival of light and not
sound. As a result all my crackers had a lot of light but no sound.
All I could hope was that my neighborhood kids were in my
line of sight while I set off my array of sound less; light filled firecrackers.
While they made sure to save the loudest crackers for until bed time.
Crafty little fellows.
Though out of sight, they could still
target my eardrums.
In my Hometown Silchar we celebrate kalipuja in the most
innovative of ways. Puja Pandals are made out of bamboo, thermocol, little
glass botttles and many other ingenious ways items you might think of.
But most of the Puja committees are obsessed with the idea
of building a 'GUHA' or a cave. This fascination with 'Guha' has lasted through
decades and still today, a few pandals make their 'Guha's.
Personally, I have always been petrified of these. As a
result, whenever we come across a pandal with a Guha; I stand outside, as my
friends clamored to get inside. Standing outside is not such a bad thing as you
may think. You stand outside and look at pretty girls who have just come out of
the Exit area.
This year, while I was standing outside one of the pandals, I
noticed a girl as bubbly as a bumble bee coming out of the exit. As she
strolled past me, I blurted out 'is it scary inside', 'I heard there are real skeletons
in there?'
‘No, its not that scary, its rather fun’, she said, 'haven’t
you gone inside?'
‘No, my friends ditched me’, I said, 'and I am too scared to
go alone'
‘oh poor you, don't be scared’, she said, ‘come I will show you’.
I still stand outside the Guhas whenever I go pandal
hopping. But I am no longer afraid of them, I am rather
fond of them now.
