Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Kolkata & Durga Puja
My taxi sailed through many red lights without any pretension at
braking or stopping. The Calcutta police were not that interested and
anyway there was no traffic. It was post Durga Puja rush, the streets
were incredibly quiet after the insane and wild ecstatic dancing by
thousands of really happy people. The Durga takur was being taken in
large lorry trucks packed with revelers of all ages, faces all smeared
with vermilion powder beaming with huge smiles.
My cab driver honked for no reason from time to time bot often as we
sailed through those red lights, I suppose just in case there was
someone coming through the green lights the other way. I felt safe as
I am pretty sure that the cab driver valued his life, probably more
than he valued mine. People were settling down for the night in their
apartments, on the sidewalk, on rooftops, on chapawas (cots) in
alleyways. Once we hit downtown from Behala I could see that some
people were still going to Zeeshan's for a midnight meal. It's
exhausting to dance ecstatically and wildly for hours on end to the
relentless sounds of the drums (name? help me out Bengali readers).
I got home exhausted and safely.
I had joined the dancing too, invited by my cousins and their kids.
The crowd didn't expect me to do much being a grey haired lady and
all, but I gave it my best Bollywood cum bellydancing moves, with a
some Sufi hair flinging thrown in for good measure, and they went berserk with
pleasure and appreciation. Lots of people video'd my dancing, but of course,
I couldn't so you won't see me when I post my photos and videos. I
can't post them today for technical reasons.
Please check again soon. I will upload to this page all the incredibly
beautiful and wild photos and videos I took.
It's monsoon pouring outside. I am going to go and watch it and get
out of this sticky little internet cafe, yar!
(voc: "Yar" = "Dude")
braking or stopping. The Calcutta police were not that interested and
anyway there was no traffic. It was post Durga Puja rush, the streets
were incredibly quiet after the insane and wild ecstatic dancing by
thousands of really happy people. The Durga takur was being taken in
large lorry trucks packed with revelers of all ages, faces all smeared
with vermilion powder beaming with huge smiles.
sailed through those red lights, I suppose just in case there was
someone coming through the green lights the other way. I felt safe as
I am pretty sure that the cab driver valued his life, probably more
than he valued mine. People were settling down for the night in their
apartments, on the sidewalk, on rooftops, on chapawas (cots) in
alleyways. Once we hit downtown from Behala I could see that some
people were still going to Zeeshan's for a midnight meal. It's
exhausting to dance ecstatically and wildly for hours on end to the
relentless sounds of the drums (name? help me out Bengali readers).
I got home exhausted and safely.
I had joined the dancing too, invited by my cousins and their kids.
The crowd didn't expect me to do much being a grey haired lady and
all, but I gave it my best Bollywood cum bellydancing moves, with a
some Sufi hair flinging thrown in for good measure, and they went berserk with
pleasure and appreciation. Lots of people video'd my dancing, but of course,
I couldn't so you won't see me when I post my photos and videos. I
can't post them today for technical reasons.
Please check again soon. I will upload to this page all the incredibly
beautiful and wild photos and videos I took.
It's monsoon pouring outside. I am going to go and watch it and get
out of this sticky little internet cafe, yar!
(voc: "Yar" = "Dude")
Comments:
<< Home
Very nice explanation Anita! I love it! I wish I were in Calcutta too for Durga Pooja.
Are you referring to Dandiya when you talk about drums? I participate in dandiya once and even though the traditional steps are fairly simple, I still managed to go wrong :)
But the fun part was to be a part of the crowd intoxicated with happiness and dance like there is no tomorrow, isn't it?
Do post the pictures, I would love to see them!
Are you referring to Dandiya when you talk about drums? I participate in dandiya once and even though the traditional steps are fairly simple, I still managed to go wrong :)
But the fun part was to be a part of the crowd intoxicated with happiness and dance like there is no tomorrow, isn't it?
Do post the pictures, I would love to see them!
I am having trouble posting pictures. My laptop is connected to the broadband in this internet cafe but somehow my usual upload photo options are not appearing in my laptop Firefox. Don't know why.
Post a Comment
<< Home
