Maa Tujhe Salaam (Pujo '10) Part I

I tried to keep a record of how many pujo pandals, I’d visited this time and I lost count. I tried to count the number of pujo pictures I stopped at around 250.

Pandal hopping is crazy, tiring, exciting and all of the above, but it is something that you should try once in your life

Along with my family who had come to Kolkata to soak in the sights without preparing to take the cacophony of the huge crowds and the uncomfortable walk through narrow dark pathways leading to streets lit with lights, where images of Bose, Tagore, Characters from Nursery Rhymes & Aesop fables. King Kong and Aladdin’s lamp greet you at the entry of huge pandals shaped like the golden temple or like building blocks with the first lady of Kolkata taking centre stage, arm twisting or finishing the demon, while the others look on.

So off we went to the most crowded place of all….Gariahat market, only to be left jaw dropped by the ocean of humanity walking in the darkness through the dark market alleys turning right in unison like a swarm of ants.

My mother was overwhelmed with the crowd and my niece couldn’t walk any further, so very soon we decided to return home. But where was the way out and who would take us home?

We reluctantly trudged along the market streets right up to Ballygunge station, stopping and waiting to see if a taxi would take us home. We crossed a lot of people in their finest clothing, stopping and waiting too - but only to have the legendary egg rolls and chowmein and we kept nodding our heads wondering what the fuss was and complaining about the crowd without realizing that we were adding to it. I guess to appreciate the fuss you had to be a bonafide Bengali!

We reached the railway bridge which on one side famously boasts of the residence of magician PC Sorcar. On the other side of the bridge, there were hundreds of people from the outskirts of Kolkata; who had come to soak in the madness. They were resting under the bridge, having their short naps and cold showers and quick bites and getting ready to see more.

Dressed in their finest clothing with pockets full of money to eat and be merry at the various fairs, like the one in DeshPriya Park which its food stalls and merry go-rounds.

The children freak out with soap bubbles and the slightly older children romance under the stars and in buses holding hands, shopping for trinkets and occasionally pausing to of course – check the pandals too.

It would not be possible for me to post all the pictures and information in one blog – so here goes part 1.

Among the best pandals this year was that of Bosepukur. This piece of creative work is complete made of plastic bottles and it was the best of the year.

Near the famous Bosepukur pandal was a breath-taking entry to another pandal. This one themed around the sun signs in the shape of coins and tibetian style murthis

With a likeness to the Golden Temple at Amritsar, my next favorite was in Gariahat.

With elements of Sikh architecture, highlighting with a “shera sardar style mukut (crown)” this pandal was definitely worth the queues and the cacophony.

Our regular visits to pandals always include Selimpur and it didn’t disappoint us this year`. Designed like a bird’s nest – the idea and the execution was definitely unique.

As usual the designers had utilized the minimal space leading to the pandal interestingly with decorations with images of birds and animals.

One more of our regular haunts – Jodhpur park had a toyland theme – with a building block styled pandal and pictures of Disney characters around the pandal.

Ek Dalia didn’t impress us very much this year – but the chandelier inside as usual was resplendent and definitely worth visiting the pandal for.

There were many other pandals in my street which were brilliant in execution – but that’s another post