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Delhi Durga Puja samitis keep old traditions alive

By Prashant Pandey

The capital is a melting pot of not only various communities and cultures, but is also a complex amalgam of the old and the new, with the latter vying for more and more space. How then do you keep the tradition, which became a community phenomenon more than two centuries ago, going when all the "here-and-now" generation wants is to celebrate the festival their own way, putting tradition at the back-burner?

The story of Durga Puja celebrations in the capital over the past few years have all been about assimilating the new changes and keeping the tradition alive.

Take, for instance, the Purvasha Durga Puja Samiti of Mayur Vihar I. Indira Bagchi, secretary of the samiti, is an elderly woman, busy issuing instructions to various workers, artisans and her colleagues as she gives finishing touches to the arrangements. Her colleagues too are mostly elderly women. And there is a reason for that.

"The younger generation does not have much aastha (faith) in this traditional puja thing. They do participate in the cultural programmes that we manage to put up. They also come to the pandal and offer pujas. But there are not enough men and women who could take up responsibility sincerely and organise the puja. Another problem is that most of them are working. So, they do not have time," says Ms Bagchi.

Ms Bagchi has more to say. "All that the younger generation wants is to have modern dance and music. Earlier, we used to have traditional folk dances of West Bengal. Later, we included dandiya as it was a folk music, though quite popular. This year, the young men and women said that there has to be a DJ music. So, the current arrangement is having one hour of dandiya and another hour of DJ music," she says.

What possibly the current generation, bombarded with Bollywood images, does not realise is that not every celebration is just about song and dance. Dipayan Mazumdar, vice-president of Delhi Durga Puja Samiti, also known as Kashmere Gate Puja, says the work on the project had begun way back in May.

But, then it is not a surprise as the samiti celebrates its 100th years. The underlying theme this year is the crucial question of "keeping things green". "We have engaged an NGO to collect the flowers - which are collected in tonnes - and take them to a recycling unit rather than them being thrown into the river. Even the material used for idols is khari mati (fast dissolving clay). No lead paint is being used," he says.

Ravi Agarwal, director of Toxics Link, says the problem with idol immersion is that huge amount of lead is dumped into the river when hundreds of idols are immersed every year." At this time, the river does not have much water which leads to deposition of pollutants. Also, our water treatment system is not geared to sift out heavy metal, which is dangerous for people's health if it enters their body. Some steps have been taken, but not many are following. Even plaster of Paris used in the idols leads to contamination of water," says Mr Agarwal.

Apart from chemicals, it is the modern influences that many in the city are assiduously trying to keep so that the new generation comes to know about the significance of the puja.

Mr Mazumdar says that the organisers have consciously over the years kept the "modern influences" out of the Puja celebrations. "But many in the city have included these things in their celebrations which does not really gel with puja," he says.

At other places, however, modern technology like laser lighting and creating abstract backgrounds, along with other special effects, are being used to add glamour to the puja.

Yet, the tradition continues. One simple reason is the filial connection of Bengalis in the capital to Kolkata and West Bengal.

"The clay for making idols come from the state, mostly from Ganga's river bed. The artisans, too, either come from there or have roots there or go there to learn about the art of idol-making. The ones working with us have been doing so for a few generations," says Ms Bagchi. Mr Mazumdar says that this has been the case with even the organisers of the Kashmere Gate Puja.

"Our forefathers were associated with it. We are just continuing with the tradition," he says.