The Pujo countdown begins!
Join us for a special Agomoni concert this month
I don’t know about other children, but September always brought up very conflicting feelings for me as a kid. Granted, it was peak exam season, and an awful lot of time was spent sharpening pencils, changing refills, highlighting dates on the calendar and nervously counting the prep leaves between Math, SST and Science exams. But that was not the only kind of counting we were keeping tabs on. The closer we got to the end of exams, the more the relatives would ask - ki re? Kota jama holo?
Durga Puja is possibly the only thing more important than birthdays and exam results. Through the year, the best of the shopping is put away and reserved for pujo. Glossy Pujo Special magazines cover everything from the best new hairstyles to the best short stories. If you were lucky, you’d find a good play with the right number of characters and convince your favourite neighbourhood aunty to direct your group for a pujo performance.
Rehearsals are the “get out of jail card” for all Bengali kids in September. Special permission is granted to carve out time from tight schedules. Kakimas group up to take charge of the practice sessions and babysitting duties while the parents attend their own pujo meetings and rehearsals. Kakus and Jethus with cars are assigned ferry duty to drop the children back at home at the end of the day.
And then, there are the songs. If you’re lucky and grow up in a musical family (you know, like me); you might even get a peek at the scripts and song lists being prepared months in advance. Cassette after cassette of agomoni songs are collected and played to pick out the choicest ones.
There is something truly magical about these songs. They bring you closer to the goddess. No, really. From singing sincere prayer songs with closed eyes and joined palms to learning to appreciate Uma as a wife, mother, daughter and guardian; these songs are what make our relationship with Ma Dugga so intimate, so close. This month, I’m picking out my favourites and putting the script together. September is upon us, and Pujo excitement is in the air.
Join us as we open up our living room for a very special, very intimate concert. I’ll be singing (and cooking, though Tejas is likely to take up the better part of kitchen duties) some of my absolute favourite Agomoni songs, and we will follow it up with a homely Bengali dinner. Come over and catch a glimpse of the pandal as the festive season rolls in.
Agomoni Concert, Upstairs with Us on the 21st of September. Keep your evening free!
Lots of love
Tejas and Sukanya