10 years, believe me, it’s been 10 years since I last visited my hometown during Durga Pujo.
Let me give a brief backdrop of it. I completed my HS from Silchar in 2009 and then moved to Guwahati to pursue my engineering from Assam Engineering College. My parents too moved to Guwahati eventually in an unrelated cause as my father was promoted in his PSU job and transferred to Guwahati.
I finished my B.E in 2013 and with the turn of events, my parents again moved to Hyderabad, this time to a different state down south.
As the job avenues are brighter in the other parts of the country, I too moved to Pune to start my career. After a stint of 3 years with Capita, presently I am with the Bank of Newyork Mellon with a similar number of years.
However, every year, I used to long to visit Silchar at least during the Pujo. The reasons are being the catch-ups which I missed, the pandal hopping with family members at the wee hour of the night, the mandatory visit to Ram Krishna mission for Asthami-Anjali with friends, visiting the “parar pujo” with neighbours, having dinner on Nabami night with friends at Diya Palace/ JC International, having a glass of something chilled or not at Blue Orchid with friends in the evening to name a few.
As I was a resident of Chowringhee, Ambicapatty and that being the centre of Silchar, almost all of my friends used to come to my place to dress up before visiting the aforementioned places.
Being an extrovert and having a lot of friends, it always felt sad not being in Silchar during the pujo. I missed the food so much. Ask any bengali about food during pujo days. Be it the kichudi/ Labda/ Payas, chicken cutlet/ Egg rolls from roadside stalls, main course meal at the famous restaurants, the Doshomi food at my Mama Bari at Ukilpatty, I missed it all.
The famous destinations remained constant through the years, be it Tarun Club, Saratpalli, Rice Mill, Shiv bari road pujo to name a few and we used to throng in numbers.
This year, however, I am fortunate to visit Silchar as there were many factors clubbed together. One of my best friends Anirban is getting married. Apart from that, we have our school (South Point) 2007, batch meet scheduled too.
I am really looking forward to the events mentioned which will make my visit worthwhile.
To be honest, being a full-blown corporate trapped in the rat race, Durga Pujo is something where I will enjoy to my fullest. Pursuing a hobby religiously (quizzing for me) and then following the herd, it’s really worth taking a break and finding time for yourself.
This was Kapinjal Chowdury’s “Back to Silchar for Puja” story, you can share yours too. Write to us at barakbulletin@gmail.com
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