Not only was it the last day of the Bengali style three-day Puja, it was also the concluding day of Navrat - followed almost throughout India. At our pandal today morning, there wasn’t much to do. With the usual round of Puja preparation done and Purohit moshai beginning with the Navami Puja, we all took our seats.
MM took care of the 'dhunachi' - burning coconut skin with occasional sprinkles of dhuno, the powdered incense. U know you have to keep the thing burning all through the Puja as we do for those earthen lights or diyas. While we were at it, several Bihari aunties and some newlyweds went up to the Puja bedi and offered 'koicha' before the idol. Although I am familiar with Biharis and UP people follow the tradition of feeding nine young girls symbolising nine forms of Durga, I really didn’t have an idea of what koicha means. So i asked Rajnikant in our office to explain that to me. He said that accroding to their custom, a 'suhagan' lady before leaving the house for her in-laws is gifted with all the traditional accessories symbolising her marital status with a prayer for her safe journey and happy life. And thus the ladies also offer 'koicha' to Ma Durga who we believe leaves for her husband's place on Dashami.
The entire ritual of Durga Puja came to an end with the sacred havan. At our place, this was performed by 5 people - Sanjiv, Abhiskek, Niraj uncle and Santosh Bhaiya and another of the senior volunteers. The ones who perform the havan are supposed to observe fast till the havan ends completely.
Thereafter, all of us - the female volunteers had bhog in the pandal itself. On Navami, the khichdi is replaced by fried rice, alum dum, chutney and kheer. We were so hungry by that time that everything tasted divine.
Navami evening was reserved for THE MAGIC SHOW - yes guys, something which we are quite fed up of seeing year after year and yet look forward to it in the coming year! It is as if our Puja celebrations wouldn’t be complete without few of those century-old tricks. Today, our junior volunteers left for pandal hopping after the show was over, whereas we remained in the pandal and chatted the evening away.
Each one of us was planning something for the next day - Dashami!
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