Panchami - Durga comes home

Panchami - the fifth among the Nine days from Mahalaya is typically earmarked for bringing the idol of Durga and her "happy family" sans Shiva to her parent's home. At Jamshedpur, this tradition is followed by all the small scale, flat and colony puja committees.

Thus at 4 pm, two lorries came into the complex. The dhaki had arrived in the afternoon. By 8, the lorries were surrounded by flat-mates of all age-groups. While the elders and semi-elder members were busy loading the bamboos and other bric-a-bracs required to bring back the idols, the women waited to see off the procession, not to forget the kids, who were busy trekking up those huge bunks. After all, none of the tiny tots wanted to be left out of the elder, serious stuff! On the other hand, the pandal received the last bit of touch-ups. The other committee members went about doing the last minute 'puja samagri' shopping.

The group departed at 8:30. The women said a silent prayer for their safe arrival with the deity. Some of the anxious mothers requested Bubai, one of the most active members and whom the tiny tots adore, to lift their kids down from the lorries ones they reach the gate. Imagine the sad faces and cries that erupted from the junior champs! Amidst the dhaak and cries of "Durga Mai Ki", their feeble "Nahi Bhaiya, hum bhi chalenge" calls went in vain.

After that, it was a long wait till 1 a.m. when the beat of dhaak ones again broke the surrounding silence and the slumber of quite a few. Many came to the balconies and to the pandal ground to welcome Ma Durga. Her face was covered with a new cloth so the anxious wait got prolonged. Ma Durga was finally seated, like in previous years, on the platform created especially for this occasion. The guys did it quite heroically. I mean, imagine lifting a 50-70 kg idol and then place it on a platform without causing even a small injury as a hairline crack. I think it requires a lot of courage, determination and patience.

We finally called it a night, waiting with abated breath for the next few days.