#APictureSaysAThousandWords : Durga Puja in Delhi…

#APictureSaysAThousandWords : Durga Puja in Delhi…

We used to have 10 days long holiday season in our school time to celebrate Dussehra and Durga Puja. Every evening we used to go out visit the Ramlila Ground – roam around the roadside shop and then some of the days we’d walk upto the Minto Road Kali Bari to pay our respect to Ma… My future life partner also used to visit Minto Road Kali Bari, from the other part of city where she used to live in those days, but we never met. Or maybe we did bump into each other as kids but do not remember – it is difficult to remember each and every face that you see in such crowded fairs. The 10 days of Dussehra were much more enjoyable holidays for us than the 2 month long summer vacation – firstly the Delhi is much nicer in October – November weather when the winter are just about to come compared to the hot summer months of May-July when we used to get the summer vacations. .

Now a days kids only get a few days off around the Dussehra/ Durga Puja, so they hardly get to enjoy the Ramlila & Durga Puja celebrations as we used to in good old days. This year, fortunately, the kids got about a week long holiday and we got the opportunity to visit the Pandals and melas across Delhi NCR region.

While there is the nostalgic connection with the Minto Road Durga since I’ve been visiting the place since childhood, Kali Bari near the Mandir Marg is also close to heart (close to my school and my friends place where we played cricket during the school days. Kashmiri Gate Puja Pandal is supposed to be the oldest in Delhi and their simple yet heart touching image of Ma leaves an ever lasting impression. We also had quite a few pandals in our neighborhood and we enjoyed visiting them all, and we hogged on the Indian street food every night…