Baro masher tero parban-introduction.

In bengali there is a proberb called "baro masher tero parban", which means thirteen festivals in twelve months. But for us it was even more. Bashanti Durga puja, Manasha puja, Kartik puja, Laksmi puja, Saraswati puja, Shivratri, Shashthi (where thakurma used to tell a story sitting with all ma's while preparing the yellow threads or nile deoa according to her that they used to tie in our hand and the collection of sixety durba's, karamchar bud stuck in a stick, flower sa dn e.t.c tied together that she our mother used to give each of us after scaring away all our enemies with the boti da or knife moving it seven times around us and telling shyte shyte while fanning us as a part of that ritual), Bhai phota, Durga puja of october( the one celebrated by all bengalies around the globe),Akshay Tritiya, Noborsho,Poush shonkranti,Tulsi of boishakh mash, Borto's of garai shankranti ( which traditionally all daughter in laws does after there mother in law considering a mother in law as lakshmi herself. They especially makes a thing call 'toga' with chalta leaves. that is done by folding the leaves and putting a knot with some thin plant fibre and finally putting a red dot on that with vermillon or sindoor. Those who don't know what chalta is must be wondering by now. Well, Chalta is elephant apple which is wild fruit and is used for making excellent delicacies . So they will leave those toga's in different corner of the house and will make a dal with some specific vegetables without oil. And Garai is always on the last day of asshwin mash. So a portion of that dal is kept overnight and next day we have to eat a bit of that and recite this line a keep a wish. "Ashwin e randhe kartik e khae, je bor mange se bor pae". It means cooked in ashwin, eaten in kartik, whatever boon you ask you will get. That used to be my special attraction.) . Besides this there was one festival my thakurma used to do called 'shonkotar borto'. The special attraction for me was teh atta bhaja that she used to make along with some other powders. and as per as i remember, the tag line of that borto was line that my dad keep on using whenever he gain something which he don't expect-'hara dhone e ghor loy, kata matha jora loy' means lost wealth coming back to home, the head separated by cutting getting attached to the body.

Besides this there were small festivals like lighting diya's in dipawali and putting 14 lights in the pond for the ancestors of past fourteen generation and lighting candle in the tulsi bedi every evening for one month, dol purnima, janmasthami and so many more. There were some special events like burning of an idol called 'bhula ar bhuli', kaktarua like bhut in the garden made out of Hay and sticks , face made of a patil and eyes and nose drawn with chalk. Bishum was a master in making that and he even used to make that wear an old shirt. Most probably that was burnt on the evening of kartik puja.

I was priviledge enough to get the flavour of each and every one of those for many years of my childhood. The 'koti bhog' or million offerings in one big sized black and white stone plate, pancha nobid, all are fresh in my mind. The ghritokorma made during the Durga puja, abali that we used to get as prashad the day after Saraswati puja, the smell of taler bara during manasha puja....the list will go on and on. During any big puja's my pishi's and there daughters mani didi and komli didi before they got married used to join thakurma and ma for preparation a day or two ahead. Baba and Bishum used get the fruits, vegetables and grocerries from the market and thakurma used to collect them in thakurghor and boro ghor. One or two days before this Basanti Durga puja which used to be celebrated during march or april, we used to go and invite ou neighbours and close family friends. I used to go for shopping with ma or Rangama and Shonama sometimes to buy the yellow tanter saree , gamcha or indian towel , those white and red bangles of elephant task , shidoor, alta and e.t.c for Durga Ma. Thakurma used to make bujhhiwhere she used to put pulses, grains in small small mil packets cleaned and dreid and oil in a small glass container along with vegetables and spices nicely decorated in a tray dedicated for Durga ma which the purohit used to collect the day after puja.

There used to be an aluminium stove in which thakurma used to make pitha's and sometimes tea during Durga Puja. There was a copper container called malsha which she used to use for making sandesh. I will later another chapter separately regarding those sandesh.

The puja used to start early in the morning there used to be jagya or holi fire after that. Bricks were kept ready after washing and drying ( around 12-16 in number), and branches of mango trees also used be ready nicely drien stored in a shelf on the top pf the thakur ghar. There used to be khak, that were used to put border in the sand over the layed bricks in the baranda. On top of that Purohit, kanu kaku used to draw a small rangoli, and then keep a banana , those branches and then ghee. finally reciting something he used to lit the fire and used to put 108 bel pata , flowers, curd, ghee and e.t.c. A very nice , sweet used to spread around and the warmth and smoke around. Later kanu kakku whom I used to called dada used to put jagger traish on our head which is nothing but the ashes of the holi fire mixed with ghee on our forehead reciting some prayers. late he used to read the holi book of Chandi siting in front of Durga ma. along with the normal bell we used to ring another heavy coper bell and kartal on that special day during arai time both in the morning and evening. Afternoon everybody used to come for lunch with bhog prashad. evening also people who were woking used to comoe to take prashad. there were shandha arai with panch pradeep, shankha, roomal, ghrito prodeep , the fan made from peacock feathers and etc. We used to sleep very tired in the night and morning again kanu dada used to get back for ghat bishorjon. He used to give us shantir jol and then after eating abali used to tell thakurma, 'kakima abar agami bochor'. I used to feel equally sad every time as that used to be the end of all the excitement and preparation for that particular year. The same infact used to happen to me after every celebration. So now that I can't be a part of all these, you can easily imagine how much those memories are important to me, as I almost live on them.

This whole writing you might find a bit hapazard. But I have so much to tell that it is impossible to pen down everything. But I will surely like to share maximum nitty gritties in the coming days regarding all those.