I boarded a Bardhaman
local at around 8:45 pm. I was worried
that I would be late in reaching and will not have much to see when I
arrive. I was assured by my friend that
the processions go on for the whole night and the actual immersions do not
happen until morning. I was also
reassured by the information that Eastern Railways is running for pairs of
special trains between 6 pm till 2:00 am between Howrah and Bandel/Bardhaman on
the three puja days and an additional train departing Howrah at 2:35 am
departing Howrah on the immersion day.
We reached at around 10 am. The
road radiating out of the station was crowded and had the same vibrancy as of
Kolkata on Durga Puja days. Most houses
were decorated with pight as is usually done during Diwali in other
cities. As soon as we hit GT Road, I was
greeted with the sight of immersion processions lined up in stand-still
mode. Nothing was moving except streams
of people. The crowd created its own
method of handling the congestion on the narrow road almost entirely filled up
by the width of the large trucks carrying idols and the decorations jutting out on
both sides- there was an unwritten one way code- people were walking upstream
from one flank and downstream from the other.
The narrow sidewalks and every bit of frontage including balconies was
jam-packed with people seated to watch the procession. In fact, noticed that chairs were available
on rent at some places too. The
processions occasionally sprung to life when the road opened up for a brief
period. This also energized the
accompanying band parties briefly before they slumped on the road to deal with
the tiresome stop-go process. We walked
past a large number of processions before we reached the Strand. This place is otherwise famous for important architectural
legacies of the French colonial period, such as Museum and Sacred Heart Church,
but today the place was an ocean of humanity who congregated to watch the
immersion ceremony. We walked around for
about three hours before returning to my friend’s house for a few hours of
rest, but not before enjoying the hospitality of his neighbor’s family who had
very kindly invited us for dinner at their place and greeted us warmly when we reached his house at around midnight.
Chandannagar does not sleep on this day.
The puja is ingrained in the collective psyche of the residents. I was told that some community organizers
collect small subscription round the year in preparation for the Puja, and the
structure after immersion is worshipped round the year in some locations too. It was my unique exposure to this historic
city through one special event.
Here are some pictures which tell the story-
