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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Durga Puja New Zealand Auckland Wellington

Durga visits the Kiwis

For the ever-growing population of Bengalis now settled abroad, this is the time to maximise their organisational skills and celebrate Durga puja in their own not so little way in an adopted country. In a seven-part series, The Statesman brings to its readers Durga pujas organised by the Bengali community in seven different countries of the world. We start with New Zealand.

KOLKATA, Sept. 29: They may be short of man-power and even arranging necessary logistics for Durga Puja is difficult but the Bengalis of New Zealand see their constraints as a challenge.

The result ~ New Zealand Sarbojonin Durgotsav Committee of Auckland and the Wellington Durgotsav Committee (WDC), which welcome the Goddess with much splendour and opulence.

Sponsored by Probasee Bengalee Association (PBA), New Zealand Sarbojonin Durgotsav Committee tries to touch upon every traditional detail.

As for the idol, it is imported from Kumartuli every few years. The Puja rituals are performed by a resident Bengali Brahmin, Mr Debes Bhattacharyya, who happens to be the president of PBA this year.
Even though the Probasee Bengalee Association of New Zealand was only started in 1998, the Bengali diaspora of Auckland organised their first Durga Puja in 1992. More than 100 families are now members of the association, most of them are based in Auckland.
Mr Prabir Sarkar, general secretary of the association said: “We celebrate Durga Puja on a weekend where the five-day festivities are reduced to two and a half days. It begins on a Friday, Sasthi, Saptami and Ashtami puja are done on Saturday and Nabami and Dasami puja are done on Sunday.”

The food platter includes new delicacies every time and a team of volunteers is responsible for preparing prasad. Following the tradition, they only eat vegetarian dishes on Friday and Saturday and even on Sunday morning but in the evening, they prepare a non-vegetarian menu. Between 400 to 500 people attend the puja each day, with Indian communities apart from Bengalis participating in the event.

Unlike PBA, Wellington Durgotsav Committee will have its second puja this year. WDC, which claims to celebrate the southern-most Durga Puja in the world, is a tiny but enthusiastic Bengali community. With their earnest yearning to reconnect with their roots, the community decided to celebrate this puja after an informal chayer adda.

Procurement of protima and other finer nuances was the biggest challenge. Their search for an idol ended in Auckland where they got hold of one.

Their similarity with PBA lies in their choice of puja days which extends from Friday to Sunday. Mr Joydeep Bhattacharya, a member of WDC said: “Finding a purohit was no child's play. The assistant purohit of Auckland Probasee Durgotsav Committee, Mr Sukdeb Mukherjee was flown to Windy (it stays windy for most of the year) Wellington to complete the Puja rites.”

Both in-house cooking as well as outsourcing (courtesy of Hare Krishna renowned for their holistic approach towards catering) is involved. Delicacies include traditional Bengali dishes like khichuri, labrah, pulao, paneer, chutni and sweets like jalebis, rosogollas, narus. Bhog are distributed to all attendees round the clock.

While cultural programmes comprise of shonkho protijogita apart from dances and dramas for the children, Hindi tunes and songs of bygone era like toppa also are a great attraction. Taking a cue from the city's jubilant lot who dance through the immersion procession, last year WDC drew a conclusion to their two and a half day proceedings with jonogoner nach accompanied by dhak. Two hundred people, encompassing around 40 families and lots of guests from varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds were involved in the procession. This year they expect a much larger participation including Prime Minister Mrs Helen Clark.
n Moumita Roy source: the statesman

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