Renewing bonds

Autumn comes after the rains ushering in a royal blue sky, with bright sunshine, while the fertile land is abloom with green crops and the trees blessed with colourful flowers like Kash, Seuli, Lotus, Gulmohor, etc. Nature looks as if it is paying tribute to Goddess Durga. It seems that every animate and inanimate object has an invisible attachment to this festival. But there something else and beyond all this, which is an alternative concept of what this festival brings. Durga Puja being a means of bringing together many people can best be identified as a kind of reunion of relationships. With the approach of Puja many nuclear families come to their native homes to enjoy the festival with their near and dear ones. So these four days provide members of nuclear families with the flavour of a joint family. This is very common in the villages. Almost every house of a village contains a large number of individuals which creates an ambience of joint family. To enjoy the puja amidst the warm bonds of a large family is a great experience for everyone. According to the children, its great fun for them to move from one pandal to another with cousins since they generally do not get such joy in normal life. The elders are not an exception. They too find joy and merriment through relations and that’s why they continue to visit their native village every year. The generations towards the end of the 19th century focussed on becoming nuclear family and from then this system has been continuing till date. In this system every family consists of three or four members and everyone belongs to a world of his own. The result of such a nuclear family is that people become self-centred and they are also deprived of the unique happiness which is found in the joint family. So members of a nuclear family feeling the need of being part of a joint family fulfil their desire by getting together at Durga Puja. But at the end of the puja holidays we come back to our monotonous lives with heavy heart and suppress our longings with the words, “Aschhe Bachhar Abar Hobe”. So Durga Puja not only brings happiness and joy but also tells the future generation to look beyond the nuclear family and join together as a united family and experience life with a broader outlook.

ARGHYA MUKHERJEE, Class X,
Burdwan Municipal High School,
Burdwan
source: the statesman