Durga Puja in Paris (or the absence of it)

(TAN): As a kid, one of my fondest memories of Durga Puja in Kolkata has always been checking the countdown to Puja at Grand Bata every time I went to Esplanade for Puja shopping. I don’t remember when they stopped doing it and we moved onto other forms of the same countdown. But 2020 has proven itself to be one of a kind — the year when Puja was nearly cancelled!

Sadly, in my part of the world, it really is cancelled. Before moving to Paris, one of my topics of research was, if Paris had a good enough Puja. After all this is only my third Puja outside Kolkata, and I wanted a little Puja in Paris. I made plans to visit the Puja at Cite Universitaire as early as Puja 2019! Well, not only don’t we have Puja but we also have a curfew from 2100-0600 hours for all the Puja days, which, however, has been kind enough to be a weekend.

Paris autumns are generally wet, but some days are exceptionally bright and sunny, just the way we have always imagined Puja sky to be. Cobalt blue, with wisps of cotton candy clouds… And sometimes, a glimpse of that from the kitchen window reminds me it’s a few days to Puja. A time when Kolkata is putting on the finishing touches for the biggest festival there is! The tailors are probably more overworked than the pandal makers, the traffic is getting worse but less angry, the chaos is finding its rhythm to the dhaak.

Last minute shopping is a Puja special, but for a student paying rent in Paris, is a highlight for the year! Good thing is, no Puja, hence no waiting to wear the new clothes. Thankfully for me, the package and the sunny weekend came hand in hand. A trip to Jardin des Plantes and the Latin Quarter meant soaking up the sun and seeking shelter in the sudden bursts of rain, a common factor for every Puja.

I don’t have Durga Puja, but I can still have the fun. A little party with friends, but not more than six, because, Covid rules. Also, can’t be out after 2100 hours, because, curfew. So, food and vin chaud, and Netflix it is! Or maybe virtual Puja? Or maybe sleep it off? The opportunities are endless. Or maybe, it will be a sunny weekend and it will be a little safe to see the autumn colours at one of the parks? Maybe it won’t be that bad a Puja.

Maybe it isn’t the best idea to have a festival now, but, well it’s not just a festival, it’s the feeling of being safe, the feeling of being together and celebrating the end of evil. ‘Evil’ remains to be labelled, or not labelled at all. But the feeling gives us hope, which is needed the most right now. The hope that we can survive this and Kolkata is less crazy this Durga Puja and someone finally comes up with transparent masks!

The author is a student of patisserie at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris.
You can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

Related posts:

Sunday Flashback: Notes From A Strange Paris With No Tourists Alternative Paris: Let’s go house hunting, shall we? La nuit tombe — the night is falling Durga Puja notes from Boston in the year of great adjustments