Jai Mata Di!

Being a Punjabi, naratey are very important to us just like they are to the Bengalis. I’ve been lucky to witness both very very closely.  As is the ritual of most punjus, naratey start by observing fast on all 9 days to surviving on no onion and garlic food, no alcohol and a whole lot of puja. The nine days of purity is observed along with ghat pujan and khetri beejna, to chowkis and jagratas, garbha and  it all combines to pray to Shakti and reenergize yourself. 

It’s a chaotic time in my household because we follow both the Punjabi rituals as well as Bengali puja along with whatever puja you want to do. How the nine days pass, you are hardly aware and if you are fasting, then all the more tiring. Though one of the best parts is vrat ki thali. That is yummy. You end up gaining weight irrespective of eating out actually but it is soooo yummy.

Now, the popular debate is usually on when one does kanjak pujan. So, some celebrate Ashtami and some do Navmi. We usually do Navmi and the experience is amazing. I always had immense faith in Durga and this festival is pretty important to me. From the days to being a kanjak to doing kanjak puja, life teaches you so much. The smiles on the faces of girls when you give them gifts is priceless. 

Since we follow both styles, the puja usually culminates with the Bengali dashmi ritual sindur khela followed by visarjan, which used to be pretty big deal when we were kids actually. We used to go to the river bank and the entire day was spent there, like a picnic. This usually ends with getting the shanti jal and wishing everyone a very Happy New Year.

 Nine days of celebration comes to a joyous end, till next year. This may seem like a post that I have just skimmed over because I'm heading for a vacation. Time to sin!