To be honest with you, I was feeling a little homesick yesterday. I was missing all the festivities and fun times with family and friends. To combat this emotion, we (Prakriti and I) thought of going to Hindu Temple in Leeds which is 1.8 miles from our place.
We had checked on Facebook that a Durga Puja celebration is happening there. It took us half an hour to walk to the temple. From the outside, we could see that it is quite a big temple. We entered the main shrine area and found ourselves a couple of seats. A few children were performing (dances and music) and we sat and enjoyed ourselves while we waited for the Aarti to begin. When it was almost time for the Aarti, Prakriti realised that we were not at the Durga Puja! That was happening in a different hall in the same building, which we verified through the Facebook page. How stupid we felt! For almost half an hour we kept thinking why it doesn’t feel like a pandal and there were very few Bengalis too 😀
We finally understood that we were at a Navratri function and rushed to the Durga Puja hall. It was bursting with beaming people eating jhalmuri and chit-chatting with each other.
Durga maa’s murti was really beautiful and we kept thinking about how they must have arranged these murtis here, so far away from ‘home’. To our surprise, one of the organisers announced that dhunuchi dance will be performed today. We chanted mantras with panditji and offered pushpanjali to Maa Durga and the Aarti was performed in sync with the beats of the dhak.
Prakriti volunteered to play the kasha (a bell kind of instrument played with dhak). At one point, I forgot if I was in England or India. As the programme proceeded towards the dhunuchi dance, the atmosphere was filled with divinity as people began chanting Durga maa ki Jai. I have never felt this kind of energy ever before in any Durga puja pandal. It was majestic.
After the dance, people started queuing up for bhog. We also joined them and went to the temple’s dining hall where we were served pulao, daal, labda, paayesh, pakoda, and chutney. It was so delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
We took a bus ride back to our apartment with a group of lovely people whom we met there. Some of them stay in our building. We’ll go today as well. Happy Durga Ashtami to all, Jai Ma Durga!
