Things that I miss

There are several things that I miss about the land of my birth. I would always miss my relatives who still live there. I also miss many of the festivals that I celebrated with my family and friends throughout the year. Around this time every year we celebrated Durga Puja when we worshipped God as our Divine Mother who killed the demon king Mahishasur. Symbolically this is victory of good over evil. It is believed by all Hindus that Mother Goddess comes to world for four days when She is worshipped by her followers. And since She is here for four days the celebration goes on for four days. New outfits are bought for all family members, cultural functions are held everywhere, special meals are sometimes prepared, and many magazines come out with issues dedicated to this particular celebration. So this is not only a religious event, this is also a cultural event. All offices, banks, schools and so on are closed for these four days. This festival is celebrated in this country too. In fact, the picture above is that of the deities in a city in USA. Of course since it is not an official holiday here, it only takes place during a weekend that is closest to the actual celebration in India. The two principle reasons for it to be held outside of India are that all of us missed the celebration of this festival and that we wanted our children to learn something of their heritage. So along with the religious worship we also have cultural festivities where children and adults take part in performing dances, music and drama. In larger cities stalls are set up by vendors to sell bengali books, DVDs, audio CDs and Indian outfits. Families and friends gather together from far and near and the atmosphere is that of a huge reunion. We still prepare the specific food that is served in India.Though we realise that we would not get the typical flowers that is used in making garlands for the deities we use what we can get here. Yes, all of us know that we are not in India, but at least for that one weekend we try to create the atmosphere that we miss so much.