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Durga Puja – religious fest,
sponsored programme or reality
show? As the curtains go up on
Bengal – and Bengalis - most
celebrated festival, BRANDS
ILLUSTRATED investigates.
O
nce upon a time Pujas meant an innocent celebration of Joy and
Fun. New clothes. New movies. Eating out. Freaking out with friends
& relatives for non-stop ‘’adda...’’ It was the one time in the year that
you actually got to see, up close, the most breathtakingly exquisite
Bangla beauties from those traditional, north Kolkata bonedibadis’’
swears an enthusiastic, veteran, Kolkata based, Puja-tracker,
adding “for most of the year, these sublime creatures were either heavily chaperoned
or in purdah! God, how we looked forward to our trips to the North kolkata Puja
Pandals. Shotti Phataphati!’’ Apart from bird - watching, it was also the onetime in
the year when status, colour, creed, community or caste was junked, along with
everyday tensions & hassles, to embrace, full-on, the true spirit of the occassion.
‘’Oh’’ continues the enthusiastic flash-backer ‘’the pujas were also a huge matchmaking setting & countless weddings