Durga Puja and Dussehra Memoirs

 Take 6 - Tariq Wakil

When I was in Standard 9...

I had been invited to a new friend's house who had just shifted from Cuttack. I took him to meet my Saheed Club (junior) friends. When we reached the club field, the gang was discussing about visiting the puja pandals in Bhubaneswar on Vijay Dashami. Everyone greeted my new friend, Bulu Parida. Bulu was a real daredevil and he suggested we all go on a cycle expedition to Cuttack and see the pandals there, which were better and more beautiful than that of Bhubaneswar. Though this remark was not taken well, it arose our curiosity. None of us had seen the Cuttack Dussehra celebration. Eventually it was decided that we all - 14-15 guys would go double-riding process - two on one cycle.

But I had doubts... if my parents would allow me to go on this expedition. So, I kept mum not knowing how to convince my friends or my parents. To my surprise, that evening my friends came to my house. They pleaded with my father, ultimately convincing him to allow me to go on the trip – on the guarantee that we all return before sunset. They didn't tell him that it was a cycling trip. And, neither did I.

The next day we met at the club field and by 7am we were on the go via Rasulgarh. The highway was narrower those days. And I was literally scared of the traffic - inter-state trucks and Ambassadors and Rajdoot and Bajaj scooters. I had a dreadful belief that truck drivers were drunkards and always caused accidents. So, I insisted on pedaling instead of sitting on the rod of the bicycle. I was convinced I was a better cyclist than the rest of my friends. And I could easily dodge the drunk truckers or in an emergency... just jump away to save my life. I still remember the fright and courage mixture in my stomach.

It was a two hour ride. We stopped enroute at Pahala to have fresh hot, smouldering, rassagollas - I gobbled twenty of them for just five rupees!

The moment we entered Cuttack town, I was baffled by the narrow, crowded roads. Every two meters we had to literally dismount our cycles. There were rows and rows of shops and innumerable cows and dogs in the streets. Street vendors captured more than 50% of the streets. It appeared as if everyone knew everyone in the crowd. There was total chaos all around. 

Our first Pandal was the one at Madhupatna chowk.. and then... it was as if every lane and bylane had a pandal. We were forced to get down from the cycle and simply walk.

Bulu took us to his Mamu's place in Chowdhury Bazar and we all had some good naashta of Aloodum Dahibara, which I tasted for the first time. It was really good, and we had our fill. His Mamu directed a route plan for us and we set forth visiting pandals until 3pm. We got to know that the evenings would be entertaining and cold. We also had to return the same evening before dark. We were all frightened. Mamu instructed us to stay back overnight...

More to come!