Durga Puja and Dussehra Memoirs

 Take 15 - Subhashis Panda

This was a little before I would be completing eight months into marriage. It was decided (no marks for guessing, who decided) that our first Bijoya Dashami would be a visit to all my in-laws followed by pandal hopping, finally ending with watching the Rabana Podi at Saheed Nagar. Much that I hate driving in heavy traffic; I went about the whole routine without a single retort. Paan in the mouth really helps sometimes.

When we reached Saheed Nagar, I parked the car in a bylane, and we walked hand in hand up to the pandal. I packed a couple of paans in my mouth as we weaved our way through the jam-packed crowd. After the customary darshan, as we were wading out to a distant location for a clear view of the Rabana Podi, I felt the urge to spit out the paan juice, which was overwhelming me. As we were bustling out, I suddenly saw an empty space and I spat. A hand came out from nowhere and my spit landed on the back of his hand. I whisked out my handkerchief and placed it on the back of his hand.

The next moment we had melted in the crowd.