Durga Puja has been traditionally a time of reuniting with family and friends, of going home (for those who stay away), of fun, frolic and happiness. For me though, it has become more of a nostalgic memory as the people and the customary glee I associate with Durga Puja have become lost in time. The most recent feeling I have is one of complete dissociation from my own city, Kolkata.
Having lost the attraction for the Pandal hopping, maddening crowd, sound and glitter of Kolkata, I did not mind travelling for work with my colleagues just before the Pujas to Jaipur.
I had no idea all these years that Jaipur also has associations celebrating Durga Puja for more than twenty years! I think I did not wish to find out until now about Puja celebrations outside Bengal. But living and being with people from different cultures and languages and from different social backgrounds have taught me a lot over the last decade. I have met extremely interesting people, worked with excellent professionals, made great friends, and have gathered stories that have left me richer and happier. So, I decided to spend this Puja doing new things, seeing new places, meeting new people and enjoying the ethereal.
The freedom from the usual customs, social expectations and routines was like fresh air. We visited the Jaipur Durgabari on Shasthi to welcome the Goddess and her family on the first day of the Puja. We met friends and made new acquaintances in new spaces, unknown surroundings and in a different society. We ate great food and had unique experiences that will continue to stay in our minds.
We got the opportunity to visit a royal family’s palace in a small village called Tordi in Tonk district of Rajasthan. We were awestruck with the hospitality and stories of the host, a young man who is the 17th generation of the royal family. He was staying in the palace he had inherited, with his beautiful wife and a three-year old daughter.
With him, we trekked up a sand dune to see the distant sun setting on the horizon of the Tordi river, listened to hair raising stories of his forefathers who had looted gold from Afghanistan and had built the Tordi Fort, which is currently inaccessible and can only be seen at the top of a nearby hill on the Aravalli ranges. To add to our excitement, he narrated how some of that gold is still buried underground in the fort. He also added that many people from the villages around have tried to find that gold but have failed, and that its location is a family secret that has been passed down through generations. As the story sessions continued at the Tordi Palace, where we stayed the night, we also heard how one of his forefathers had by mistake captured the Ashwamedh Yagna’s horse from Jaipur which was passing through Tordi, and with great difficulty tried hiding it once he realised what he has done! He also passionately narrated incidents from his family hobby of hunting that included leopards, tigers and panthers.
The Palace we stayed in had two parts, one belonging to our host and the other to his cousin. The entire Palace had about twenty rooms done up for tourists with all basic amenities. There was proper room service and great food served in the dining hall. The local desi chicken and laal maas preparations were brilliant! The next morning, we visited a 2000 years old deity of Gauri in a village temple. It was Maha Ashtami, an extremely auspicious day even for the locals and we arrived in the temple during Aarti.
As part of sight seeing we went to see the Tordi dam, the duck shooting bungalow of Gayatri Devi (currently used by the govt.) and the Hadi Rani Kund step well in Todaraisingh, an ASI protected monument, on our way back.
Overall, the weather was cool, the sun was warm and bright, there was a chill in the air, the breeze was fresh, the moon was half and the sky was clear and we enjoyed ourselves to the brim!
Sunny Side Up 