Let the festivities begin

The morning began with the all-so-familiar enchanting of the tale of Goddess Durga’s victory over Mahisasura, Mahalaya, as every Bengali household calls it. I had almost forgotten the prelude to the celebrations due to years of living alone; hence, nostalgia of the past took me on a trip to my childhood.
Every year we would eagerly wait for the Durga Puja with sheer anticipation of good times. The festivities meant nothing spiritual just pure undiluted fun minus the studies. Months before the shopping would begin; the special four days meant new clothes on each day. I came from a modest background; hence, meticulous planning was required to ensure that I have enough clothes to wear in the mornings and evenings of those four special days.
And when the days would arrive, we would hold on to every hour praying that the days shouldn’t end. Parents would be busy in shouldering the community responsibilities, while we kids would be busy fooling around and sampling the food in the stalls. Little older ones were busy chasing the attention of the opposite sex, plain painless flirtations would keep them entertained. The more arty ones would take the local platform to showcase their talents while boring the less talented ones (like me). Parents of the gifted ones would proudly announce their achievements making life really tough for people like me. All I would get to hear were comparative analysis of how bright my peer group was and still I couldn’t be inspired by my parents. Tough cookie that I was!
Then came the adolescence years when I thought nobody could look better than me. And Puja days gave me the platform to showcase my beauty (that the world was blind to). These were also those few days, when my conservative background, gave me a free ticket to fashion. I had the liberty to apply nail paint and lipstick without raising eyebrows. And I made the most of it. Any attention was welcomed and my eyelids would batter more, seeing some encouraging glances.
A sudden turn took in my tale with my adulthood days; I started evading the communal meet-ups. Because they became breeding grounds to the numerous marriage proposals and I had high dreams of a knight in shining armor coming to my rescue. The knight didn’t arrive and the proposals died down too. Age daunted on me and the festivities stopped exciting me. Now, they have become few days in the calendar which may/may not translate into off-days at work.
Wishing you all a very Happy & Eventful Durga Puja!