Agomoni - A warm welcome to the mother

Recently, I was asked by one of my foreign colleagues about the number of festivals in India (specially from Bengal). I smiled and answered to him  "we have 13 festivals occurring in twelve months and each one of them has a significance of it's own. Perhaps the biggest celebration that we have in Bengal is 'The Autumn Festival' - organized to welcome the season on a spiritual thought." Having said that, I do feel that the most beautiful part of this celebration is the preparation phase of this festival and that is no way less than the festival itself in terms of excitement. It gives me (and I hope most of the people from Bengal like me) an immense pleasure to think of the days when we start the countdown towards the D-day. I always feel a sort of fulfillment in my heart of welcoming someone very near to me.

As I said earlier, the Autumn festival has got a spiritual component attached with it, the spiritual element is known as 'Durga Puja' wherein 'Maa Durga' the Goddess of Power is worshiped during the days of the festival. Over the years, I have seen that the incremental excitement to welcome the Goddess never reveals of the pain that each one goes through the rest of the year. It has almost become a practice to think of new avenues to welcome 'Maa Durga' via different means every year as in commercials,literature,fashions,theme planning and what not? However, there are quite a few things which will remain unturned no matter how old it gets.

One of them is a collection of songs to welcome the mother - we call them Agomoni songs (Agomoni means Welcome). Surprisingly, for such songs, the audience do not want much changes. Each one of us would rather prefer to listen to the age old songs (some of them may be older than most of us!) rather than listening to some new ones. In Bengal, some such popular songs really adds to our nostalgia - 'baajlo tomaar aalor benu' (May be a very blunt translation in English - 'The dulcet tone of your flute of the luminance  has started to play'),'jaago Durga, jaago doshoprohorono dharini' (oh Goddess Durga, please wake up) - there is a belief that Maa Durga has got 10 arms and in each one of them she carries a weapon,'Jao jao giri aanite Gauri Uma boro dukhe royechhe' - A belief, most popular in India that a child cannot stay comfortable when separated from the parent(s). Gauri or Uma (both names of Maa Durga) is believed to be the daughter of the Himalayas. The song is sung from the perspective of Uma's mother who is requesting her father (the Lord of the mountains - Himalayas) to bring her back from her in laws' home in heaven as she is bothered of her daughter's well being there. The sole objective of such songs is to celebrate the spirit of welcoming the mother - Maa Durga for her 10 days stay in ancestral home.

To most of us, the homecoming of the mother is also signified by certain changes in environment- the wonderful smell of the siuli flower and a brilliant site of 'kaash' (not sure of English names of both, though got a chance to see some kaash in the UK),the clear blue sky with white clouds floating like cotton (especially after the gloomy face of the sky during the rainy season),a sudden happy feeling in mind when the first daylight breaks into our home through the window and most important (and perhaps the most interesting) the sound of a musical instrument known as 'dhaak' which creates such an intoxicating sensation in heart that can't be expressed in language. It is the entire world around us that keeps on adding to the warmth of welcoming the mother after an year. A true Agomoni indeed!

As I said, to me the real attraction of the Pujas lies in it's preparation. I have never become bored at looking into every bit of the development of the Pujas in locality starting from budget allocation,followed by contacting the relevant groups (as in decorators for pandals - a temporary temple built for the idol to reside for the next days - I really feel nostalgic when I see children climbing to the top of the under construction pandals),decorating the entire locality with electric light (some really display a wonderful show of aesthetic sense) - it seems that we are all preparing to put on our best to welcome our most nearer and dearer guest.

At the beginning of 21st century, we are left to wonder at the affinity of human beings towards the same Agomoni songs and the same change in environment repeated every year(without getting bored). I really get surprised when I find little kids enjoying to the tunes of such Agomoni songs,dance to the beats of dhaak and climb to the top of the pandals. One truly said, there are certain things which never grows old but only gets enriched every year. Perhaps the evergreen feelings to such things are born in a 'never to die' attitude and will keep on reminding us of our childhood days till we live. So, on the eve of another new dawn, let us once again forget all the worries, pains and go back to our childhood again to welcome some one very close - 'The Mother', with the same warmth in our heart.

Really do not know how to write to express my feelings. So, I firstly I would like to warn the reader for going through a really amateurish blog in the world of most professional ones.
To start with, I was not sure as to what I should be writing here - unless I got reminded of my childhood - there are many merry memories that are coming into my mind so just tried to type them down -

The first incident relates back to the time when I was 2-3 yrs old. I get reminded of Sundays, when I used to wake up in the morning to start with breakfast duly prepared by my mother. I still remember me sitting on the pram and my mother feeding me singing songs (mostly written by Tagore) or reciting out poems for kids (by Tagore,Kazi Nazrul Islam and some other modern poets of the time) and occasionally moving the pram to and fro so that I do not get bored of sitting in one place. My breakfast session used to get followed up by the most interesting (and perhaps the most exciting) session of watching a train. The journey to view a train comprised of me,my father and off course my lovely tricycle red in color. I used to love everything about it - the company of my father, his words, the tricycle,the stray dogs, the birds,the passersby (whoever I knew) - I used to laugh at them in my mind for missing the beautiful sight that I am about to watch. After 2-3 minutes of cycling, we used to reach the place, with an excitement that I cannot express in my words. Then after waiting for may be 10-15 minutes there, the classic and most lovable sound is heard (the silence breaking sound of the rail horn perhaps used to attract me the most) followed by the green compartments moving like obedient kids in a queue. I do remember, I used to come up a question everyday and my father patiently used to answer them.

The second incident relates back to the period when I was a bit older (8-9 yrs may be). When there was a mega serial shown on the TV every Sundays - The Mahabharata. We, the kids, used to watch them with great eagerness and tried to enact the roles after the serial is over. As a kid, I remember, buying bows and arrows and playing a role in The Mahabharata in the house with one of my obedient cousin who grew up just like my little sister. We had a big balcony in front of our house where we used to enact the roles of Bheema/Arjuna (perhaps these two characters are most heroic to attract kids). Throwing arrows against unknown enemies/demons. Not only this, we sometimes used to play Ramayana (playing The Hanuman was always an attraction for us),Labh-Kush and even sometimes different Kings that used to attract us when watching them on the Television sets. I recently, heard about some really good computer games that ignites the virtual reality in the world with the help of Xbox,Playstations etc. But I wonder if they give the same feeling that we used to feel after playing such games of imagination.

I have a friend who used to tell when asked about how he fared in an exam - 'I do not know, but I am definitely satisfied that I was able to scribble throughout the whole duration.' Perhaps this is the answer that I will be giving after writing the blog. I would request the readers not to award me with a zero please.