Double-sided colour pencils, one almost-over HB pencil, standard and small sketch pens, a scissor, a sellotape, mini colourful ball point pens, a Penciltic red pen (essential for a teacher), a permanent marker, one white board marker, couple of glue sticks, a paper cutter, scrapbook, coloured A4 pages, a box of pins, a box of stapler pins, channel files and oh, three sharpeners -- when was the last time you sharpened a pencil? (do it now, and you will know why I ask) -- what does it sound like to you? For me, it is nothing short of a bunch of goodies.
This was handed down to me today by someone I was least expecting them from. Them, and from, both equally important. The goodies because, really, who would hoard such stuff for the last four years, and the from because it was most unlikely. I am surprised at how swell I am since. I feel like a child at a fair, aiming to shoot down all balloons in one go. Or, like a teenage schoolie peeping at one's crush. I feel like sharing them with everyone I love, and those I don't. I feel I can write a book, sketch a bridge, build a castle (up in the air). I feel empowered.
Tucks are genuinely great buffers. I think of stories again, around me. And note the change in the very language of billboards with Durga Puja approaching. Everyone is in this invisible race to gobble up the next twenty-five days or so. We smell 'Puja air', see 'Puja sky', shop 'Puja clothes', wear 'Puja smiles'. For as long as I can remember, I have disliked Pujas. They seemed to me to be an extended childhood-Sunday. For the last couple of years, I have deliberately tried being away from this crowded joyous city. I am fleeing to Bhutan this time. I feel tucked with the very thought. Mountains, and old monk(s).
The newspapers appear (yes, unlike the normal educated Bengali, I do not subscribe to any) to be full of offers. Yet, none could ever offer me the exact bliss of feeling blessed that the above tucks did. This must be the feeling then? Puja blessings? Ah, well, very very well-blessed. Thank you, S.
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1 comment:
As a child , I often debated over the right word between "Puja" and "Pujo" .... while reading your blog I realized it hardly matters to me now if "Puja" is the right word ! Though I always hated crowd for these 5days but there is a brighter side of it : economy in Bengal rolls over Puja ... starting from guys in Kumartuli to dhaki to small time caterers to many others... Jai Maa Durga :)
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