Saraswati Puja

Today was Saraswati Puja – primarily a Bengali festival (coinciding with Vasant Panchami or the Spring Festival) meant to invoke the blessings of the ‘goddess of learning’. A huge colorful shamiana had come up overnight in a corner of the Garden with an idol of Goddess Saraswati (left) installed inside.
If there was someone who required the benevolence of the goddess more than anybody else today, it was a silly, short fat Bengali woman determined to make a nuisance of herself over the ads playing on the radio channel in Srichand Arora’s (bottom, left) music system. “Aap gana chalaiyye, magar ad mut chalaiye!” ordered the woman who was earlier seen waddling around on the walking track of the Garden.
We stopped our exercises, unable to fathom the provocation for such belligerence from a stranger. Yusuf-bhai was the first to speak, “Kya taqleef hai? Gana hi toh chal raha hai…” Without bothering to reply, the woman charged at the system, shouting, “Issko bund karo!”
A crowd started gathering.
This got us all worked up, especially the ladies. “Humari marzi, hum jo chahe sunenge!” yelled Nafisa Sayed (right), raring to go. "Chaley jao yahaan se..." Everybody started talking. Arora-ji, who was in the middle, chose to ignore the intruder and resume the exercises before things got uglier. Clearly, the woman had an issue with the ads playing in between the songs. But how do you stop ads on radio?
By then, the woman had completed one round and was back to accosting us. “Yeh kya gana chal raha hai?” she screamed threateningly. From a distance, Mumtaz Jahan waved at her dismissively, saying in English, “Go... Go...” This time we did not stop exercising and the woman stomped away in a huff.
“Ghar mein zaroor jhagda kar ke aayi hogi,” remarked Nahid Khan.
“Kya daring hai!” exclaimed Hari Naraiyani. “Akeli aurat aur itney logon ke saamne… Paaglon ki kami nahin hai. Zaroor kisi pagal khane ke waiting list mein hai!”
By then, the woman was back after another round. She stood for a while, intently studying the wires leading to the electric mains. We continued exercising, oblivious to her presence. After she was gone, Nafisa cautioned Arora-ji, “Taar kaatney wali hai”. Bapu Rane was more apprehensive: “Apne gang ko bulaney gai hai!”
She had walked out of the gate. But surely, we have not seen the last of her – unless, by chance, some wisdom from Goddess Saraswati sinks into her fat head.
Renu Babani says:
Somebody got up from the wrong side of the bed for sure! Too bad I wasn't witness to this scene (or perhaps, the lucky one not to witness it early morning). Well, I guess sometimes one does see strange behaviour at the Garden but this goes to show our unity at this point, and the proverb, 'United we stand...' surely means a lot. I am certain tomorrow things will be normal once more and this was just an unexepected spurt, which just kept everyone alert and kind of amused too.
--Renu
Bhaswati Bose says:
So many people in the Garden have complimented Arora-ji on the lovely music he puts on in the morning. Nobody had raised any objection all these days. Being a Bengali, I am sure this lady will attend the puja today and come out wiser -- what with all the shernis in our Club. Let's all pray for her well-being!
--Bhaswati