90s BORN (FESTIVALS)

As we entered our teens, we joined our elders in celebrating, basically organising the festivals. The two most important festivals were 'Saraswati Puja' and 'Durga Puja'. Different regions had different festivals but the fun and the attitude of celebrating them were same.There used to be different clubs who celebrated the same area wise. The preparation for the Saraswati Puja started 15 days before the Puja date and for Durga Puja it get started around 2 months before as it was celebrated on huge scale. It was like Saraswati Puja was for junior section(students) and Durga Puja was for the elder ones. But the fun was same. The preparation took its start with a budget planning and the funniest part came and that was roaming everywhere for 'CHANDA' (funds) or donations.

We used to visit every single house of the colony with a receipt to fill the moneybank required for the function. We used to stop every single vehicle crossing our area for 'Chanda'. It was a bit dominant but we were okay with it because it was not just festival, it was a celebration for everyone,for the society, a symbol of unity and togetherness and everyone seemed to enjoy it with their family. In 'Durga Puja' we came on highways and used to stop each and every bus and truck and private vehicles, from morning to evening and the best part was everybody displayed their best honest behavior, nobody took a single penny of the donation for personal use. We used to hire labourers for making an attractive 'pandal'(House of the Goddess) and placed order for the best 'Murty'. Managing the crowd till the Puja ceremony ended and Prasad distribution, announcements was fun among we children.There used to be a 'Bhandara' on a decided day to feed every single person who visited the pandal. 

Then came the day of 'Visarjan'. Preparation was amazing every-time.Large truck, maximum number of boxes, symbol of every club used to be on head (headbands) and in the evening, journey started and it ended after 3-4 hours. We used to be super busy during those days but were always vibrant and now when we look back, we miss those precious days. We used to play, dance, watch movies on every night outside the 'Pandal'. Those nights used to be our nightouts.