Tome And Plume: Bengalis, Durga Puja, Dhaks, Plays, Music, And Cuisine In Bhopal

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The last vestige of rain is yet to drift away, but the state capital has begun to experience the signs of the advent of autumn. The season of mist is slowly descending on the city with the lengthening shadows of evening, so it is the time to celebrate Durga Puja.

But the tale of Durga Puja in the city is incomplete without the story of the Bengali community, their drama, food, and music. The Bengalis started arriving at Bhopal from the late 1930s.

Dr Saroj Kanti Bose, the personal physician of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, and Ardhendu Dasgupta, chief engineer of the then Bhopal Electricity Supply, were among the first Bengalis who came to the city.

Both played an important role in introducing the residents of the city to Bengali culture.

Bose was the first president of the Indian Red Cross Society, the Private Practitioners’ Association, and the city’s Bengali Association.

It was the Bengali Association that decided to start Durga Puja.

When the actors conducted rehearsals for the Bengali plays, his wife, Bina Bose, an expert in Bengali cuisine, used to treat the guests with delicious foods. She came to Bhopal in 1942.

Yet, the Bengali Association grew stronger when the reorganisation of Madhya Pradesh took place as a state in 1956.

Many Bengalis arrived at Bhopal from Nagpur, Indore, Gwalior, and Rewa. The first Bengali Durga Puja took place in 1957, though historically it was the second Bengali Durga Puja in the city. A tent was pitched in front of the present Kwality Restaurant, New Market, where the traders celebrate the Navratri festival.

Bose was the first president of Durga Puja in 1957. But it all started with Saraswati Puja in 1942 when a few Bengali families organised it at the residence of Bose at 3, Civil Lines.

The residents of Bhopal were introduced to Bengali drama during the Puja festival. Since women did not participate in theatre activities on those days, men played the roles of female characters.

But the situation changed, and the women also participated in acting during the Durga Puja in 1957 at TT Nagar.

The play was Kankabatir Ghat, in which journalist Taroon Coomar Bhaduri’s wife, Indira Bhaduri, and Bose’s wife, Beena Bose, played the lead female roles.

Taroon Coomar Bhaduri, PD Chatterjee and TTI principal N Sanyal were the prominent people during the Durga Puja of that time.

Afterwards, they staged plays, like ‘Chrokumar Sabha’ and ‘Dakghar’ (Post Office) by Rabindranath Tagore during Durga Puja.

The number of members of the community has shot up from 100 to 5,000.

Now, most of the important places in the city, BHEL, Arera Colony, Shahjahanabad Colony, and Kolar Road Colony, have started their own Pujas.

There is a saying that the British gave cricket to the world, and the Bengalis brought in Durga Puja and their special sweetmeat, Rasogolla.

Bengali Durga Puja means delicious dishes, wearing new clothes, the beating of drums or Dhaks, the Dhunuchi dance, theatre, Sindoor Khela, and music.

This is the reason that Bengali fare, including non-vegetarian dishes, are sold outside the Kali temple during the Puja festival.

The Chandi Paath, or the recitation of the Durga Saptashati, is a daily affair of the five-day festival. Chandipaath is conducted on the Amavasya (no moon day) of the Pitra Paksha, which heralds the arrival of Goddess Durga on the earth.