I think everyone is confused from the above title, how can be Valentine’s Day be correlated with Saraswati puja! Some people may think I am making fun of both the special days, but keep reading you will find the relation by the end of this writing. Saraswati puja, it is the worship of goddess Saraswati. In India Saraswati is the goddess of learning and music. Now i think everyone is trying to find the connection with Valentine’s Day. How can be goddess of learning and music is related to love!
According to my knowledge Saraswati puja day was the day for unlimited freedom. This day my mom will not ask me where i’m going and with whom and most importantly when i will be back to house. Moreover the day of Saraswati puja and day after the puja day i am officially in holiday from studing! So it was the day for unlimited hanging out with friends in own school, other schools and also outside the school. This unlimited fun starts before Saraswati puja like inviting other schools for puja, then decoration of school, coaching center. This fun part was absent in my college days, as we didn’t have saraswati puja in college or even it is there i never went over there. Even in my college days i use to go to school and coaching center and most surprisingly all our school friends and teachers use to know about this unofficial reunion date. No one has invited us, there is no contact between the friends during the year, but certainly we all found our friends in this day.
The fun of Saraswati puja doesn’t ends here, as it is a festive day all the young girls and boys dressed very beautifully for the occasion. All the girls wear sari (traditional Indian cloth) and boys also in panjabi or kurti (traditional Indian cloth). So all the young people of various age look totally different, i must say very beautiful with all these dresses, jewelleries, perfumes etc. If you go to Kolkata during this day, i can assure that you would say ‘o the city look more colourful and beautiful than any other time’. Most amazingly only this day there is no barrier between the boys school and girls school, and mostly all the boys are infront or inside the girls school! Also lot of boys notice all those girls in this day, whom they never notice in the whole year. It is the beauty of this special day or the weather of Kolkata. Now you know why i was calling it as Valentine ’s Day for Bengal!
During my long stay in UK, twice in a year i miss Kolkata most, once during Durga puja and once during Saraswati puja. I really miss those days. Choosing mom’s sari, then mom’s warning about the sari safety. Then keeping track on my friend’s information as they want to disappear with someone, so i need to manage (as their parents will know they are with me!) etc. Also during decoration time gossiping, dancing, singing, painting through the night before and in the very next morning running for puja arrangement and then the priest’s sought at me as i did something wrong in the puja thali like every year. For me it never became Valentine’s Day, but from the eyes of my friends, cousins it was more Vday than puja day. The love blooms everywhere, the festive season starts in Bengal with this puja in the spring, more will come in the coming months, and the perfect love rose will be ready by Durga puja!
well sed!!
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