Durga Puja in Bangalore

Durga Puja is an annual festival that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. Thus, Durga Puja festival epitomizes the victory of Good over Evil. Durga Puja is widely celebrated across Indian, particularly in the states of Assam and West Bengal where it is a long annual holiday. Being born and brought up in Assam I can say confidently that just like the festival of Bihu, Durga puja is also secular in nature where people from all communities and walks of life participate.

In Bangalore, every year the Bengali and Assamese associations work really hard for the togetherness and warmness of Durga Puja. As far as the Assamese cultural and community welfare organizations are concerned, the Assam Association Bangalore (AAB) is quite renowned. AAB is the nodal organization which binds and unites the entire community present in Bangalore together through various social, cultural and community welfare activities and initiatives throughout the year. The association takes great pride in creating initiatives which showcases the rich, varied and proud cultural legacy and heritage of Assam and in the process create a bridge of respect, harmony and bonhomie between the people of Assam and Karnataka by drawing similarities and parallels.

Durga Puja celebration is such an extravaganza in Assam that I couldn’t avoid mentioning about it in my debut fiction novel Story of Tublu. Located for a major part in the northeast of the country, the narrative is full of anthropological details of lives of people in that part of India some of which are well-known and some less known.

An excerpt from Story of Tublu:

"Autumn has arrived and the town turned wonderful. The fragrance of jasmine and several wild blossoms drifted through the air from the rich flora all around. The weather was magnificent, and after the monsoon the tea garden looked refreshingly green and mesmeric. Maina arrived home and she looked different. She had become more beautiful and confident. In her new shoulder length haircut, she was looking more trendier than before. Tublu was delighted to see her, but he was also anxious and felt apprehensive about something.

Durga puja holidays are always the best in this part of the world. All the schools and colleges remain closed for almost a couple of weeks. The puja celebration is simply amazing. It’s a very significant socio-cultural event and people prepare puja pandals all over the town. It’s a fabulous time for everyone and particularly youngsters, to hang out with friends. People come out on the streets in the evening, wearing their best possible outfits to experience the carnival. That’s the time when young hearts usually collide, leading to some beautiful bonding."


This Autumn is going to be different. Well, I’m putting up a stall in the upcoming Durga puja fest organized by Assam Association Bangalore, where I will exhibit my debut book.

Venue:

Sir M Vishveshwaraya College Grounds Near Kemp Fort Mall,
Murugeshpalya, Old (HAL) Airport Road, Bangalore-560017

(18 - 22 October 2015)




Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life. 

Story of Tublu, excerpt 4

The fun simply continued and then one of the seniors lit up a cigarette.

'Do you guys smoke?'

Tublu was silent but Raja replied 'Yes, I do.'

The senior offered him a cigarette and asked him to light it. Raja was about to do that when few other seniors warned him about the dire consequences if he lit the damn thing. Well, as per the hostel rules, the juniors couldn’t smoke in front of the seniors until freshers’ night. A little later, the senior who had asked Raja to light the cigarette got furious and picked up his hockey stick.

'You bloody Mother fucker, if you don’t light up this cigarette, I will bloody smash your head,' the senior warned Raja, while holding his collar. Raja was sandwiched between the seniors. He had already received some tight slaps on his face and the music was still playing on. Raja was aware of such ragging tricks, but still he panicked. Then, all of a sudden, he lit the cigarette and had a long drag. There was absolute silence in the room. Raja exhaled his smoke, making some perfect interlacing rings. Everyone kept looking at the smoke rings till they got vanished in the air. Tublu was scared to death. The seniors were silent too and then Raja took his second long puff. The seniors asked Raja to explain why he chose to lit up the cigarette.

'Well, I had no other choice. In either case I would have been bulldozed. My brain stopped working and I just wanted a drag,' replied Raja.


An excerpt from my debut novel, Story of Tublu. It's a contemporary fiction book, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The story has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.


You can grab a copy from Amazon or Flipkart.

Story of Tublu, excerpt 3

In Tublu's hostel, life was a little different; loud music kept escaping from almost every room, guys desperately looked for a matchbox holding cigarettes in their hands, and blistering laughter, and frequent boozing – not to mention smoking ganja (grass) – was popular. There was a huge gang of grass devotees in Tublu’s hostel. Tublu also tried it a few times, but he somehow couldn’t tune in to the frequency of grass, the way he had tuned in to nicotine and alcohol. He was scared of marijuana and was very cautious while smoking it. During their freshers’ night, one of Tublu’s favorite seniors had advised him not to develop an affinity for ganja. Even though the senior was totally drunk and was behaving like Socrates that night, Tublu took his advice seriously.

'Drink as much as you can, there’s nothing much to worry. The maximum it can do, it will damage your liver. Well, in that case you can go for a liver transplant. But this ganja fucks your brain and, someday, when each and every part of your brain is terribly fucked, what would you do? You can’t go for a bloody brain transplant, my friend,' the senior said to Tublu.


An excerpt from my debut novel, Story of Tublu. It's a contemporary fiction book, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The story has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

You can grab a copy from Amazon or Flipkart.

Story of Tublu, excerpt 2

Back in the town, Tublu's father Bipin started feeling very lonely after Tublu left. The Sharmas were also feeling Tublu’s absence and the silence around them grew. Mr Sharma was occupied with his school most of the time. He was getting older and got tired very easily. 

It had been drizzling for the last couple of hours. Bipin had just entered his room after watching the evening regional news with Mr Sharma. The frequent lightning in the sky kept illuminating the dark compound. The thunder was getting more violent and monstrous. Bipin started to prepare his food and opened his bottle of whisky. He had brought half a bottle that night instead of his usual quarter bottle. After having a couple of pegs he lay on his bed, enjoying the rhythmic melody created by the falling raindrops on the tin rooftop. He switched on the radio and tuned it to FM. It was playing a Bhupen Hazarika classic and Bipin prepared his drink immediately. He

was a true Bhupen Hazarika fan. 

The mesmerizing rainy night, whisky and his loneliness, collectively, managed to evoke a sense of nostalgia in Bipin. He remembered his childhood days and his mother’s image flashed deep in his mind. Bipin was the youngest of her sons and she loved him a lot. They stayed happily in a small village on the banks of the river Brahmaputra. Bipin was quite young when, one day, both his parents died in a ferry accident. His brothers took good care of him, but after they started their own families, things turned difficult for Bipin. Gradually, he became a burden on them. 

Both his brothers had equally shared whatever property their father had left for them. Bipin was left out in the share, but he never complained. Once his brothers asked him to leave the house, he went to a different village. He had to struggle a lot to make a living but then he never gave up. With time, situation was turning little better for Bipin, and then one day, Deepa came into his life. Deepa was Bipin’s love and the only woman in his life. They cherished their life together and lived a wonderful, married life. They felt blessed when Tublu arrived in this world. They were a happy family and enjoyed the small pleasures of life. But then, destiny had a different plan for them.

Bipin remembered Deepa’s beautiful face. He opened his trunk that lay under his bed. He picked up a polythene bag from there and unfolded it. He looked at his wedding photograph. That was the only photograph of Deepa that Bipin had with him. He had always preserved it like a treasure. It was a black & white photograph and the quality of the picture had deteriorated over the years. Bipin remembered the day when he had met her for the first time. Bipin held the photograph and looked at her. Tears came streaming down his face. He was in no mood to have his dinner.

An excerpt from my debut novel, Story of Tublu. It's a contemporary fiction book, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The story has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

Story of Tublu is now available at your nearest bookstore. You can also grab your copy from:

Story of Tublu, excerpt 1

Raja returned to the hostel at night and he looked disturbed to see a gang of guys in his room, drinking. Unlike his usual self, he was silent that night and Tublu felt there was something wrong with him. Raja was only physically present in the room and behaved in a rather absent-minded fashion. He was lost in his thoughts and was finishing his pegs fast. 'What's up dude? You didn’t write today’s paper well or what? Why are you so fucking serious?’ someone asked Raja. Raja had a fake smile on his face and tried to avoid the situation. The party continued and the guys mainly discussed their upcoming training. Everyone had a wonderful time, talking, boozing, and cracking jokes. At midnight, not finding Raja in the room, Tublu looked for him in the other rooms but he couldn’t find Raja anywhere. 

Tublu was worried and started looking for Raja around the hostel. He found Raja sitting alone in the staircase in the backyard of the hostel. It was dark there and Tublu sat next to him without saying anything. Raja took his last puff, exhaled a cloud of smoke and threw away the cigarette bud. ‘What happened, dude? What is disturbing you?’ Tublu asked.

'Nothing Tublu, just wanted to spend some time alone,’ replied Raja.

'It’s okay, if you don’t want to share; I’ll not bother you,’ Tublu said. Raja remained silent for a while and then he lit up another cigarette.

'I’m a little disturbed, dude. Don’t know what to say? Not sure how you would react.’

'Cut the crap, will you?’ Tublu was getting hyper.

'I met my mother today in my uncle's house,' said Raja.

'So, is she upset with you or something?’ 

'Actually, today I met her for the first time in my life,' Raja replied. 

There was an absolute silence. Raja was busy smoking and a few seconds later, Tublu asked Raja to pass on the cigarette to him. The effect of alcohol which Tublu was experiencing vanished instantly. He didn’t know what to say and had his drags silently. Even though they both had been sharing the same room for the last three years, yet they never spoke about their mothers.

An excerpt from my debut novel, Story of Tublu. It's a contemporary fiction book, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The story has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

You can order your copy from

     

The First Paragraph of "Story of Tublu"

August 1989

The monsoon had already started and it was raining cats and dogs for the last couple of days. Sundays were always relaxing and the mesmeric rain was tranquilizing the environment around. It was a small picturesque town in Assam, one of the states in the north eastern part of India. The ladies in the house were enjoying ‘Mahabharata’ serial on Doordarshan and Mr Sharma was reading his newspaper in the balcony. Even he used to regularly watch the greatest ever Indian TV soap, but this morning he was in a different mood. He was enjoying his cup of tea, sip by sip. Mr Sharma had a magnificent house located at the town’s suburbs, in a big compound with coconut trees all around. The lush green grass in the lawn looked beautiful. The monsoon had left a magical fragrance everywhere. The falling raindrops on the big coconut leaves created a melody, and the splashes of water on the ground looked enchanting. Mr Sharma felt blessed and enjoyed every moment of it.

Well, those were the words from the first paragraph of my debut novel, Story of Tublu

Releasing on 20th Feb 2015!!