2006 Inauguration Pictures

Patron-In Chief Mr Tulsyan, Mrs Priyanka Upendra (chief guest), and the president Mr B K Pal.

(Courtesy: Deccan Herald)

On Radio City 91 FM

Yeah right, we just featured on the Good Morning Bangalore show today, with Vasanthi in conversation with Himadri Nandi from our pujo (audio/transcript to be added soon on the blog)

PUJO 2006 - WHAT'S IN STORE ?

Heard of such stuff @ any other puja around in Bangalore ?

• AnandaMela - Food festival (& needless to say, stalls everyday)
• Dandia
• Dance-Puppetry-Film
• Pot Painting Competition
• Casual Song Gathering aka “Maddox Square Recreated” (I am waiting to see what this will turn out to be with all the talented and not so talented around ... ;))

And we have the usual fare of Dance Recitals, Bouquet of Songs etc; only performed by some extraordinary groups:

• “Arjaman” (Kolkata)
• “Creations” (Kolkata)
• Debajyoti Ghosh Group
• “Trinoyonee” (Bablu Mukherjee Group)
• Baul Gaan by Raju Das
• and the ever effervescent and energized Youth from Jayamahal !

Check the schedule on the left for details, yeah scroll down ...
If you miss any of these dont blame us that we did not inform you .............

Right from the 27th of September upto the 2nd of October 2006.

Old memories

It's been 10 years this year that I haven't been to the Joymahal pujas.

Something that was a fairly regular part of my life for the roughly first 16 years of my life.

Some wonderful memories associated with the little ground off Nandi Durga road.

Probably the earliest memory I have of the place is getting a prize for a recitation competition. I guess I was four years old. The book - a Moby Book edition of David Copperfield - is still with me.

Mostly, my memories of the pujas in Joymahal involve the great bhogs of the afternoons, and some memorable 'hanging out' in the evenings. I guess that was the only 'hanging out' we guys were allowed to do at the time - and the semi supervised state of relative freedom was utilized to the hilt by many of us.

I agree with my buddy Rick that this pujo is run by some of the nicest people. I don't know about the people having funds , or the place being cramped - but the Joymahal pujos were all I knew during those five great days every year. I don't agree with the space bit, because as far as I can recall, it was the space in the grounds I used to enjoy the most - all the running around and jumping about.

Anyways.....it's fair to say that I'm looking forward to walking down the same roads this year....after ages. Call it nostalgia, but I'm looking forward to it more than I've looked forward to anything else I can recall in the recent past.

One Little Pujo, One Big Heart

I’ve been associated with this Pujo for as long as I can remember. It’s a lovely little Pujo, held in a lovely little ground, away from the bustle of the busy arterial & sub-arterial roads. And, it’s organized by some of the lovliest people I’ve ever known.

We’ve never touched either the scale of size or finances of larger Pujo’s of Bangalore. But then, we’ve never needed to. We were on our own, a very special Pujo, run by some really passionate people. These people understood the essence of conducting a Durga Pujo. They understood that the Pujo is not meant to be exclusive, it is not meant to be tied up, formalized. The Pujo is meant to be a celebration with open arms, where you reach out to everybody and share your happiness. Which is why our little Pujo, limited perhaps by space, by money and by manpower, is the Pujo with One Big Heart. Never turning away a single soul, welcoming everyone with open arms.

[Any ideas or thoughts presented in this article are the writer’s own and should not be considered as an endorsement by the Sarbajanin Durga Charitable Samiti, Joymahal]

- Rick Banerjee

An interesting forward from one of our members (Rishi - Dwaipayan Majumder). A bangla pata chitra made by his friend. Click on the thumbnail above to view the larger image.

Some Links :
Technique of Pata Chitra
Pata Chitra: Folk Paintings: Indian Paintings
Pata Chitra/Icon Painting of Orissa

A brand new blog created for the Jayamahal Durga Puja !
- Monti