You know it's time for Durga Pujo in Kolkata when...
The countdown to the biggest festival of Bengal - Durga Puja has begun. The weather is slightly confused. The last bout of monsoon refuses to go with azure patches and fluffy cotton ball clouds hovering in the air.
The whiff of shiuli and kaash, which is typical of autumn and associated with Durga Puja, is a rarity in city life. But there is ample compensation in the form of smell, sound and sight, usual for this season, especially around Durga Pujo.
For over one month Kolkata's streets remain clogged with traffic, pandals and people jostling for space. But one doesn't mind. There is sparkle in the eyes, and tolerance in the heart. As every lane, by-lane and all that is shabby gets coloured, painted, decked-up and transformed aesthetically, the human heart also gets transformed. We are more patient, more accommodative, ready to adjust for others, all in the name of Durga, the quintessential daughter coming home to her parents after a year or so for a short break of four days, leaving her husband and domestic rigmarole back in the mountains of Kailash.
The wait gets too long and it is over this homecoming that earth's rejoicing knows no bound.
The daughter is coming home and so a spring-cleaning is mandatory. Apart from the surrounding and the immediate environment, a lot of muck, melancholia and cobwebs of the mind are removed.
The daughter should be well fed, well tended and well cared for.
The proper welcome begins from Mahalaya or Devi poksho, the seven days warm up to the big event.
Once the festivity begins, forget about being punctual, deadline, assignment or being a disciplinarian. Leave seriousness aside to rejoice.
Kolkatans just let them be, soaking in every bit that Durga Pujo has to offer.
The city woke up to a rangoli spread over 2.5km of a busy street in south Kolkata. The pedestrians and vehicles did not know what to do. Never mind, there's always a way.
People, who were not so busy, got down to squat on the road and pick up the paint brush. As for the traffic, no one was cribbing over diversions.
Trucks ferrying huge Durga idol and her family from one corner of the city to the other, without having to bribe the police is something very rare. But everything happens in the name of puja.
A traffic constable once asked about this, said: "Taking bribe from Ma, are you out of your mind?"
As the city sweats, pants and trundles on, the spirits run high.
Never mind the restriction on movement of vehicles, being stranded for hours, the shoe bites and the limping gait, the long queues for conveyance, the endless wait outside eateries, the aroma of food gnawing at your guts. It's worth going through the experience as Durga Puja comes only once a year with that out-of-the-mundane touch.
Amid this general atmosphere of forbearance and forgiveness, politicians should also keep politics aside. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is already in puja mode, pandals hopping and cutting ribbons. She has at least 50 pujas to inaugurate. There's going to be a long holiday soon for the government employees.