Now the Durga Puja festival is in full swing! The locals — all togged up in their Sunday best — endlessly circumambulate the kunda in front of the Math, lining up to see the exhibits, statues, and paintings in the makeshift exhibition hall on the other side of the pond.
This is this biggest religious and cultural festival in Bengal and the festivities will continue all through the weekend. The light poles and trees are festooned with gaily-colored lights, and floodlights illuminate most of the area, so the merriment continues throughout the night.
We are hardly able to get any sleep: taxis and rickshaws honk their horns in the streets made narrow with the huge crowds; street vendors shout their wares to prospective clients; loudspeakers tied to every light pole on the street blare Bollywood music and ragas throughout the day and night...
I am told that there are at least thirty exhibits in Kolkata — there are three right here in Dum Dum Park! — each with their own unique theme. The local puja committee, the Tarun Sangha (Young Club) has reportedly chosen "The Prestige of Women / Woman Power" as a theme for the exhibit across the way.
I still think it looks like an African theme: the statues and drawings are chunky and stocky like the African woodcarvings; one of the statues looks like it was modeled on The Scream...
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