Although I left my hometown when I was only 16, in fact immediately after my matriculation, but like many others I still have a special soft corner for it. And I yearn to visit it especially during holidays! My hometown is known as Tangla, a small sleepy town at the foothills of Himalayas near the Indo-Bhutan border in Assam, India. Although It’s only about 100 Km away from Guwahati, the capital city, the GPS of my intelligent mobile phone goes crazy in locating it and shows ‘location can’t be found’ most of the times.
If you ask me why I like to visit the place, it’s because of the pure unadulterated fresh air which is a scarce commodity in the concrete jungles where we live and my dear old friends. Although my friends there aren’t as rich and intelligent as my other friends from the city, but they are so pure in their heart and soul that I squirm sometimes realizing how horrible and selfish as a person I have become in due course of my life. Pure air probably cleans your heart too.
Needless to say that this time too I had a blast visiting my hometown as I could meet all of my old friends, and we shared the innuendos of our worthless lives over countless cups of tea.
Now let me tell you the funny story about the picture.
There is a small area in Tangla known as ‘Babupara’, the literal meaning will be the residential area of the ‘gentlemen’. Like every year they also celebrate the Durga Puja festivities with much pomp and fanfare, for which the preparations are made weeks and months ahead. This year also was no difference. But, a tragedy struck them this year. During the shifting of the Idols of the Gods and Goddesses from the sculptor’s place to the place of worship, the Lord Kartik, one of the most handsome Gods, got damaged, beyond repair. And the organizing committee went into a frenzy looking for a replacement. But they were unable to find a spare one. So, they did a very ‘gentlemanly’ thing, they took out the Lord ‘Biswakarma’ idol who was lying idle (with pun intended) in a corner of their ‘Pragati Sangha’ club and replaced the damaged ‘Kartik’ with the Lord ‘Biswakarma’ idol as a proxy! So, in this picture the Lord Kartik is riding an elephant instead of his regular ‘Mayur’(peacock). I don’t know how the organizers made the puritans happy, but they showed that PUJA MUST GO ON. I felt very happy for Lord Biswakarma as usually he is the most neglected of the Gods after the ‘Biswakarma Puja’ gets over and he is usually left by the side of the road or in a secluded place as he is not immersed and the dogs have a field day to do their no. ones. But, in this case he was worshipped twice albeit once as a proxy and he was immersed too along with the Devi Durga! That was quite an unusual incidence!