I wish you all my heartiest bijoya greetings this season (2009) provided you r going through my post within the coming few days. Today is Vijaya Dashami, also known as Dussehra: Word Dussehra is derived from Sanskrit words “Dasha” & “hara” meaning removing the ten (10). In Sanskrit, 'Vijaya' means Victory and 'Dashami' means 10th day. 'Thus Vijaya Dashami' means victory on the 10th day.
This special day has a momentous place in my heart. When I was still a child on this auspicious occasion I used to go to watch the immersion of Devi Durga with my family members to be specific with my beloved didi, Baba, Boro Jethu, Mejo jethu and my dadas. Contrary to the fact when other girls of my age were found to dance to the tune of the dhak, being a shy and reticent girl i was found holding the hands of Jethu who garnered the skill in us to pay tribute to goddess durga and her children by touching their feet. Touching feet is regarded as a gesture of paying respect to elders among Hindus.
Umpteen number of crackers were burst. It was a visual delight and a quixotic experience for everyone present there. I crave for the moment when my family members and I, used to wait for the crackers to burst putting fingers in our ears. I have never seen such an amount of fire crackers being burst together,not even on Diwali but somewhere in our mind we felt remorse and grieved as it marked the end of Durga puja. Next ritual after the immersion was that any one of the sons of our family would bring some amount of the water from the pond. It was later sprinkled on each member of our family and was considered to be the blessings of Maa Durga.
We then began the much awaited Bijoya ceremony. At first every one paid regards to Grandmother and Grandfather. All the members thn stood in descending order of their ages. It was tough time for the juniors specially me, because I had to touch the feet of every other member present there being the smallest member of my family. I used to envy Boro Jethu who picked up all the ‘pranams’ at the cost of none. I started receiving my share when Chayan ( Bardi’s son) was grown enough to take part in this ceremony.We sat down together and were served immense amount of Misti. All those who were unable to finish their chunk used to pass the remaining sweets to Barda-the poor soul who had to finish off all those.We had a gala I must say.
You must be wondering why am I writing the whole story in past tense!! My friend that is the sad part of my story. This is all past now. I feel proud of myself that I hail from a family which has such a rich culture. My heart aches to say that we are unable to continue the tradition after Boro Jethu and Mejo Jethu passed away.So here I am writing this post on the very eve of Bijoya Dashami. I am missing all my brothers,sisters and other family members who could not get together this season due to prior commitments. I am not sure how many of them will go through this post nevertheless I choose not to loose my oppurtunity to wish all of them a "Subho Bijoya" through this common platform.
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