Dhaka, Bangladesh
09 October 2008
I've missed most of the celebrations of Durga Puja. It wasn't possible to go to those programs without risking losing my job. So, I waited for the only day when it was possible for me to go, Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the celebrations. Dashami is a government holiday, the reason behind my freedom!
Durga Puja is the most important religious festival for the Hindu community living in this part of the world. Its one of the most colourful festivals found here. I've attended Durga Puja celebrations before, but never in Dhaka and never on the Dashami, the culminating event. So, when I started to think about going, learning was an important part of that thought process. I took the Ashura celebrations as an example, and prepared accordingly. It was a pretty late decision on my part to go, but I was glad that I made the decision. I was looking for someone to accompany me. I found some unconfirmed interest from some quarters, which didn't give me a lot of confidence. I took my brother-in-law Riad with me and got a confirmation from Monir, a favourite photographer of mine. Together, we were planning to do some street photography at the hub of the celebrations, near Dhakeswari Mandir.
The main procession for the immersion of the deity of Durga starts from Dhakeswari. People from all over the place gather there on open trucks. The procession starts when the deity from Dhakeswari joins in. We knew the time of the procession to be somewhere around 3:00PM. So, me and Riad reached Dhakeswari by around 3:15PM. It was the right time as far as enjoying the celebrations was concerned. The trucks were just coming in and celebrations were just on their way. Monir joined us there after a while. And we were ready with our cameras.
The celebrations went on until the procession started by around 5:15PM. An overcast day made our work difficult, but we managed it somehow. There were various TV station video cameras at work, but didn't see a lot of photographers out there. A couple of foreign photographers were wondering there. One of them was showing off his Leica masterpieces! We were more modest in terms of hardware though.
We boarded a truck when the procession started. It was already quite dark when the procession was at its initial stage. We clicked on as long as our hardware allowed us and as long as the rain stayed away. And yes, it rained. It rained hard. The whole heavens broke on our heads and we retreated, quite unsuccessfully, under a single umbrella. We went on with the procession until we reached a decision that it would be futile to go to the end. The deities were to be immersed right in the middle of the Buriganga and there was no way we could catch a glimpse of that event without being on a boat. A boat ride in the Buriganga at night under drenching rain didn't quite motivate me. We broke off from the celebrations sometime after 8:00PM. Rain was still playing its part. It was an incomplete venture; yet, the glimpses that we were able to capture, made me believe that it was worth the effort.
Here are some of the glimpses from the celebrations. Only a few of the captured images are posted in this blog page. For more, please have a look at the whole album.
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Personality..........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Of mind and of body....... security was tight all around........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Debi.........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Dhuup...........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Colourful people.........01
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Colourful people.........02
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Children of Bijoya............01
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Snowfall??
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Colours of celebration..........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Staring into the sun.........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Drummer.........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Colourful people.........03
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Affection...........01
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Affection...........02
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Affection...........03
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
On the brink.........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Colourful people.........04
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Children of Bijoya............02
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Red-head!!!
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Colourful moves...........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Whatever..........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
A secured today for a secured tomorrow.........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Untouched by celebrations........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Devotion.........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Of glasses and tattoos........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Captive souls.......... on the truck with the deity.... start of the procession...
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Spreading influence.........
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| From Bijoya Dashami, Dhaka, October 2008 |
Into the night and right before the rain..........
It rained and rained hard....... but the procession went on..... it was a long line of vehicles encircling some of the city's streets...... the procession ended well into the night at the River Buriganga, where the deities were immersed....
as always ... awesome visual description of the bijoya doshomi
ReplyDeleteOutstanding coverage of the event. Not to mention the pictures, which speak for themselves.
ReplyDeleteShaheen
Nice Photography. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteVinay Yadav
Nagpur, India
sundar
ReplyDelete