Durga Puja

Calcutta is a fascinating city. It is a city that reasons with the heart and not with the intellect. Trash all that intellectual bhadrolok talk about marxism, class inequality and social justice. If Karl Marx had seen the ostentatious display of wealth during Durga Puja in the seat of a democratically elected communist government he would have turned in his grave.
I have been watching the Durga Puja festivities for the last ten years. ( Previous to that I would chug off to Maharashtra to celebrate Navratri with my relatives ). Every year the crowds seem to get bigger, the puja budgets register an increase that is more than the inflation rate and the commercialisation of religion carries on shamelessly.
I doubt if Kolkata associates Durga Puja with nine days of spiritual reflection,adoration and penance. I wonder if the kids can tell you anything about the Goddess ... true you will see all the families trooping off to the nearest pandal to offer the customary Anjalis on the designated days. But that's more out of fear of being labelled as social outcasts than anything else. Night comes .. and you can see those beer caps pop open and people hog on tandoori chicken. In the name of praying to Ma Durga people wander around throughout the night visiting pandals and munch their way to glory.
People say that India is a poor country. I disagree. India is a poor country with enormous wealth in the hands of a privilaged few who are insensitive to the needs of those that live around them. The purpose of capitalism is to create an environment conducive to the generation of wealth so that it can be ploughed back into society.
People say that Bengal is one of India's poorest states .. maybe they have never visited the state during the Durga Puja.