Chhat puja at Gomia

Missing thekuas this time. It was my last link to the celebration that chhat puja was in my childhood days. The visit to the river ghaat was mandatory. Both at sundown and at the following sun rise. Each trip held a separate attraction.

The fun began even before we reached the ghaat. We would generally be walking in groups - I with my friends and mother with hers. All along the way we would see beautifully decorated bullock carts carrying stalks of bananas, other fruits, thekuas, sweets and other items required for the puja. There would be devotees performing penances by doing sashtang pranams all along the way or by carrying heavy tokris of puja goods on their heads. There would be blaring loudspeakers as well as groups of women singing hymns of Chhathi maiya, children shouting in excitement and worried mothers shouting to control the mischievous ones. All together the entire way would be filled with a happy and harmonious din.
The evening trip was primarily taken to be with friends, to play in the crowded river bank and to watch the fire crackers make interesting patterns of light in the sky slowly turning dark. As the devotees prayed to the sun, they would light the diyas and place them in donas, the saal leaf bowls, and floated them in the river. In the newly acquired darkness of dusk, the entire place seemed transported to a magic land of fairy tales.
The trip at dawn was more difficult. There would be chill in the air and hauling oneself out of the bed seemed onerous. Yet, the temptation of "ghaat fresh" thekua was extremely tempting. I remember collecting thekuas one or two piece each from our aquaintances immediately after they finished their morning puja. When we returned, we would have a bag full of special thekuas to savour. The thekuas offered at ghaat were usually different from what was made in larger quantities for distribution. And that took care of my breakfast for that day. Through out the entire day afterwards there would be friends, acquaintances, father's colleagues dropping in with bags full of prasad, thekua and pedakiyas being chief attraction in them.

Now when I look back, I think, how easily we used to adapt to all kinds of occasions and enjoyed each of them to the fullest! I wonder at the religious rigour that our friends' mothers used to go through and how, yet, never, race, custum, belief or culture had come in the way of friendships. I look back and thank Gomia for giving us a childhood that celebrated pluralism, diversity and human relationships.