Each and every celebration titillates the past experiences we all had and it brings forth the golden moments of our life. Ranjit Sinha, BN Sinha, Rebati Mohan Sinha all went down the memory lane and shared their experiences.
BN Sinha,
The most cherished and memorable moment of Rath (kang) for me was when I had been to Patherkandi, my maternal uncle's place,Tangalokei, Khalopar to be specific, decades back. There was a congregation of seven raths / kangs of seven villages in a same field. And each kang was pulled by both ladies and gents together wearing spectacular attire of different colors in order to be identified by their uniform. Those few hours in the field was amazing, the euphoria among people was unimagianble. And the Joydev which took place in the evening at the village malthep was simply rocking.
I am sure no other place on this earth celebrates joyous Kang/ Rath yatra than the Bishnupriya Manipuri villages situated on the bank of
Rebati Mohan Sinha, Mumbai
Throwing of fruit by the priest in the air, youngsters from different areas all dipped with muds fighting and cajoling with each other to catch the pieces of the fruit - are some of the grainy moments still etched in my mind.
Ranjit Sinha,
For me the best Rath Yaatra takes place at Khaalopar Loya, my vilage. One can see around the smiling faces of the people of our village and from the nearby places. The environment of merriment that they create now makes me nostalgic and emotional. I don’t have words to express. My participation in the village Kaang Pali is still fresh and ever-refreshing.
I salute those people who organises the "Saptha Rath". It is with their sheer effort that we the people remember them and the Kaang festival.
The whole hoopla on BM org and .com was enough for me to get the Kaang bug even if I am far from home.
ReplyDeleteInfact, the additional comments from the above, made me all the more nostalgic about the whole Kaang affair, and I could not help but key in a word or two here.
Paali! in Silchar!! Normal School Road, Chandmari Road !! The very synonymous roads that always lead to one common destination, the Ashram.
Kala da’r khechuri, Manu da’r girlish voice (no offence intended), the temple backside, the neighbors waiting for the Joidev to end. An electrifying atmosphere in those few days of Paali. “Hoi aaji, Polics Reserve or Paali na, jelei go maahi aaitei go”. “Vivekanando Road or Paali he, jomtoi go”. And all of those. The highlight- Joidev. Man!! That was it…I don’t remember those names. One Gurujon, we used to call him, Jonogoti da’r baba, he was such a wonderful singer, always lead and rocked the Paali. Ramananda da! He was a sort of youth leader who lead from the front. Our very own Henryy da (I guess he had this MJ bug on then, he would suddenly come up with that famous MJ scream during the Joidev, and feeling disturbed, elderly someones from the middle would turn up, “Ha kita kororai ta! ela haan dei benai, mor loge dei- Keshobo dito” and everyone would then lip sync (Henryy da! You seniors were always under intense scrutiny from the juniors ).
Then Preme porani. Khechuri plate bilaani. Kala dai daapde daapme khechuri bilaani. “Hori Hori Bola, Joi Hori” . The distribution of plates even before people taking the Padmashan. People leaving with a happy heart, all discussing how the night went, who’s wearing what. Boys looking up to their seniors, seniors looking for the chicks (well, so did we ), their seniors looking for suitable role to play in the Pali Organization. Ladies looking at every other guy with their Chameleon eyes, those 360 degree eyes balls (you won’t see a neck movement, forget about head), elderly looking for their prospect son-in-laws (all in-laws). It was all there, everything in one place.
And I bet all those who’ve witnessed the era of 1990s in Silchar would always remember those days. Some of my earlier days, that I remember, which I could not witness later. But surely those days would be missed.
(No Offence intended)
Irony!
ReplyDeleteWhen i wrote MJ, little did i know that, the next morning, i would get the news that MJ is no more. Wrong forum to discuss but i could not help but spread the word. SHOCKINGLY, the king of pop is no more. MICHAEL JACKSON is no more. We all have grown up listening to him. Whatever genre we are from, we did cross thru MJ, appreciated his work and went on. May his soul rest in peace.
PS- Me mentioning it on the popstar was not with the highest respect, y'day night. Just wanted to say this, i'll feel good!!
Prabal LOL. Well I am embarrassed now! But yeah Paali was fun.
ReplyDeleteI also remember, we a group of youngsters ( Ashu, Prohlad, Hari, Pappu, Sajal, Amit) made dhoti, khuttei, gamsa a mandatory dress code for Paalis. We just enforced it. We also made Joydev to be sung in Bishnupriya Manipuri only - a compulsory feature to be followed.
However sadly now I hear, one has to take permission to sing the Joydev in Bishnupriya Manipuri from so called gurujans! Or if you are lucky, they LET you sing in Bishnupriya Manipuri on just one day! Pathetic! Hope youngsters in Silchar now wake up and rectify this nonsense.
In our times, it was as Prabal said, was great fun.