Today happens to be the 'Jagannath Festival' in West Bengal. But for me its always simply rath {chariot festival} a day I would eagerly wait for when I was little , as my parents would buy me a vibrant wooden chariot. It was unique in design, with three storey's resembling the structure of a building. Both my parents are very artistic so they used to decorate the chariot with my favourite coloured marble sheets, folding the papers in myriad forms to bring out various textures. I watched them going about it in awe at their deftness. I was just too clumsy with craft and still am so I suited myself to just realizing the magic unfold as they made a simple wooden chariot look like a palace of dreams with paper flags flying high!
In my younger days I hardly got my baba to stay with me or be around, but somehow I always got him on the eve of rath and both of us would mount the Jagannath idols in the basement and light candles in the other two floors, and pull it around the para {the locale}. With all the colony kids scouted around by their grand parents or caretakers I was just too happy to have my dad next to me! As to me, my baba is the greatest!
For some reason I used to be the only girl pulling rath, and I used to stare at baba with tears welling up as all the boys stared, and my baba would proudly say ' you're better than them, the best'
As I leave the age of being baba's little princess, I often revisit those memory pages to rekindle my childhood which I left with leaving Kolkata, as there were too many journeys to undergo!
But I regret none as I've such beautiful people with me.
Ma 'O' Baba
'Touch wood'
Smiles..
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