Saraswati Puja

Jaya Jaya Devi
Chara Chara Share
Kucho Jogo Shobhito
Mukta Hare
Beena Ranjita
Pustaka Haste
Bhagawati Bharati
Devi Namastute

Today is Saraswati Pujo, as a child I use love this day. Mom-dad use say “no, don’t touch your books today”. Saraswati Pujo is celebrated by Bengalis on Vasant Panchami which falls on fifth day of Magha according to lunar calendar.

There are lots of traditions that I as a bong followed for this day. Mom and all anuties would say not to eat Kool (the fruit – bore in hindi or Plum). I use to save any yellow colored dress year around for this day. Imagine when you reach pujo pandal and you see 50 hues of yellow, Wow! Every bong who is studying or has kids in school observes a fast. Mom use to say… “don’t even have water till you offer pushpanjali to maa shoroshoti” (pushpanjali is the prayer offered with flowers)

For pushpanjali we use to fight to get palash phool, flower rare to find vibrant red in color… as if; we will not score good marks in exams if we don’t get that flower during pushpanjali. And the Phal prasad given after pushpanjali use to be special, furits like Kul (bore mentioned earlier), sugarcane, very sweet seeded banana use to be there.

For toddlers this day is special too. No Bengali parent teaches there kid to right or read till there Haathe Khodi ( haath is for hand in bangla and khodi is for chalk) every bong kido writes their first alphabets in front of goddess saraswati, the journey begins here! You can read more about saraswati puja here