Having been born
and brought up in Assam and educated in Kolkata, Durga Puja is always
celebrated with a lot of fervour. So on the 9th day,Navami, when Maa Durga is
worshipped as Mahisasur Mardini, with asthabhuja, carrying the Shaktis of all
the Devis n Devtas to kill all the rakhasas including Mahisasura, our small
family proceeded to pay our respects to the various puja pandals.
Nestled in between
several shops was a pandal organised by the Maitree Cultural Association Malad West .And looking magnificent were the five
deities, powerful in their avatars. As we finished our prayers, we bumped into
old friends, Ram and Sarbani Mukherjee. 
As they were part
of the organising committee, they asked us to stay for the bhog. Bhog is a vegetarian
meal offered to the deities everyday. Unlike most places in Mumbai, due to
shortage of space, it is a served buffet. But here, there were rows and rows of
chairs and tables and we were going for a sit down lunch, served by the
members.
Like one would be
cosseted as a Barati at a bride's house, we were served a four course meal of
rice and shukto, then jeera rice, fried cauliflower with bhoja moong dal, crisply fried brinjal flavoured with chaat masala and alu potol dalna. There was a
tomato chutney and payesh that followed. 
The organisers
served more than a 1000 people today and each person eating the bhog was given
food as many times they wanted. The smiling and gracious organisers had not
only displayed a never seen menu, but also a generous warmth that filled all
with happiness. 
The spirit of Durga
puja is to eat, meet and pray. And that's what we did. Happy Durga Puja to all
and may Maa Durga bless us all.
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