Festivals and flowing traffic

Party like it’s Durga Purga!

Last weekend saw the ending of the Hindu festival of Durga Puja and was one of the highlights of my time in Bangladesh so far. I apologise for my lack of knowledge on the subject, but, in short – Durga is a form of Sakti – Mother of the Universe, she represents the infinite power of the universe and is a symbol of a female dynamism. She is also called by many other names, such as Parvati, Ambika, and Kali. In the form of Parvati, she is known as the divine spouse of Lord Shiva and is the mother of two sons, Ganesha and Karttikeya, and a daughter Jyoti. She is worshiped during an annual festival called Durga Puja, which celebrates all good coming together within her resulting in her saving the universe through victory, in her Durga form (depicted as a woman with many arms), over the powerful and previously invincible demon Mahish. The final day of Durga Puja sees the immersion of statues of Durga in water to represent her return Sakti and her formless self.

She is especially popular among Bengalis and as we squeezed past the crowds a long the narrow streets of the crumbling and diverse Dhaka old town there was a sense infectious of energy and joy everywhere. People’s faces and hands were intricately decorated in traditional patterns and they all wore their most vibrant colourful dress – oranges, purples, yellows, reds. Hundreds of beautiful shrines had been set up everywhere, such as the pink one in the attached picture, tiny stores sold piles of sticky sweets and gifts, everyone had huge beaming smiles and had a skip in their step. The highlight was watching the many statues of Durga been carried high by throngs of dancing singing men (noticeably only men seemed to be involved in this part) down the packed streets to the edge of the huge Buriganga river as night fell. As the drums played, the lit up statues were placed on boats and glided out across the dark water before, with much celebration, they were immersed and returned to their formless self.  

 The ‘obvious’ solution 

In a previous blog I’d mentioned the mammoth scale of the traffic problems in Dhaka. The hours of traffic jams and honking horns with seemingly no logic or method of control. However, a solution may have been found! The scene is a simple small crossroads outside our Bangla language school, rain teeming down. Traffic had been slowly moving, but for the last 30 minutes has reached a total standstill with rickshaws, CNGs, cars and buses all refusing to give way to each other. Instead they choose to sound their horns and shout out the windows. A solution seems as likely as untangling 4000 wire coat hangers. I watch with little hope. Then, beside me a quiet voice says “What are they doing….these guys?!” Out he strides, he’s travelled across mighty seas to be here, this mystery figure steps into the middle of the fracas waving his arms with the confidence of a higher knowledge. Soon people has stopped shouting, started smiling and begun letting people through and being let through in return, traffic flowed like the water of a fresh mountain stream. How Kangicu our Kenyan VSO colleague performed such a trick of magic the Dhaka transport ministry would pay millions to find out. Kangicu – giving meaning to the VSO catchphrase ‘Sharing skills, changing lives’.    

 

Also, as I slowly work out how to manage my blog I’ve added a few extras, links etc, any thoughts or suggestions for others would be appreciated.