I have been busy attending some strange occasions. They are strange because I never heard about them before.

There is a rich and aged couple in my neighbourhood. They make the highest donation for the Durga and Kali pujas and the umpteen other occasions. The new neighborhood I have shifted is notorious for its forced donations. The local guys just need an excuse. They have understood that we are a tough nut to crack, and they would always take the reference of the rich couple. Secretly, I had started hating them. I always feel that extracting money forcefully for any puja is a punishable crime. I will donate generously if they want it for a good cause. Call me an atheist; but wasting hoards of money on religious purposes and then immersing the Goddess in water is a total waste in my view. Make it small and homely; I am sure nobody would complain.

This very couple invited me for an occasion called Tulsi Vivaha. I had never heard of this before, so I made a research on it.

I learnt that the festival falls after Diwali. It is after the marriage of Tulsi, that the marriage season officially starts. Somewhere I read that with Tulsi Vivaha all auspicious things can start. I have never heard bengali’s celebrating this, so I was completely unaware. Good that I learnt something new.

I was surprised with the pompousness of the celebration. At least 500 people were invited. The lady was amiable and welcomed me warmly. Thanks to my work that keeps me away 12 hours from my home, I am not quite sociable. She took personal interest in introducing me to everybody. I missed the formalities though, but all of a sudden, the lady of the house started crying. To my dismay, others joined. Whatever I could understand, the lady was crying because she was childless. And every time, the Tulsi Vivaha occasion reminded her that she was missing the pleasure of marrying off her own child.

Truly speaking I could not share the grief. With so many girls, waiting for a groom and their poor father unable to gather the basic amenities, I could show them at least a dozen whom she could adopt and gift a healthy life. I have become wiser now, not to open my mouth under such circumstances. I am notorious for my frankness and decided to be subtle. However, I would have preferred if she did Tulsi Vivahaa every year and instead of feeding the overtly overfed people, she could donate the money for a good cause.

Yesterday our apartment neighbour came to invite us. He started by saying that “people have dropped a Kartik at my doorstep.” I became a little defensive; I thought perhaps he was complaining about my daughter. I asked him, “why and who dropped it?” He stared at me blankly and changed his statement. He said that I am doing Kartik puja so you three are invited. Later on, I learned that his friends had played a prank. They generally drop a statue of the God Kartik at the doorstep of a childless and young couple. It then becomes compulsory for that couple to offer pujas to the God at least for the next 3 years. And naturally this includes inviting the close friends and relatives. In this case the well-meaning friends also force a lavish dinner or lunch. This is however prevalent in Bengal and I was unaware. We went and ate a good dinner, and watched the hapless couple forcing a plastic smile and entertaining the so-called close friends and treating them with drinks and dinner. What a religious waste of time and money!