'Pujo' Notes

Bengalis all over the world go on an overdrive during the annual Durga Puja celebrations. The event that symbolically marks the victory of good over evil also coincides with another Hindu festival of Dusherra. The fun and gaiety that lasts for over a week sees bongs of all sizes and shapes step-out of the limits of their dwellings and let down their hair to go full-throttle on ‘fashion without ration’ and ‘ration without caution’. All kind of clothes right from the humble ‘tant-saree’ to the pompous ‘dhakaie’ are on display. The food stalls at the mondops serving ‘mughlais’, ‘luchi kosha-mutton’ and ‘rosogollas have the most figure-conscious ones too gorging on the oily delights.


I being a half-Bengali (not by birth, more so by my cosmopolitan upbringing) become almost a reluctant participant in such festivities. The happiness of becoming a participant comes from the joy that I see on the faces of those close to my heart. And hence, I do not mind running from one ‘pujo-mandap’ to another to see the same rituals being repeated all over again or to experience the cultural overdose.

Reeling in the midst of such jamboree, I many times find time for observations while the ‘bhadraloks’ and ‘bhadramohilas’ engage in ‘pujo’, ‘bhog’ and ‘anando-mela’. This year’s celebrations came to a close yesterday and I thought it apt timing to share some of my experiences that I thought had parallels with some lessons on engagement:

1. Parking woes: One of the toughest things at almost every ‘Durga Puja’ venue is to park your car. Many a times we had to leave a venue without even entering it because we could not park our car. This causes tremendous irritation at times. Although in a city like Bangalore such problems are not too uncommon, however during such events you expect the organizers to be a little more cognizant of such basic facilities. (Engagement Lesson 1: Organizations must never short-change on providing basic facilities to its employees. In recent times there have been instances when some IT companies in Bangalore have failed to provide even parking facilities to all its employees. No one is going to take this hassle very kindly).

2. Members Only: Adding to the parking-woes is the tag ‘members-only’. If you are member of a ‘pujo-committee then a parking space shall be reserved for you, otherwise you are very much left to your own fate. If you are lucky you can park it somewhere by the roadside otherwise keep going misery-go-round. Now what’s wrong in having reserved parking-spaces for members. Nothing wrong till you are having some place available for the public in general also since it an event that has been organized with public-donations and charity. (Engagement Lesson 2: Exclusive privileges and benefits must not be reserved for some employees arbitrarily. Benefits as much as possible should be broad-based. However if some benefits have to be privileges of few then make sure that they well deserve it and can be justified).

3. Bhog: ‘Bhog’ or the holy food that is consumed en-mass by the people is a huge draw at every venue during day hours. The menu is very simple – a rice-pulse porridge, a tomato ‘chutney’ and a dry vegetable. Despite this people throng in big numbers to catch-up with ‘bhog’. And in the midst of consuming the same, people chant slogans like ‘Durga Mai ki Jai’ meaning ‘hail thou goddess Durga’. (Engagement Lesson 3: Organization may offer lunches however community seating arrangements at lunch venues shall always add to the charm of the lunch-break as it provides employees an opportunity to socialize and bond together).

4. Food Stalls: Bengalis are foodies and hence you can always find a food-stall next to the ‘puja-mondop’. People gorge over Bengali, Mughlai and Chinese delicacies, without any guilt. (Engagement Lesson 4: It is popularly said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. That still holds true and for both genders when it comes to employees. Giving employee various options of food-menus has little cost but high value in terms of engagement. Companies like Google have done that long-back).

5. Cultural Rendezvous: Evenings, during the week-long celebrations, is a time for cultural candies. There is a whole range from ‘robindro-shongeet’ to rock-bands, from ‘desi’ stars to ‘Indian-idols’ and from damp-squibs to hit numbers. However what is surprising is that in centers out of Bengal you can find a lot of non-bengalis also thronging the venues in the evening for attending the cultural-potpourri. (Engagement Lesson 5: Everyone wants to have fun. This cannot happen by just having few events on Fridays. Instead the workplace concept has to change from a drab-boring place to one that stands for ‘work is fun’. That shall never stop the serious business transactions but definitely add a bit of fun-flavour to the same. The ‘hot-seating concept at Philips India office at Gurgaon is an example).