Idol Immersion in the City of Heart

Idol Immersion in the City of Heart

The idol immersion was the last piece of action before the 10-day festivity came to an end. Having been to College Square and Raj Krishna Rama Krishna Kali Temple Pujos, the next halt happened to be Kalighat Temple. The metros having a running spell from 4pm to 4am, the public transport bus was the choice i was left with. Undoubtedly, with exceptions of few, they are amenable to our expectations- and do fairly well in ferrying passengers.
Got down much before the Kalighat stop came and the walk from Netaji Bhawan to Kalighat was a bit taxing as the strong humidity and body writhing in pain were sapping whatever little energy i was left with. Once in the precincts of Kalighat, the sight of the developing crowd coupled with the one that went right inside the temple, saw me engage in another battle of not giving into the demands of surroundings, the huge rush and huge levels of humidity.
Joined the Queue that gets an opportunity to view the Goddess from a fair distance, the starting point was a good 100 metres from the temple. The wait lasted for over an hour with thoughts on the searing rush making me believe there would be upheaval of sorts. Nothing of that sort happened except someone misbehaved with the lady, part of a family, ahead of me. As for this family, a very disciplined lot with the head of the family in late 30s and raising two small kids. The head of the family appeared to be a man of principles saying little to some range of protests coming from his wife who looked aghast at a parallel line going through. This head of the family had already answered two calls from his boss, who knowing it that one of his junior associates was in the spiritual quest and yet putting queries to him time and again through cell. The head of the family just dismissed the persistent queries as nothing more than an urgency to establish that the boss was in the thick of work and the junior was out on another assignment. Besides this family i could not recall any other association that left an imprint.
As the devotees waded through different challenges to reach the final doors of the temple, there were some entities who came from nowhere to intrude and endure. Post Goddess sighting the urgency was to get out as early as possible. That did not take much time as customary rounds had been given a miss and coming out a priority. Outside and like others i too was sweating like anything. The Pujo (pandal) in the vicinity of Temple with a hoarding of Greetings and Good Wishes from National INsurance Co. was the most endearing one. There were others like one adjacent to Golden Scissor shop and one on Mahim Halder Road. Equally powerful and enticing. Just fail to understand why papers like Telegraph and TOI don't cover such Pujos just because they are not in the apartments and no so-called celebs visit them. These and other papers, which have a exhaustive coverage on city issues like Metro failing on one Sunday two years ago (September) and the lead and the second one on the front page in Telegraph was on Metro failings. The Pujos in College Square and Mohammad Ali Park have been enthralling in equal measure.
As i came out and halted next to Netaji Bhawan metro station, the lassi and the large quantity i could lay my hands on was my priority. Done with that i moved to Esplanade to try other liquid options as sweating had taken a toll - and lasting for a while.