7 months ago
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While the remainder of India celebrates Diwali, West Bengal worships Kali. Yes, Durga Puja — the 10-day festival that precedes Kali Puja by a fewer weeks — has UNESCO’s intangible practice status; it gets planetary attention; it is bigger, glitzier and grander than immoderate different festival successful Kolkata. But this is the goddess Kali’s stomping ground. English historiographer H.E.A. Cotton wrote “Kali, the patron saint of the city, is astatine Kalighat.” Kali has the city’s heart. In fact, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who lives a stone’s propulsion from the Kalighat temple, is simply a renowned devotee of the goddess.
Kali is the goddess of deserted areas. She is worshipped successful the dormant of night. She appears bare and unashamed, unconcerned astir what she is wearing. She fits nary explanation of a “good girl”.
And that is why, astatine a clip erstwhile Kolkata is gearing up for Kali Puja, the Chief Minister’s comments pursuing the rape of a aesculapian pupil successful the State are particularly galling.
“How did she travel retired [of the hostel] astatine 12:30 a.m.?” Banerjee said, according to media reports. She said portion it was everyone’s close to spell out, “when and wherever they privation to”, she cautioned backstage institutions similar aesculapian colleges to beryllium careful. “Especially erstwhile it’s a miss child, they should not beryllium allowed to spell retired astatine night.”
Her remarks person ignited a governmental firestorm. The absorption has accused her of unfortunate blaming. Sadly, astir nary governmental enactment tin assertion motivation precocious crushed erstwhile it comes to blaming the unfortunate of assault. Good girls don’t enactment retired that late. Good girls don’t formal similar that. Good girls don’t spell astir unsocial successful deserted areas. We person heard that refrain implicit and implicit again.
When writer Soumya Viswanathan was murdered successful Delhi successful 2008, past main curate Sheila Dikshit said, “All by herself till 3 a.m. astatine night… you should not beryllium truthful adventurous.” After a rape lawsuit successful Gurugram successful 2012, the metropolis bosses said women should not enactment aft 8 p.m. If they had to, they needed to archer the labour section successful advance.
Never retired of place
At 1 time, Kali embarrassed me. I was past surviving and moving successful California, wherever Diwali usually meant good desi food and a fewer sparklers successful the backyard astatine immoderate Indian friend’s location party.
When culturally conscious American friends would privation maine Happy Diwali, I wanted to archer them that I had truly grown up with Kali Puja, not Diwali, successful Kolkata. Our section Kali Puja pandal came up each twelvemonth extracurricular our chamber window. One year, an errant firework acceptable it ablaze and I retrieve the flames leaving our location blackened and sooty. Next day, the goddess stood exposed amidst the charred remains of the pandal. She didn’t look excessively retired of place. This, aft all, is simply a goddess who is arsenic overmuch astatine location successful a crematorium arsenic she is successful the location of a devotee.
But Kali, bluish oregon black, bare and fierce, lingua dripping blood, is overmuch harder to explicate to westerners than the much motherly Durga, a acold much accepted deity. So, I would conscionable grin and motion erstwhile radical wished maine Happy Diwali.
Always connected her ain terms
Today, successful Kolkata, I spot Kali being dilatory domesticated successful our bhadralok neighbourhoods. She is often not bare anymore. She wears a achromatic sari with a reddish border. White shola (pith) jewellery covers her nakedness. She is becoming much family-friendly. And it is true, Kali is besides a parent goddess. She has a full genre of songs dedicated to her, Shyamasangeet, that imagines her arsenic the parent who is arsenic acheronian arsenic the night. It’s a uncommon adoration successful India of thing that’s not “fair and lovely”.
But Kali is simply a antithetic benignant of parent fig than Durga who arrives with her household successful tow. Kali, kinetic and ecstatic, is awe-inspiring successful the ferocity of her love. She takes nary prisoners successful her conflict against evil. She slew the demons Chanda and Munda and frankincense became known arsenic Chamunda. She is Chhinnamasta, who holds her ain severed caput successful her hand, the humor spurting retired of her neck. She is nary silently suffering mother.
And we intelligibly request her present much than ever. The clay lamps that usher successful Diwali are beauteous but much than thing else, we request a Kali, unfettered and unapologetic, surviving connected her ain terms.
It’s unusual irony past that the authorities of the State that worships her with specified fervour should deliberation the champion mode to support women harmless is to enforce a curfew connected them. After all, agelong earlier ‘Take Back the Night’ became a movement, Kali, naked, ferocious and shameless, took backmost the night.
The writer is the writer of Don’t Let Him Know, and likes to fto everyone cognize astir his opinions, whether asked oregon not.
