It has happened – the little known Saraswati puja has taken centre stage in the Bengali TV channels ousting more news of national and international importance. The day previous to the celebrations, the TV crew went on a tour of the markets and brought forth the range of fruits, sweets and other basic requirements for the pujas that included the mandatory flower known as the palash, the khager-kathi which is a tiny bamboo like item that hardens when dried in the Sun. The olden day practice was to use these as the first implements for writing on paper by the school children. The ink used to be made in-house from powders or from tablets that dissolved in water – the resultant liquid used to be the first ink that those who graduated from the chalk to the pens used. Other mandatory items are the kul or plums - it was a crime to taste these fruits before the Saraswati pujas. Similarly, there were the flowers of the mangoes – these were a must. The children would observe fast and break the fast by chewing these flowers. The significance is not clear – but, rituals are rituals and have to be followed.

Since Saraswati is the Goddess of learning, the students take an active part in organizing the festivities. They stay up all night to decorate the pandal where the Goddess would stay for the duration. Clay idols in various sizes are purchased by practically all the families and the idol is preserved for the whole year – the idol of the previous year is immersed in the current year. For growing up girls, this is the first time they wear the sari – that too, the saris must be yellow in color. Yellow signifies the spring season. In fact, the celebrations are also known as the Basant Panchami festivals – a Bengali version of the Valentine’s Day.

The happiest are the toddlers who are initiated into the world of education – on the auspicious occasion, the priest takes the kid in his lap and, with the Goddess as witness, puts a piece of chalk in his fist and helps him to draw the first alphabet of his life. And – in view of the millions of children who enter the portals of education every year, the priests are in tremendous demand. Those who are not able to arrange for a priest in advance to perform the sacred rituals wait in the street corners and there is a mad rush to literally hijack them from the roads.