Durga Puja: The Bio Clock

For Bengalis round the world, Durga Pujo is a very special time. Right now, I happen to belong to the Bongs who are outside India and seek out a Pujo in their own city. A recent Google search left me disappointed - I couldn't find a single mention of Durga Puja celebration in Seoul!
Till last year, Durga Puja meant a few days of holiday where I could head out for a trek, expecting good autumn weather(which has eventually hopelessly dashed for the past 2 years) followed by a day or two of pandal hopping. And now, with all the clubs, restaurant and glitz-n-glamor of Seoul, I feel like going bakc home - to the place that where I grew up.
The last day of school before the Puja holidays - walking back with friends talking about what is likely to be there in the latest issue of 'Kakababu'. Returning home to rush to the Puja pandal to catch a glimpse of the idol which had already arrived the pervious night (yeah, I used to sleep early those days - :)). The Puja issue of 'Anadamela' (a popular children's magazine in Bengal) and the promise of some great stories, made the last day of school very special (the newspaper man delivered it precisely on that day after I left for school). The sight of the idol was symbolic of freedom - freedom from studies for those 5 days, the freedom to go anywhere I liked for pandal hopping and hanging out with friends, no scolding on returning late at night! People dressed in the best of their clothing and the pretty girls in sari. The Astami anjali and the community 'bhog', the cultural function (which I was never interested in :))
Cut to the present ... I'm currently in Seoul (with a supposedly secure future with the biggest Electronics company in the world - Samsung) and I find not a single Durga Puja ad on the net. I now realise that the Durga Puaj holidays is not really a few days of holiday to complete a trek but epitomise the very freedom that it symolize - the freedom to do what your heart desires (not to study for these days or go trekking to the Himalayas). It meant liberation from the reality for a few days - to go back to your childhood once again and leave behind the cruel world, flowing with the tide of happiness that was all around.
A few days back - the blue autumn sky, the lights on the streets on the SNU campus, the smartly dressed people (Seoulites always dress smartly) triggered some kind of a bio-clock in me and I felt an overpowering desire to go back home. It was then I realised why DP was so special for Bengalis living outside Bengal. It was a time to reunite with your past that you had left behind. I despised that crowded streets, the traffic jam, the hot and humid weather of Kolkata - but now I wouldn't trade those for anything else in the world. Staying away from India has made me more Indian and more a Bong :). We were supposedly made for bigger things - but as a price we miss out on the best things that Bengal has to offer!
There was never a Durga Puja I so wanted to be a part of but never felt so helpless to be a distant observer. Staying outside India makes you more of an Indian - a truth that I first hypotheticated last year came true this year. The glizy malls, the skyscrapers, the wild clubs, the cool pubs and the smartly dressed people cannot make up for the pristine fun of Durga Puja in Kolkata - so that even after a night out at one of the coolest discs of Seoul I feel hollow. Thats the magic of Durga Puja - it makes you complete!