Durga’s Protective Fire

Author: Amita Raj

Deepa’s eyes sparkled like diamonds as she gazed at the radiant image of Ma Durga. It was Durgotsav and she was now finally actually right in the middle of this grandeur! The whole pandal shone like a golden sun in all its hues!

Every year before this, Deepa would merely stroll past this stately pandal as a passerby, fascinated by the vivacious participants engrossed in the splendour of the auspicious days of Durga puja. Dressed colourfully, they sang and chanted in Bengali, danced and beat drums, praying to the elaborately decked statue of Ma Durga.

This year, Deepa had the heartfelt urge to participate in these festivities as a singer. So, she contacted the activity director, who responded with gusto!
“I’m going to sing two Bengali bhajans for that Durga puja celebration tomorrow!” Deepa then announced to her colleague Prosenjit.

“What?” he shouted. “You’re not even Bengali and you dare to show up at our sacred event and sing?”

“I’m going to sing beautifully from my heart to our universal mother. She loves all of humanity. Don’t be so narrow-minded, Prosenjit.”
“How dare you call me narrow-minded ? I”ll throw tomatoes at your singing!” he hissed.

Deepa had been disturbed by his hostility. Though worried by his threat, today she decked herself in her richest vermillion and golden silk sari, fully prepared for her performance.
Now waiting inside the pandal, she saw that Prosenjit was nowhere around, nor was the activity director Bipasha Mukherjee. As Deepa remembered her colleague’s harsh threat, she felt perspiration form like molten pearls, stinging her back. “Jai Ma Durga!” she prayed silently.

That’s when she heard a loud hum across the street. There stood a huge excited crowd gathered at the corner watching an automobile in flames. Deepa gasped as she recognized Prosenjit’s red car. A man was yelling, “His car just hit a pole and rolled down the street! He’s dead.”

“Deepa?” a voice interrupted her shocked haze. “I’m Bipasha. Unfortunate car accident, but let’s not delay your beautiful singing.”

That evening, Deepa glowed amidst the welcoming smiles of her audience enraptured by her melodious bhajans. The aura of Ma Durga’s protective fire felt ever present!

About the Author :

Amita Raj holds an M.A. in English. She’s always loved creating imaginatively rich stories through the melody and colours of language. Her writing talent was sparked off at age eight in a classroom assignment, where she wrote the autobiography of a pen. Since then, she’s been enchanted with writing, also reading and enjoying the works of Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. She’s been a contributing writer to Deccan Herald, India Currents, Twist&Twain magazine, and of late regularly to Story Scrapers, ArtoonsInn Poetry Parlour and Beyond The Box. She looks forward to her ongoing lyrical journey, writing and sharing with the world many more of her short stories, poems and novellas.