Selfie with Durga - A serious humour!

Selfie with Durga – a serious humour

Fot the first time ever in the thirty plus odd years of my life, did I see a priest standing idle in a Durga Puja pandal.  I tried to reason this, as I could see the pandal buzzing with crowd- men women, children, even babies.. Then, what was that panditji  waiting for? Astonished, as  I was, saw that people were so busy taking selfie with the Goddess’ idol that they have literally forgotten that they have to actually go and bow their head in front of that idol to take the blessings. After all, that’s why they have come here for in the first place, right? But, people were coming, all decked up in their traditional, colourful attire, start taking selfie at various angles, with friends, solo, family.. “Oh no! this one is not good! The lion is not coming clearly..”  Exclaims a young lady! Like seriously??? It was only after they were satisfied with their looks in the pictures, that they thought to go, at least pay a visit to the Goddess as well!

I was so amused to see this change in the attitude of modern people. Gone are the days, when devotees would just come to take that Prasad from the pujari’s pious hands, and get a tilak on their foreheads. 

Then, there is a friend of mine (who is a selfie freak, mind you!) with whom I had gone to visit the Pooja pandals this year. She has two daughters, aged 7 and 10. The elder one was enjoying tasty Bengali sweets she got as Prasad, when my friend started clicking pictures. She literally took the sweets from poor girl’s hands and asked her to pose for pictures first, food can wait... Doesn’t  matter if she was hungry and was relishing the sweets? This made me wonder what values, we celluloid freak parents are inculcating in our kids.

“Selfies”.  A simple word that has become a phenomenon in today’s society. One can buy a “selfie-stick” to get the perfect angle. It’s important to think about what these selfies mean to our mental health, especially when it comes to teens, who are often the most frequent “selfie” posters. The newly coined term “Puja selfie” is hugely popular equally amongst the teens and adults. And what’s more, Puja selfie contests are run on various leading websites, where you have to click a selfie with the Goddess with that “perfect” expression and upload it online. How gross….

While denying taking selfie with the diety in the Pooja pandals might sound against the right to freedom,  should we not at least revere the Holy atmosphere these festivals provide? This is the question I leave you all to ponder on…