5/5 Shivang B. 6 years ago on Google
Unknown
to
the
Bengali
in
Calcutta
and
to
Indians
everywhere,
Durga
is
not
the
presiding
deity
of
the
Bengali.
It
is
Kali
who
holds
this
august
position.
Durga
is
worshipped
only
once
a
year
during
autumn
after
the
rainy
season
is
over.
Kali,
on
the
other
hand,
is
widely
worshipped
in
formal
and
informal
ways
right
through
the
length
and
breadth
of
the
city
and
the
country
and
even
beyond
Indian
shores.
She
is
so
popular
and
there
are
so
many
temples
dedicated
to
her
worship
that
Kali
has,
in
course
of
time,
evolved
into
an
integral
part
of
the
identity
of
those
who
live
in
Kolkata,
everyone
in
general
and
Bengalis
in
particular.
Kali
has
wittingly
and
unwittingly,
seeped
into
the
conscious
of
the
Bengali
identityā
man,
woman
and
child
and
is
omnipresent
in
every
street
corner
-
on
the
back
of
an
auto
rickshaw,
on
the
dashboard
of
every
taxi
driven
by
a
Bengali,
in
shops
selling
anything
from
fast
food
to
potatoes
to
meat
and
chicken,
on
the
back
of
a
state
bus,
and
so
on.
This
writer
found
-
a
huge
painting
of
Kaliās
face
on
a
wall
of
an
iron-smelting
workshop,
in
a
small
corner
shop
for
repairing
car
tyres,
across
the
wall
of
a
tailorās
shop,
inside
telephone
booths,
small
shops
sellingĀ paanĀ and
cigarettes,
in
sweet
shops,
snack
bars,
inside
the
ticket
counter
of
a
cinema
hall,
on
the
fencing
behind
a
wayside
astrologerās
small,
improvised
shop
where
his
pet
parrot
reads
your
future
by
pulling
out
one
of
the
cards
he
holds
and
then
goes
back
into
its
small
cage
-
everywhere.
