Saraswati Puja and Valentine's Day Coincide

I used to hear this a lot - for Bengalis (Bengali Hindus), Saraswati Pujo is equivalent to the Valentine's Day. Girls would wear yellow sarees and braid their hair, while guys will be wearing yellow punjabees and white dhoti or pajama.

This time on Feb 14, 2024, they fell on the same day.

Woke up pretty early in the morning, showered, wore the dhuti and uttiyo and did Saraswati Puja. Most of the mantras I have got by heart now. After the pushpanjali, I was done and we (my mother and I) could then break our fast with the Mahaprasad. Took a day off for the day, but still joined for a quick catchup call.

This is how she looks like.

There is a bit of a history here. Usually, Hindus get the vigraha from the shop every year, worship and then do visarjan (immersion) in a river or pond. However, she is with us since I was in class IX. When I was in Standard X, my grandmother had died. As part of the souch (relatively inauspicious greiving period), we could not get a new vigraha. So, the next puja was done with her (picture above). She has stayed on since. We call her Swati.

In the afternoon, I had lunch / bhog at our apartment pujo. This is completely vegetarian for today but delicious. My mother went to a friend's place. So far, today's been a very good day.

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