At this time of the year Bengal bursts into life spectacularly, becoming a vibrant canvas of colour, creativity and festivity. For Bengalis, Durga Puja is more than a festival. And so profound and pronounced this joie de vivre around the festival is that it comes to symbolize a quintessential Bengali spirit or asmita. It’s often said that you can take a Bengali out of Bengal but you can’t take this festival out of a Bengali. Inspired by this spirit, Durgaville came into being in Erlangen in Germany. What was started by three Bengali families back in 2021, the Durga festival in the German city has steadily increased in size and stature over the years. Now into its fifth year, the puja at the Durgaville in Erlangen has started attracting attention from other parts of Germany and involving a bustling community of more than seventy people — families, full-time professionals, and students living in Germany.Durgaville member Zubayr Khalid informed from Germany that various competitions would be held during the four days and a cultural programme will take place on the Ekadashi since it’s a holiday in Germany. “We follow the Panjika but interpret its timings in German local time. With almost a four-hour time difference from India, strict adherence to Indian clock times would mean rituals falling at odd hours for attendees; instead, Shasthi to Dashami timings are adjusted to fit local rhythms while honouring the astrological prescriptions,” Zubayr further noted.A key feature of this puja is that the idol is not imported from Bengal but made entirely from the soil of Germany by Dipankar Sarkar, an IT professional.Last year, the Durgaville members came up with the idea of celebrating a theme puja, setting up a pandal on the theme of the famous Itachuna Rajbari in Hooghly district.For these expats, this time of the year offers a vivid and fun-filled opportunity to bring their ‘home’ closer to themselves. As Zubayr said: “Durgaville is more than a puja committee; it is an act of homemaking. It is Ma’s journey from the heights of Kailash to the gentle hills near the Alps; it is our attempt to build a small Kumortuli 6,000 kilometres from Bengal.”
