I was ten years old

I was ten years old. During Durga Puja, we used to get two rupees to spend in our own way for four days. There weren’t many shops then, only a few peanut thelas. For two paise you could get a pocketful of moongphali.

All night there would be natok—not by outside artists, but only by local ones. We would sit cross-legged on a dari, no VIP seats for anyone. Whether we understood the play or not, we watched it till dawn. The success of a play could be measured by the pile of moongphali chilkas scattered on the floor.

After going home at daybreak, we would return again for the 9 o’clock pushpanjali. Children as well as adults of those days were made of different stuff.