A FLEETING COMMUNION

THE RITUAL IMMERSION OF DURGA IDOLS IN THE ICHAMATI RIVER TEMPORARILY TRANSGRESSES THE MANMADE DEMARCATIONS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST BENGAL

- UTTARAN DAS GUPTA

ON THAT BANK IS INDIA, AND ON THIS Bangladesh; so to whom does the Ichamati river belong? A young boy asks his mother this question at the beginning of the 2017 Bengali film "Bishorjon." The boy is going with his father to witness the famous ritual of Durga idol immersion-called bishorjon in Bengali-in the river, on the border of the two nations. He asks his mother to come along, but she refuses. As the film's opening credits start rolling, the audience is treated to an elaborate, documentary-style sequence of the immersions on the last day of Durga Puja. This famous ritual draws hundreds of people from both nations every year. As the restrictions are eased, the borders become fluid, somewhat like the river itself.

"Anyone who has witnessed the immersion of Durga idols in the Ichamati on the last day of the puja will remember what a wonderful ceremony it is," Kaushik Ganguly, the movie's director, told me over the phone recently.

"Though it is a Hindu ceremony, Hindus and Muslims from both nations come to take part in it. People meet at the border, exchange greetings and sweets. I think that's quite remarkable." Though the tradition of idol immersion in the river is possibly much older, the crossborder joie de vivre dates back to the 1970s. An Indian keen to witness the ritual can visit the border town of Taki, about a two-hour drive from Kolkata, on Dashami, the last day of the four-day-long Durga Puja. This year, the festival is scheduled for late September.