The day after Saraswati Puja the goddess is taken to the river
(here the Ganges) and thrown in so she can ride her swan back to heaven. A lot of effort goes into making and
decorating Saraswati, so I’d assumed this was a metaphorical throwing-into-the-river
but D, AA and AC, who drove from Bagdogra airport said they were held up often
by people disposing of statues – and they really were throwing them into the
Ganges. It must have been quite a sight
downstream, and confusing for the carrion-eating birds nearby.
Dancers celebrating behind Saraswati's float
BAU’s Saraswati was taken to the river early in the day but
the hamlet’s Saraswati was paraded around all day, accompanied by blaring music
to which people danced. She didn’t get
to the river until after dark.
Saraswati en route to the river: her swan is behind her and its wings are visible
There was much cleaning up of the campus and grounds,
following the celebrations: BAU has special autos (three wheeled rickshaws with engines) which carry mini-skips!
On the university grounds marquees were set up: the
highlight of tomorrow’s celebrations was to be the flag-raising by the VC, a
parade, awarding of university medals, and performances by local school
children. A marquee was also set up in
the guesthouse grounds, For Tomorrow’s Celebrations, I was told.
Marquee in guesthouse grounds
Part of the celebrations on 26 Jan was to be a parade of jhankeys, or floats, by many of the university’s departments. The jhankeys were to convey key research ideas from each department to farmers. Competition was fierce: pride was on the line, and, in addition a small cash prize was to be awarded by the VC.
In the evening I visited my colleagues in the agronomy
department who were steadily working away at their jhankey: their information
to farmers was the negative greenhouse gas emissions (and soil erosion and
other downsides) caused by burning crop residues. The team was trying to find the best way to
actually burn residues on their moving jhankey, without losing all the infographics
they had prepared to explain their message!
Preparing infographics for the jhankey: unhappy farmers suffering from the adverse effects of climate change receive advice from a scientist
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