Some childhood memories are like old dusty books which you haven’t touched for a long time, on a forgotten shelf. You open one, flip it through, and it is a bit less dusty than before.
I have so many of them, sitting in a dusty, forgotten corner of my brain. One of them is a sentence Baba (my father) would often tell me while I was growing up (maybe before my teenage years). It went something like this:
“Always pray to Saraswati for wisdom & knowledge. And for strength, pray to Shaktiman.” (I was a huge Shaktiman fan!)
I had completely forgotten about this. It came back to me rather abruptly while listening to a 12-hour podcast episode of The Seen & The Unseen with Devdutt Pattanaik.
There, he mentioned something about worshipping Hindu gods/goddesses:
We see people worshipping Laxmi, Ganesha, Bhavani (Durga), Shiva, a lot. The one we don’t see much is Saraswati.
It is his personal opinion, and maybe it is largely true. But growing up, even today, Saraswati holds a special place for most Bengalis. It is not only about worshipping the idols, but about how you treat books and notebooks. On Saraswati Puja, kids put their books away at the feet of the Devi, so that the books themselves get worshipped. And you can be a staunch Marxist dreaming about the next red revolution. But when you accidentally drop a book, or it touches your feet somehow, you will inadvertently touch your forehead and do a pranam.
This year’s Durga Pujo was different. In many aspects. One of which was the flood of AI slop everywhere. It started when the CM’s own ad in daily newspapers showed Devi Durga with 11 hands instead of 10.1 The CM later had to release a statement apologising for the mistake. But it was just the start. We later saw 9, 12 and even 14! Ma Durga faced her toughest battle yet - against the slop generated by AI overlords. And mostly by people who have no fricking clue how to use GenAI models.
The bigger eyesore, for me, was the advertisement headings of different brands. It was full of AI-generated Indian (or Bengali, even) looking women in Red & White saree. There were also different Bollywood and Tollywood actors all around, but this was just something else altogether.
At one point, I started a mental game looking at a hoarding: whether it was AI or non-AI. I don’t know exactly how the industry works, but looking at the slop, it doesn’t feel like a great time for models who pose for these advertisements only. If someone is already established as a movie star, then they are fine. But if someone wants to enter the industry with this route, then maybe they need to rethink.
Soon, though, I feel there will be extreme fatigue settling in. And we will be tired of seeing these ads which don’t really ‘stand out’. And we may start seeing some Bikash Paul on those hoardings, instead of GPT Sol.
Then there was the stampede, which reportedly killed almost 20 people.2 Utterly unthinkable.
In the days leading up to it, many influencers (mostly paid, I think) kept posting videos of different pandals with the famous Gen Z line “First in my bloodline to see a Durga Pujo like this”. It became rather dark and ironic, very quickly.
Ma Durga fought against AI slop. But that was nothing compared to what her daughter Saraswati had to fight.
In every Durga Puja, predominantly the Left, and also other political parties, have their book stalls installed near pandals. They mostly sell books aligned with their ideology, along with some evergreen literature. The book stalls set up by the Left, in most places, are like the veg section of a Bengali wedding. You would hardly see people lining up to buy books. It is mostly empty (except a few). But this year it was different.
The CM and many from the ruling party gave warnings about setting up book stalls.3 Organisers say they had permission. Officials say police clearance was missing. The Left went to the High Court.4 And even bulldozers & RAF were brought for one of the stalls. The video which went viral was this. Here it can be seen, one old gentleman pleading with a young guy to not destroy the books, to at least have a look at them first. But he is busy destroying them.
This made me angry. Furious. Disappointed. All in one. Growing up, even throwing a book was considered a heinous crime. I kept on thinking how someone could throw, tear and burn books like that.
And I kept coming back to that Marxist. He may disagree with half the books on his shelf, but he may still bow to one that has fallen. The man with the bulldozer has no such reflex.
Which brings me back to the dusty books. Some get forgotten on a shelf, and some get burned. Forgetting is slow and quiet, and most of us are guilty of it. But a forgotten book can still be opened one day, a bit less dusty than before. A burned one can’t.
When ideology blinds you, a book stops being a book. It becomes the enemy.
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“Suvendu apologises over ‘distorted’ Durga image in govt ad, says agency cautioned”, ThePrint (PTI), 7 Sep 2026.
“Kolkata Durga Puja Stampede Raises Questions Over Pandal Safety After 19 Deaths”, Brut, 19 Oct 2026.
“Why Durga Puja’s Celebration in West Bengal This Year Was Different”, The Diplomat, Oct 2026.
https://thediplomat.com/2026/10/why-durga-pujas-celebration-in-west-bengal-this-year-was-different/
"Left alleges bookstall vandalism during Durga Puja; Swapan Dasgupta, RSS leader defend free speech", ThePrint (PTI), 19 Oct 2026.
“Calcutta High Court rejects CPI(M)’s plea to halt removal of Durga Puja book stall near Jadavpur Coffee House”, The Statesman, 21 Oct 2026.
Also: “Police Clear Left Book Stalls Across West Bengal as 19 Die in Puja Stampede Amid Thin Policing”, The Wire.