Delaware did not have their own pujo. The Bengalis residing here had to either drive an hour or two to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cherry Hill, or New Brunswick for Saraswati Pujo and Durga Pujo. And these locations, we were usually met by a sea of strange faces, may be a couple of familiar faces, old college friends, ex colleagues or distant relatives. It just did not feel like back home where we were used to paaraar (neighborhood) pujo! So as time went by some of us even stopped making these journeys, especially families with little children because it was even harder for the children to enjoy themselves in unfamiliar places, without their friends.
In the year 2001, some of us decided that we would start our own pujo in Delaware. We ran the idea by the members of the Bengali community and almost immediately the idea was greeted with big enthusiasm. That summer, we called every Bengali family in Delaware to let them know our idea of starting with a Durga Pujo that year. According to quick calculations, we estimated a total cost of about $4000. We were about 20 families and we decided to pool in a flat amount of $200 per family. Our food budget was $1000. We cooked everything ourselves, starting with sheddo bhaat on Thursday night when the decoration started in the little hall that is now the Temple kitchen (the big wedding hall came much later). We had so many families help us decorate the hall, Ma Durga with tooni bulb and flowers. Everyone ate together and rejoiced. Some played the Dhak, some played the kanshor ghontaa, some cooked, some cut fruits for the prasad, some ran to Costco, a few went to Edison to pick up pujo samagri, some helped the priest, Sushim Da, with the pujo. Everyone just came together and did what was needed and the enthusiasm was abundant! The children found their friends and they seemed happy. We had purchased secondhand protima of Ma Durga from New Jersey and we were so excited that we had a real thakur from Kolkata. We decorated the moortis with utmost care and love. I remember looking at Ma Durga that Friday evening before pujo started and saying to myself, “How can we make something so perfect better next year??!!” So that is how our pujo started and grew each year.
— Bonnie Banerjee