Birendra Bhadra: The voice that heralds Durga Puja

The Mahalaya broadcast by the inimitable Birendra Bhadra turns 90

When Mahalaya mornings dawned sharp and bright, there was no way one could escape the harbinger of the pujas, not if you lived in Kolkata at any rate. Across buildings and streets, the sonorous voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra intoning the story of Durga’s arrival on earth and her killing of the demon Mahishasura would float along on sunbeams and permeate homes and indeed our very bodies as we lay asleep.

So popular was Bhadra’s rendition that till today no other music heralds the launch of the lunar fortnight of Devi Paksha except his, broadcast faithfully by All India Radio each year and holding its listeners captive for the 90 minutes of its duration; now AIR’s oldest airing.

Of course, no longer is the transistor or radio the medium of the music; one has switched to pods and phones to air it, but it is still the original ‘Mahishasura Mardini’ programme created by AIR in 1931 that generates that indefinable air of the pujas having arrived. It’s as if the official bugle has been blown to begin celebrations, not that Indians need an excuse.