“No matter how far I sail from home, I will always search for it wherever I land.”
What follows is a summary of the curiously webbed connections between the various threads of my life. It is a story of how a software engineer from Bengal, who emigrated to Canada and the United States, finally found himself performing Durga Puja rituals in the green heart of Ireland. So, please pour a pint of Guinness (or a cup of tea), keep your patience and read on…
Let me start with an odd request I got recently.
“Hey, can you get me a ‘priest’ job in the UK or Ireland?”
Scene – October, 2025, A busy vegetable market
Bangla, West Bengal, India. My better half and partner in crime, Malabika and I are taking a walk to find some fresh green groceries, which are a rare sight here in Ireland. As usual, we are discussing it among ourselves about the freshness and sensory aromas of the vegetables and local produce market which we grew up with but dearly miss after moving out of India. Suddenly from the crowd, I heard a call “Hoi, Atanu… Come here come here”. Now…Though I am a Canadian citizen living in the Irish midlands, my name still carries weight in these crowded alleys—largely because everyone knows my father, and some know facts about my family tree that I haven’t even discovered yet.
Anyways, I digress… coming back to the “Hoi, Atanu”. I saw one of my seniors from school calling me from his newly opened shop. Quickly searching along the pages from distant memory, I even managed to recall his name impressively down to the school year. “Fantastic!” I thought, “Now I can have a normal conversation this time” without trying to recall the name constantly while he keeps talking. Don’t judge me! I am not good at memorizing names and I am too embarrassed to ask the person whose face I vividly remember!
After a quick catch up he brought up “So… you are a Purohit now? A Vedic priest? I heard you were performing Durga Puja over there in Ireland. Mama (Uncle – referring to my father) was gossiping the other day”. I was very glad and unprepared to handle the praise, so all I could do was muster a weird laugh “Henh, Henh, henh.” Now.. before letting me digest the praise fully, or even before letting me finish the oddly sounding laugh, he hit me with the pitch: “Can you get me a gig? I have the degree, the passport, and the Visa. I heard the Dakshina (the priest’s honorarium) is quite good. I could fly there tomorrow if needs be! I could even bring my all the necessary stuff for the puja ritual… and…”
I zoned out. I zoned out and laughed in my mind for so many reasons. For so many reasons which most of you would not want to know. And for many of you who would want to know the story, let me start – To him (or anybody), it was just a “gig.” To me, it was a cosmic convergence I’m still trying to explain.
“Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?”
Scene – October 2022, Columbia River Gorge Scenic Driveway
Oregon, USA. We (Me and Malabika) are driving that stunning, winding highway for the hundredth time. As a landscape photographer, I’ve spent countless hours here trying to capture the light hitting the waterfalls. By day, I am a software engineer writing code and talking to machines; by weekend, I am a seeker of vistas and talking to nature. The drive on this highway is stunningly beautiful and would never feel dull even after driving probably hundreds of times. With hills and pouring streams at one side and the huge Columbia river on the others, on a good day it feels like Rivendell materialized. Artists and landscape photographers spent lifetimes here, addicted to its beauty. Anyway, I was driving, the kids asleep in the back and hypnotizing Indian Ocean tunes playing in the car stereo. Yet, beyond these beauties, I felt a growing urge to move out from the US for quite a while now, partly because of how far away it is from home and also because it feels even further. America, for all it offered, felt further from home everyday, I kept thinking.
Right about then, Malabika asked “So, what is the plan? Where do you see ourselves in the next 5 years?” Well… not exactly in an HR question like that, but I am paraphrasing. We had this chat quite a few times with each time my choice being either the UK or Germany. This time I said “I even got an offer for Ireland.” Indeed, I was given the choice, and I laughed it off with my manager saying ‘I don’t want to get stuck in an Island especially not in a wet and damp one’. I told my wife “I want to chase light and good photo spots and Ireland has nothing to offer”.
We Bengali folks only know Ireland for one thing, “Sister Nivedita”. Her stories, ideals and journey to India along with Swami Vivekananda were a big part of growing up in West Bengal.
These thoughts were racing in my head…suddenly – “WAIT, is it even part of the European Union and what about Brexit? Can you Google?” I asked my wife sitting beside me.
Without going into specifics, fast forward just 15-30 minutes, some quick googling and a couple of more Indian Ocean songs later, we got somewhat convinced now we should TOTALLY move to Ireland. And after 15-30 days, a few more rounds of driving, that “somewhat convincing” became conviction. The conviction soon became action and we were packing for the Emerald Isle shortly thereafter.
By July 2023, the move was finalized. I realized I did not know anyone from Ireland except one single teammate whose view of Ireland was very lonely. A quick facebook search reminded me and I exclaimed “Yes of course! Akash! My long time virtual friend Akash lives in Ireland”.
There went a message to Akash, whom I knew solely from our common interest – photography and membership of Kolkata Photographers Club. After a quick call and catch up, I mentioned to Akash “By the way, I’ve started practicing as a Purohit. I’ve been performing Durga Puja in Oregon for the last few years.” And I could not believe my ears when I heard “Is that so? We are starting a Durga Puja here in Athlone this year, and we are actually looking for a priest.”
It felt like a sign from the Universe. This wasn’t just about a “move”, it was about finding a thread of my own culture in a place I hadn’t yet stepped foot in. It is about having found a connection I will cherish forever for the rest of my life. A convergence had started.
Ya Devi Sarvavutesu… Namastasyai Namo Namah
Scene – October 2023, St Mary’s Community Hall
Athlone, Ireland. The divine chant of “Ya Devi… Namastasyai Namo Namah” is echoing in repetition, giving me goosebumps each time it is uttered. All I can think about is the divinity of the moment. The face of Goddess Durga emerging from the veil of smokes of burning incense, lights from the candles. I could see my childhood in this smoke, my teen, my adulthood and my parenthood as well. This is the moment when time and space transcends the boundaries of the physical world. I could feel the Durga idol from my childhood in our village temple transformed into a huge hypnotizing size as I saw in Kolkata while I was posted there and eventually changing back to the small one which I am looking at right now. This is Convergence! I could only think about all the decisions I took for the last 1 year that have led to this divine moment. This is where my heritage as a Brahmin, my adventures as Photographer and probably my quest to find home outside home has created something that I could not even foresee more than a year ago. Had it not been for photography, had it not been for my background as Purohit and had it not been for the calling I felt during our drive in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, I would not probably be in this moment today. I would not have been part of this amazing community – Bandhan. I looked around and saw my friend Akash who was taking photos, smiling and everyone joined in the chorus for “Narayani Namastute”! Well packed hall, humming with vibrations of life, community and gathering. Puja is going on and I am a Purohit now. The convergence is complete!
Why Ireland feels like home
I moved from the US to Ireland with a plan, not a prophecy. What began as a calculated choice slowly became the quiet axis of my life. When people move to a new place, they adapt and learn, but quietly they’re searching for somewhere that feels like home. I was too. I didn’t know I’d found it, until one day I realized I had.
August 2023, After coming to Ireland, we finally settled in Carlow via one of my good friend’s references. But after settling down one of my favourite pastimes was my trip to the local library and learning about the Irish folklores. What I discovered was not only a gold mine, but a whole new Universe which captured my fascination. The Irish dolmens or portal tombs (which are 3000-5000 years old) started to become my favourite daily pilgrimage. Stories about Irish Celtic folklore soon became my favorite books to read.
In the busy-ness of life, it is important to stop a while and talk to peoples, strangers. A bit of gossip on the way to the grocery shop is as important in life as the morning coffee is. And in Ireland, that should be very easy. One fine afternoon, on the top of Rock of Dunmass, we were enjoying the wavy green fields below soaking in the beautiful golden setting sunlight. Meanwhile, An elderly Irish man of short stature approached, wearing a small toque. To me, he looked just like he embodied the spirit of Ireland itself. After the greetings and checking ‘the craic’, we joked about our shared love for potatoes and succulent lambs. As time progressed, he started telling me stories of Irish histories, saints and landscapes. Stories of puka, fairies and stories of leprechaun too. The setting sun glimmered his face from the side with last rays and he kept on going. The wavy landscape below us felt like a dream along with his stories. When we asked where he lived, he raised his hand, pointed towards a green hill with finger and told me “There… just behind that mountain afar”. Some moments really felt surreal and this was just like that.
The wavy hills, farmlands, and sheep reminded me of my village from where I belong. Sounds of tractors, cacophony of farm animals and aroma of crop fields started to make me increasingly feel Ireland as my home away from home. A sense of belonging developed.
The celtic deities, heroes, folklore started to resonate with me and my roots with Hindu ways of ‘nature worship’. I started to imagine Durga, Kali, Saraswati, Lakshmi as not just goddesses of our land and not just in the ‘Indian’ forms we know, but rather the goddess of Ireland, started taking forms of celtic warriors, mothers and deities in my imagination.
In my poetic expression, Danu and Durga became one, in my fever dream, Brigid appeared as Saraswati and in my spiritual reverence Goddess Sinann (Shannon) took the place of Ganga. I learned about the many similarities between ancient Hindu and Celtic cultures. Their way of worship, burials, rituals, crop cycle and sacred fire reminds me how we share the same roots and bonds not written or documented in history but carried through beliefs and myths.
Is that the same feeling which inspired Sister Nivedita to leave her comfort of home and follow a monk she barely knew to far India? Or was it just shared hatred for British colonialism?
I also feel this should not be just part of history, It is our collective duty to bring us out of the shadow of British Colonialism. I started to love the sense of pride that Irish people have for their own culture and language. Unfortunately, during colonial times, the Irish language went to the brink of extinction until the Irish government stepped in and started to revive. Hopefully we will take a lesson here and may the struggle of Ireland will inspire us to do more about preserving our own unique cultural heritage of Bengal. Ireland gave us Yates, Seamus, Beckett. Bengal gave India Rabindranath, Bankim, Nazrul. All of their tunes share the idea of rebellion, devotion and love. This is how the same story and struggle of Ireland ripple across the ocean and reflect far across the earth on the shores of Bengal (and India).
That is why both the places feel home!
