In Bengali ‘Baro’ means 12 and ‘yari’ means friendship. The autumnal festival for five days in India was initiated by 12 friends for the community involving all, way back in 1790. Today this festival which originated from the Eastern part of India, is a mega – carnival all over the world. Twelve Indians in Khartoum (we are actually more than twelve) got together during the five days festival and celebrated the festival in our own homely way. There were no sculptures, no theme pandals-a fabricated structure, no ritual drums called the Dhaak.
We had different dress code colours for the Bengali attire, sarees for the ladies and kurta and salwar or dhoti for men, every evening. The ladies took turns in preparing delicious Bengali cuisine every evening at respective houses. There were screening of Bengali video clips to catch up with the goings on in Kolkata. The evening bonhomie for five days began only after we prayed together for world peace.
