Durga Puja most democratic celebration: US ambassador
Times of India | 11 January 2025
1234 Kolkata: Durga Puja was the most democratic celebration of art and spirituality that he ever witnessed, said US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, who plans to stay on in India till June, well after he steps down from his current post after Jan 20, when Donald Trump is sworn in as the US President.
"The visit to Kolkata during last year's Durga Puja was the best cultural experience of my life. Every human being should try to get to Kolkata for Durga Puja. It's not just the art, which is among the best art I've ever seen, it's not just the creativity and the street life and the kind of spectacle of it, it's also civic pride. You can see that it's not just one neighbourhood, but it's every neighbourhood that takes this as its crowning kind of joint project," Garcetti said during an interaction with reporters on Friday.
The envoy, who served as the youngest mayor of Los Angeles in 2013 and was re-elected in 2017 with the widest margin, said any city would be proud to host a spectacle like Kolkata's Durga Puja. He felt it created strong social ties within communities and was a real example for the world that one did not just have to work on things when there were problems, but one could, actually in a positive way, put forward a vision of what was important to each area, and that this was extended for generations.
"I love the civic aspect as much as the artistic and the spiritual aspect of it. I definitely intend to bring friends from America back here for the future during Durga Puja. My daughter hasn't been here yet. My wife came here, so we absolutely would love to come back. I'm staying in India till June for our daughter to finish the school year. So I actually get three or four months, when I can be a private citizen and travel India. I absolutely intend on coming back to Kolkata," he said, adding that he would always remember Kolkata as an extraordinary city that was as proud a reflection of its past and its culture, but also one that was alive with the dynamism of the future.