Bengal all set for Durga Puja

Bengal’s biggest five-day-long autumn festival — Durga Puja — has begun in the state from Wednesday.

The festival, beginning with Shashti and ending with Dashami, is being held with great passion at puja pandals across the state.

Going by the custom, the Durga Puja starts on  ‘Saptami’- which falls on Thursday, though the invocation of the Goddess begins on the day of Shashti, that is Wednesday. The state itself has several thousand pandals where people, cutting across social barriers, gather to celebrate the festival. The puja is also a popular occasion for reuniting with the family and friends.

Apart from the community pujas, goddess Durga is worshipped by a large number of families at their homes. Some of these Pujas, held by the families for generations, are star attractions of the city.

Among them are the pujas at the houses of former landlord families of Shovabazar Rajbari, Bhowanipore Mullick Bari, Rani Rashmanir Bari and others. According to the Kolkata Police, more than 3,000 Durga Pujas are being organised in the city this time.

In fact, the highest crowd-pulling Pujas of the city are Mohammad Ali Park, College Square, Vivekananda Sporting Club, Sealdah Athelete, Baghbazar Sarbojanin, Ekdalia Evergreen, Sribhumi, Bose Pukur Sitala Samity, Suruchi Sangha and Barisha Club.

In Salt Lake, in eastern part of the city, a committee set up their pandal like an artificial rock and installed a lift to enable the elderly to see the idol.

Scriptures say this time the goddess will arrive riding on a palanquin and depart riding on an elephant. Though the consequence of arriving on a palanquin is rough weather, the departure on elephant indicates a good harvest.

There is also a forecast from the Meteorological Department that owing to the depression developed over the Bay of Bengal intermittent showers are expected during the next few days. The weather being by and large fine, thousands of revelers started thronging the mandaps from Tuesday night fearing that they might not be able to do their annual ‘pandal hopping’ if there is heavy rain in the next few days.

Source: http://expressbuzz.com/nation/bengal-all-set-for-durga-puja/215093.html