KOLKATA AND PUJO
When : 21st To 31th September 2017
Venue :: Kolkata, in West Bengal, India
Durga Puja is a festivity of Good (Ma Durga) winning over the Evil (Mahishasur the demon). It is a worship of power of Good which always wins over the bad. This year Durga Puja is scheduled to start on 21nd September , 2017 with the Panchami Puja and will end on 30th September , 2017 with Vijaya Dashami. You can book a Kolkata Durga Puja tour package at affordable rates and enjoy the festival with friends and family.
Durga Puja, is widely celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Orissa and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday. It is also celebrated in Mumbai, Maharashtra, largely by the Bengali community and the Bollywood Bengali celebrities. Nowadays many Bengali cultural organisations in the UK, the US and a few others countries, organise Durga Puja with a lot of fanfare. Kolkata, in West Bengal during the Durga Puja tour turns into a city of lights and mass celebrations. People pour into the streets in hoards, visiting ” pandals ” that houses the clay models of the goddess, till the wee hours of the morning. Holiday India arranges Durga Puja tour package in and around Kolkata.
As the dark shield of cloud is wiped away, as the sky once again enlightens with the sun ablaze, as the doused leaves of yesterday glitter yet again under the radiance of the sun, a breath of fresh air mingled with the wild scent of flowers hit the windshield. Nature has it’s own way of preparing the way for what is yet to come. The framework which earlier held only the dried stems of paddy and bamboo, with a crust of the moist earth , now envisioned Her. Draped in a red saree, armed with ten different weapons, She is now ready to seize all the adversities of today and embellish the world yet again. Her journey in Kumartuli, begins from being a lump of earth to being the Almighty. Amidst all this, Kolkata too prepares herself to rejuvenate the five days of everlasting happiness. The lanes and by-lines which earlier had only those “office babu” neatly dressed in their suits and ties, now experiences a change in scenario. Bamboo poles held together by jute ropes, which provide the pandal a strong bedrock, is on it’s way to hit the puja competitions like the year before. Many a children with their hands clenched tight by their parents make their way up to the crowded shops to wrap up their last minute puja shopping. Kolkata gets full on prepared to look her level best this festive season. Amidst all these caricatures, the Bengali Kolkata mind lingers back to those endless stretches of green land where once upon a time Apu and Durga ran, to those enormous fields of “Kash phool” rocking back and forth with the soft breeze and to the sweet scent of “Shiuli phool” that seemed to engulf them in. With the swaying of the Kash phool, in the crowded heart of Kolkata and with the wild yet soothing scent that seemed to drench the air ’round , only the same message seems to read, re-read and read yet again. “Puja is near.”
The pandal which was then only a crisscross of bamboo poles running across as if to encage what lies within, is now wrapped in colours. While some with the advent of time, gets a themed outlook, some on the same stage outshine in their vintage appearance. Varied coloured lights hang off the terrace of the houses encompassing the busy streets of Kolkata. Handpicked from the sky itself the stars in the form of the coloured lights get embedded to outshine the beauty of the night sky. Sitting inside the bus and oozing out all tiredness of the bygone day, irritation hits it’s level as the bus stood there for an hour or so a few blocks away from college street, as chandeliers make their way up to college square pandal. Eager eyes watch them up close, as the trolley make its way out of the crowds, take a turn and is out of sight. Days passed like the gust of wind and then one fine day all the lights in the neighbourhood glowed and joyous cries of one and all soared up high in the sky. Children with their hands enclasped in their parents’ ran up to join the lines to enter the puja pandals. Yes, puja had finally arrived. Dressed in new clothes and shoes, with the scent of puja filling up the surroundings, with a thousand people walking up to catch a glimpse of Her tranquillity, Kolkata is cradled in the cheerfulness of the puja. While some are busy gulping panipuris , some are busy in their own little realm of ice cream, while a few others were busy over their plates of biriyani.
From morning till night, the streets of Kolkata remain crowded like never before. Amidst all this, lives a boy on the streets. Where all were in their best attire, he was left to totter in his tattered clothes. Where all were happily gulping food, he was left to search for the leftovers on the streets. Like all others, he also had a curve etched on his lips. Today, had been different for him too. He could easily find enough food to stifle the cries of his hungry stomach. Rising up early in the morning, people get ready for ashtami’s anjali. Wrapped in new clothes and with hair all wet, people reach up to the different pandals for the auspicious anjali. Nabami brings in yet another day to refill ourselves with joy once again. Being the very last day of the year’s most awaited celebration, people tend to enjoy their fullest on this day. Dashami comes with a melancholy strain. The beating of dhak, the sound of the shehenai still continue. Yet somewhere in them, remains the grief, sorrow and sadness which kindles the start of a new count for the next year. Shindur khela marks the ending of a five day long puja enrolled with fun and frolic. Maa durga is then is then set off for her journey back to Kailas. This is done by the emersion of the idol in the waters of the ganga. People visit each others houses for the purpose of greetings. Sweets are shared between each other. As if to forget the sorrow brought by the end of durga puja. All year long preparations by the pandal makers, idol makers, as well as by each and every people of the city end with a sorrowful tone. The husky voice laden on the winds, which earlier had brought in the homecoming of maa durga, now whispers, in the very same voice, “Don’t lose heart. Rather start a new count for the upcoming puja and get yourselves packed up to beat the streets of Kolkata yet again. ’Tis not the end, but the start of yet another.”
Here are the maps attached to this article, Map Source: Kolkata police
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