Bengali puja pandals observe Durga Ashtami with fervour

Nagpur: There is a steady stream of visitors at Dinanath High School, venue of Bengali Association Durga Puja for last 107 years. Known for its traditional methods of offering worship, it has retained the Bengali flavours.

"We have a single frame which holds all five idols. The face of the goddess, height of the idols and the style of decoration too has all remained same," says Bidyut Chakraborty, general secretary of the association.

More than 10,000 people partake the bhog over three days, which is distributed in boxes here. "For Ashtami, we had 'pankti bhoj'. But due to paucity of space in the school, we had organized it at Ahilya Mandir where over 3,000 people took turns to sit and eat," he adds.

Sticking to the single ritual of aarti performed by a priest, Chakraborty says that any other activity is not possible. "Even if we hold dhunichi naach people will stop to watch and there will be a big crowd which will obstruct devotees coming for darshan," he says.

With ample space at Dixit Nagar ground, the Durga Puja here is full of fun and frolic. Started eight years ago by fifty Bengali families who reside here, it is now celebrated with gusto.

"There were around 400 people for the Ashtami bhog which was prepared by members of our society," Indranil Mukherjee, president of puja samiti said. "We also celebrated Ashtami with our traditional dhunichi naach followed by garba," he said.

But taking the Bengali Durga Puja a step ahead with amalgamation of cultures is Nabanna Durga Puja which has now moved to the Amrut Lawns at Manish Nagar, from the AAI's receptor ground on Wardha Road.

"We have cultural activities and only traditional puja is performed here," says Sanjay De.

Starting with the typically Maharashtrian dhol taasha, De says that he wants to present this as a community event. "Initially we used to have our puja at Airport Colony but we moved out so that more people could visit our event," he says.

For three years, the committee organized a nine-day event but had to shift venue last year due to the upcoming Metro station. "It is low key compared to what we used to organize earlier but still we have had over 1000 visitors so far over," De said.