Bengalis in city gear up to celebrate Durga Puja

LUDHIANA: Bengalis living in the city are gearing up to celebrate Durga Puja, which will begin from October 14.

Goddess Durga idols are being prepared by artists who have come all the way from Kolkata.
There are over 350 Bengali families waiting for the big celebration during Navratras, when they will all gather and worship Goddess Durga, like they used to do in Kolkata. As of now, the association members are making all necessary arrangements for the celebrations.

The artists have started preparing idols of Goddess Durga, Laxmi, and Saraswati. Besides, idols of Lord Ganesha and Kartik will also be kept for worship for five days. Artist Ravinder Nath Bankura — who comes every year to Ludhiana to prepare the idols — shared that the idols would get ready by October 7 or 8, and he had been making the idols for more than 20 days. He said: “For these idols, I brought sand from the banks of river Ganga, because without that, it is not possible to prepare the idols of Goddess Durga.” He said even the 16 things used for make-up (shringaar) of the Goddess are not available here in the city, so they had brought everything with them.

Meanwhile, Bangia Samsad president Subodh Kumar Chakkarbarty who works as GM in Nova Cycles, said: “These five days are known for grand celebrations among Bengalis, especially when we are several miles away from our home state. We have been celebrating Durga Puja here for 56 years.” He said shradhs were going on these days, and they were collecting money from all members for the arrangements. He said there would be great hustle-bustle in each Bengali family to celebrate the festival together. Moreover, it gives a chance to people to meet each other, which is not possible as a matter of routine.

Bangia Samsad general secretary Narayan Chattopadhyay — who is working as senior executive accounts in Upper India Steel company — shared that people perform dances and sing songs during the five-day celebrations, for which they had already started the rehearsals.

He said most of the students are performing in the function, and they are taking out time from their studies to do rehearsals until late in the night. “After Durga Puja, there will be Kali Puja during Diwali, and artists will prepare the idols of Goddess Kali as well,” he added.