After two years, Dussehra gets bigger, better, grander

Ludhiana: Dussehra was celebrated on a grand scale on Wednesday as people visited the fairground in their nearby areas to celebrate the festival with their family and friends. At some places swings were also installed for the children while traditional jalebis, tikki, samosa and other eatables attracted people. Meanwhile Durga Puja, being organised by Bangia Samsad, also came to end with ‘Sindoor Khela’ and immersion of idols of Goddess Durga.
There was huge rush in Daresi Dussehra ground where people were very much excited to see effigies of Ravana went up in flames. Besides Daresi, rush was also seen in Upkar Nagar, Aggar Nagar, Rajguru Nagar, Sarabha Nagar, Mall Enclave, Focal Point, Giaspura, Chandigarh Road, and Pratap Singh Wala.
After the effigies burnt completely some of the residents also brought the burnt bamboo sticks of Ravana effigy to their homes. It is believed that it was auspicious to keep these at home.
While enjoying the fair, businessman Kuljit Sharma said that this was the only festival that was celebrated on such a grand level and since his childhood he liked to visit Dussehra fair. He added that he had also brought his five-year-old son with him and he was enjoying the rides.
Student and resident of BRS Nagar Ujjwal Khanna said, “Though it is the age of science and technology, Dussehra fair has not lost its sheen and people love to visit fair grounds.” He added that he had come along with his friends and it was actually full of fun and frolic.
Meanwhile, some of the children had prepared small effigies of Ravana of their own and burnt those effigies in presence of their parents.
Durga Puja concluded
After worshipping Goddess Durga for five days, Bengali community immersed the idols into water while praying for the happiness of their families and relatives on Wednesday. It is a tradition among Bengalis that they worship the goddess for five days along with her family and on ‘Dashmi’ the idols are immersed in the water as they believe that the goddess would return to her in-laws after staying in her parents’ home.
Before the immersion of idols of Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh, and Kartikiya, Bengali married women apply vermilion on each other and also put it on the image of Durga, and then it is a custom among them to serve everybody with sweets. The atmosphere all around appears colorful all around and people pray before the goddess to bestow upon them all wealth, auspiciousness, prosperity, knowledge and all other potent powers.