Jaipur Durga puja pandals thronged by large crowds of devotees, revellers

Jaipur: Durga puja pandals across the city witnessed large crowds of devotees and revellers on Saturday evening, the last night before the idols would be immersed. It being a weekend and a holiday, city residents came out of their homes with family and friends for pandal hopping.
Along with the puja rituals, it was a variety of cultural programmes organised at the pandals that drew the throngs of visitors.Ramkrishna Adhikari, from the puja committee in Pratap Nagar, said the pandal witnessed the highest footfall on Saturday evening. "We organised a cultural evening by the kids of our society in the evening. The crowd really enjoyed this show," he said.
Due to the complex puja schedules this year, the puja committees are conducting Sindur Khela and idol immersion at different times. While some puja committees organised Sindur Khela on Saturday and decided to immerse the idols on Sunday, others would organise the entire rituals of Dashami and idol immersion on Sunday morning itself.
"We completed most rituals related to Dashami today (Saturday) itself. But we are going to organise Sindur Khela and immerse our idols on Sunday morning only. This is because we feel Durga Puja is of four days, and it is not auspicious to bid adieu to anyone on a Saturday," said Tarun Paul, president of a puja committee at Jhotwara.
Puja pandals even in far-flung areas of the city like Haldighati Circle in Pratap Nagar also received large crowds of visitors on Saturday evening.
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US tourists enjoy puja festivities
At a puja pandal on Amer Road, known to be a tourist area in the Pink City, a group of tourists from California in the USA was spotted soaking up the festive atmosphere suffused with both spirituality and fun.
"The American tourists were overjoyed to visit our pandal. They were enthralled to see the aarti and the splendour of the Durga Puja celebration. We are happy to find that not only the locals, but even foreign tourists are visiting our puja pandal," said Shyamol Parui, a member of Amer Road Puja Committee.