Durga Puja 2015

Durga Puja holds a very special place in the hearts & lives of all the Bengalis, and I am no exception!

As my health has been disturbing me since quite a few days now before the pujas, I had known beforehand that I won’t be able to enjoy the Pujas this year, let alone pandal hopping on feet.

The first day of the Puja vacation – MahaSaptami was wasted lazing around at home - watching television. I was missing the fun.. All of a sudden, I decided that I wanted to go pandal hopping. So, I hired a rickshaw for the next morning i.e. Ashtami. The pandal hopping started at about 9:00 am. The excitement of the Puja had made my pain vanish.

Now, I am going to share with you the pics of some of the pandals which I really enjoyed visiting, though these were not one of the most famous Pujas of Kolkata ..

This pandal at Garfa was made in the form of a temple. The material used are bamboo, cloth, wooden planks and thermocol.

The designs all over the pandal, had been exquisitely carved from thermocol and coloured in a manner to give the look of a temple carved from rock.

The craftsmanship was worth admiring.

Two huge lions sat at the entrance, guarding the temple !

While, I was busy admiring the craftsmanship of the artists who had created the beautiful pandal, inside the pandal a huge crowd was offering their Maha-Ashtami Pushpanjali to the Goddess .. I wanted to take a good pic of Maa Durga, but could only manage to take only this one..  

Having taken a glimpse of Maa Durga's idol here, I moved on to the next destination of my Pandal Hopping Spree...

Saw a few very simple and homely pandals.. Below, I'm sharing some of them with you..

The people of the nearby locality had gathered to offer their Pushpanjali to the Goddess and the Thkur Moshai and his helper were very busy attending to them....

Below, are some more pics of some small 'parar' pujos...

Next, I headed for Santoshpur Lake Pally...

I heard some people discussing about a pandal made of safety pins, so I proceeded to visit the same..  It was really wonderful..

This pandal has been made by using millions of safetypins of different sizes.

The idol of Maa Durga was mesmerising..

Maa Durga idol at Safety-pin Pandal 

Even all the ornaments from the mukut to the anklet that had been used to adorn the idols have been made intricately by the artists using safety pins.

One cannot step back without appreciating the craftsmanship of the artists who created these.

Following is the view of the ceiling of the pandal when one looks directly upwards..

My next stop was  again a small homely pandal....

My next destination - the Bullock Cart Pandal, was also one which I liked very much. It kept me mesmerised..  The pandal was adorned with wheels of bullock-cart, cow-dung cakes, small mud idols of cow, elephant, camel, parrot and also clay dolls... 

Come, let's have a closer look at the paintings done on the wheel  and the hood of the cart..

Paintings on the wheel & Hood of Cart

Idol of Maa Durga at Bullock-cart Pandal

Decorated Wheels

Wooden Ploughs

Below, are the pics of some clay dolls used to decorate this pandal...

The rest of my pandal hopping included a few simple 'parar pujo' 

It was afternoon, and the drummers had gone to take some rest..

I also decided to return home... The memories of this year's Durga Puja will always remain like all the earlier years. A new wait has begun..for the next year.. Maa Durga will again come and will bless us... the drums will again beat and fill our hearts with joy..