Durga Puja begins from Monday and we take a peak at the events organised in the city
Youngsters perform at the cultural programme Sammad that accompanies the Sarathi Trust Durga Puja
One thousand and nine hundred kilometres away from Bengaluru, October 19 will spell the beginning of the best of times for a large number of people. This city might be far from the Durga Puja of Kolkata, but thanks to the local celebrations, chances are that you are closer to a pandal than you think! With guest acts performing at the venues every night, cultural shows that make sure all communities have something to look forward to and delicious meals for all those who troupe into the pandals for a look – the Bengaluru Durga Puja just got bigger and better in 2015!
Organised in equal measure by enthusiastic Bengalis living away from home and also non-Bengalis who enjoy the annual lure of the five day festival, the hours of brainstorming that lead to the pujas commence as early as March for these Bengalureans. Aninda Chatterjee, who is part of the Utsav committee that organises a large puja at JP Nagar says, “Our extravaganza started four years back – through all the festivities we try to give people a taste of the homely and cordial atmosphere that is intrinsic to the Durga Pujo of Bengal . This year we will have performances by Shreya Guha Thakurta and the renowned baul singer Raju Das Baul.”
A great favourite of the city’s population of youngsters, most puja organisers take pains to make the festivities enjoyable to non-Bengalis as well. Arunagshu Chaudhury, of the Sarathi Socio-Cultural Trust in Koramangala has been at it for 14 years now. “We make a conscious effort to include people of all ethnicities in the celebrations – this is why we have a separation of the puja itself and the cultural activites surrounding it. This year we have performances and competitions by bands like Sahar, Rupankar, Jhankar Beats and for the first time in the city, a singing performance by the Bollywood singer, Rupankar. We will also be inviting – as we do every year – guests from old age homes to partake in the fun. As always, we won’t be charging any money from any one on any of the days.”
With thousands of members, the Bengali in Bangalore community is also gearing up for its annual festival. President Indradyumna Datta says, “Our beginnings were from the internet – but from a small online community, we’ve managed to become a group of 14,000 with a small Durga Puja of our own. This time, we will try to recreate the popular puja of Maddox Square in Kolkata in our very own Bengaluru.”
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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