Hyderabad today, Durga Puja destination for Bengalis
With every passing year, the excitement surrounding Durga Puja in the city is growing
By : amrita paul
Update: 2014-09-27 23:13 GMT
Hyderabad: With every passing year, the excitement surrounding Durga Puja in the city is growing. This year, some of the pandals have budgets as high as Rs 40 lakh. From elaborate food stalls, culinary and dandiya competitions to band performances, dance dramas and even a Durga Puja app, Bengalis in the city are geared up to celebrate the festival as they would in Bengal.
Atin Mukherjee of the Bangiya Sanskritik Sangha in Secunderabad, whose puja is currently in its 49th year, says that during last year’s puja, the daily footfall was around 20,000.
The puja committee members get artisans from Kolkata who stay at Dhoolpet in the city, working on the Durga idols for three to four months. “We have all kinds of people visiting. Some, who have just moved to the city, people who have been here for several decades and also Bengalis who were born and brought up in the city,” says Atin.
One of the oldest puja pandals in the city, Hyderabad Bangalee Samiti (HBS), in its 73rd year, prides itself for retaining the traditional spirit with which it had started. “Our core group is a mix of young and elderly people but when it comes to selecting the idol we prefer to go the traditional route and get it made in Kumortuli (one of the most prominent potters’ quarters in North Kolkata) and get it shipped to Hyderabad,” says Sumit Sen, general secretary of HBS.
Krishnendu Ray, one of the people behind Utsav Cultural Association Durga Puja in Miyapur, which was started last year says, “I have been living in Hyderabad for the last eight years and initially I used to go back home during pujas, because my friends and family were there. But my friends have also moved to different cities and countries so it doesn’t make much sense going back.”
The Cyberabad Bangali Association (CBA) Puja even has an app available on the Android and Windows platform this year. Subroto Mukherjee, the general secretary of CBA says, “The app offers a route map to the pandal and also informs users about the puja timings for each day, the cultural events which have been planned and also about the food stalls set up at the venue.”