The Hindu : Front Page : It's Durga Puja with a difference in the Capital

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 13, 2005

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It's Durga Puja with a difference in the Capital

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

A FOND FAREWELL: Durga idol being taken for immersion into the Yamuna in Delhi on Wednesday. - PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM

NEW DELHI: It was celebration at one end and separation at the other as a section of the Capital's Bengali community ended their Durga Puja celebrations with the traditional immersion of the goddess's idols into the Yamuna on Wednesday even as the Chittranjan Park-dominated South Delhi pandals decided to bid farewell to the goddess only on Thursday.

Confusion had prevailed this year as Mahanavami started on the third day of the Puja itself with many pandals wrapping up the celebrations in just four days instead of the usual five. The city was, however, divided mainly between the pandals in South Delhi and those in other parts. While those in East Delhi and New Delhi areas curtailed the Puja by a day and immersed the idols into the Yamuna waters on Wednesday, the CR Park puja committees decided to keep to the full five days, although the Mahanavami pujas were completed at a number of places on Tuesday itself.

"The South Delhi puja committees unanimously decided that we would do the visarjan on Thursday. There was confusion because practically speaking the pujas are shorter by a day this time. But because we are celebrating Navami today, there was a lot of rush at the pandals,'' said the Secretary of the Mela Ground Puja Committee, Sunil Paul.

But the decision to not curtail the pujas by a day was also for commercial reasons, acknowledged some puja committee functionaries. "The decision was taken following a meeting of the South Delhi puja committees which is headed by the Shiv Mandir. Also, we felt that keeping in mind the importance of the pujas to the people of this area, it would have been unfair to shorten the celebrations by a day,'' said a member of the Greater Kailash-II Pandal Committee. The reasons that led to considerable dismay were not just religious though. With a day less, many were even upset about losing on a day's set of new clothes during the pujas, which are literally synonymous with new attire and feasting out.

With two schools of thought emerging, the afternoon saw the Puja celebrations in East Delhi and New Delhi areas ending with the colourful immersion ritual at Yamuna Ghat, which crackled to life as the sound of beats of drums filled the air, and women smeared vermilion on each other's faces.

Although the confusion over Puja days is not new, as even in the past the number of days has seen a disagreement at times, the Chittranjan Park pandals in what is better known as Delhi's "mini-Bengal" were only expecting bigger crowds on Dushehra as they expected the number of outsiders visiting the pandals to swell. "It being a holiday, most people would be free in the evening and a lot of people who were unable to visit CR Park earlier can do so today. We expect the crowds to swell after the Dussehra celebrations end with the burning of Ravana in nearby areas.''

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