Bengalis gearing up for Durga puja

Hyderabad: The city is gearing up for Durga Puja celebrations, a cultural extravaganza by local Bengalis. The six days of Durga puja would be celebrated from October 3 to 8 at various pandals in the city. They are being decorated and finishing touches are being given to Durga idols.

Durga celebrations include from melodious sounds of daakis (drum), smoky touches of dhunuchi and delicious bhog (prasadam) which would be distributed to hundreds of devotees. This year some of the pandals have budgets as high as Rs 40 lakh.

"Among various puja pandals, Hyderabad Bangalee Samiti (HBS) is the oldest in the city and will be celebrating 78th year of Durga puja. This year we got idol sculpted from Amol Pal, from Kumortuli (one of the most prominent potter's quarters in North Kolkata) and get it shipped to Hyderabad. The puja will be organised at Pingali Venkat Reddy Hall, Domalguda," says Dilip Bhattacherjee, executive member of HBS

"We get the priests and the dhaakis (drummer) and other artistes from Kolkata. This year the theme of the pandal is not to use plastic. Even the prasadam will be distributed in paper plates and also, we are planning to do a workshop on water conservation. Every year we feed over 10,000 people during the puja, he added. The puja celebrations is incomplete without visiting Keyes High School in Secunderabad, where puja is organised by Bangiya Sanskritk Sangha (BSS).

"This year being the 54th year of Durga puja celebrations, a replica of Ambika Mata Temple of Rajasthan has been taken as the theme. Last year, daily footfall was around 20,000 and even this year we are expecting the same. The idol of goddess Durga is being sculpted by Jagadish Pal at his workshop in Kanajiguda," said Subrata Ganguly, general secretary of BSS.

The event would be inaugurated by Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Telangana, on October 4. All the six days will be celebrated with pomp and gaiety. A large number of stalls would be opened for visitors to relish on Bengali sweets followed by food.

Setting an example for communal harmony, around 10 Muslims would participate in the Durga puja celebrations organised by Hyderabad Charkaman Bengali Samiti at Ghansi Bazar in Old City, said Manish Neogi, executive member of HCBS.

Apart from this,, there are some more pandals in city that includes Utsav Cultural Association Durga Puja, Miyapur, Bengali Cultural Puja, Masab Tank, and Kalibari Durga Puja at Sainikpuri.