Durga Puja: Rituals, revelry with a spurt of fanfare

People from all walks of life and age groups thronged colourful pandals (marquees) to soak in the festivities and celebrate Durga Puja in Delhi, Kolkata and other parts of India .
Celebrities from varied fields, including actors, politicians and sportspersons, joined the festivities with commoners in Kolkata.
Former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly offered prayers at a pandal in Kolkata's Behala neighbourhood. President Pranab Mukherjee conducted all the rituals at his ancestral home in Birbhum district.
According to Hindu mythology, the festivities and prayers begin with the symbolic arrival of the goddess on earth on the sixth day of the first quarter of the moon and ends on Dashami or the 10th day, which is celebrated across the country as Dussehra.
Traditionally, every pandal has an idol of Goddess Durga depicting her as slaying the demon Mahishasur. She is shown astride a lion and wielding weapons.
There was an added sense of festivity in the air in West Bengal with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee offering a 10-day holiday to state government officials for the festival, till the Laxmi Puja on October 29.
With over 2,000 puja pandals spread across Delhi, revelers had fun hopping from one marquee to another and appreciating the efforts put in by the organisers to showcase innovative and imaginative themes.
Pandals have nostalgia, an air of reminiscence and an aura around them. The huge gathering of people of all age groups, the chatting, the discussion, the gossips that go on among friends while sitting on the puja ground has a special feel.
This year, pandals across Delhi have adopted innovative and, of course, colourful themes to mark the “annual visit of Goddess Durga to her maternal home”.
Puja committees across the city have chosen themes like London Olympics, Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary and save the girl child. A pandal in Mayur Vihar area of East Delhi even has a Bengali Film Festival organised to keep the devotees entertained.
Long queues of devotes could be seen at almost all the pandals as cameras and mobile phones incessantly clicked to capture the moments. Pandals also have stalls of various joints doing brisk business.
Gorge yourself on sinful delights this Durga Puja
From the multifarious Bengali cuisine to the Oriental to the Continental, the world is your oyster when it comes to food this Durga puja - an opportunity for people here to gorge on spicy, sinful delights.
Durga Puja, one of the biggest annual festivals in eastern India, marks the victory of good over evil, with the slaying of demon Mahishasura by Goddess Durga. The five-day festival starts Oct 20 and the subsequent four days - Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami - translate into frenzied pandal-hopping in new clothes, meeting friends and family and stuffing oneself to the brim.
Time to turn Navratri fasting into feasting
Cookies, vegetarian 'mock duck', Parsi 'malai kulfi' and much more- chefs have put together interesting recipes for those observing the nine-day Navratri fast.
They have also brought "mouth-watering twists" to the traditional menu promising to turn the fast into a feast. Navratri starts Oct 16 and ends Oct 24.
Fancy journeying to exotic locales? Go pandal hopping in Kolkata this Puja!
Sojourn to an exotic Goan beach, participate in a Chinese Dragon Festival, blow vuvuzelas at Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium - the community Durga Puja organisers in Kolkata are pulling out all stops to take revellers on a magical tour during the Oct. 20-24 festival.
From the abstract to the exotic, innovative marquees have been lined up to usher in the socio-religious carnival and dazzle pandal hoppers with their creativity and imagination during the five-day puja.
Durga Puja rituals, revelry continue in Kolkata
The second day of Durga Puja, known as Mahasaptami, saw a huge rush of people to 'pandals' (marquees) in West Bengal to offer morning prayers and join in the revelry on Sunday.
Mahasaptami is marked by the 'pran pratistha" ritual, where the deity is symbolically endowed with life. The 'Kola Bou', a tender banana plant symbolising a bride, is given a river bath amidst drum beats, wrapped in a sari and placed next to the idol of Ganesha.
Durga Puja celebrated in Indonesia
Bengalis in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, are celebrating Durga Puja with great fervour and enthusiasm this year.People from all walks of life have joined in the celebrations.
Inaugurating the celebrations, Indian Ambassador Gurjit Singh appreciated the Jakarta Bengali Association for keeping their traditions and cultural heritage alive in Indonesia.
Durga Puja: Belurmath's unique puja now live on Internet
Devotees all over the world will now be able to watch the unique Durga Puja of Belurmath, where a young girl is worshipped along with the Goddess, as the Ramakrishna Mission has decided to stream it live on Internet.
With eight hi-tech cameras covering diverse angles and a running English and Bengali commentary, all ceremonies, rituals and celebrations will be streamed live on the website www.belurmath.tv from Saturday, a monk-in-charge of the website department said.

Courtesy:  India Today