Durga Pujo celebrations: Bengalis in Bengaluru gear up to welcome Maa Durga in full grandeur

This year, the organisers said they will display a mellow idol of goddess Durga.

The Bengali Association for the Residents of Sarjapur and HSR Layout Area (BARSHA) will celebrate pujo on the theme of 75 years of India’s Independence. Priyanka Sinha Roy, publicity head for BARSHA, said this year’s theme will celebrate India’s achievement in various sectors coupled with cultural activities with more participation from women.

“We are going to install two models – India Gate and the Vidhana Soudha. The Vidhana Soudha which is about 60×20 in size, will house the Maa Durga. We will also display many silhouettes of monuments and cultural structures of India. Importantly, this year’s pujo is also dedicated to 75 years of Indian Independence and will have 75 different success stories of India, from space sector to digitisation,” said Roy who added that the dhakis (musical instrument) will be played by women this year. Other cultural activities also include musical tributes to Lata Mangeshkar, Krishnakumar Kunnath aka KK and Puneet Rajkumar.

Mita Dutta, curator of the RT Nagar Durga Puja Samithi, will be organising the pujo on the theme of cultural heritage. “We will have several aspects of Bengali heritage on display this year after the subdued celebrations in the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. From the pandals to the bogh and from sindhur khela to cultural activities, all creatives and puja items will be sourced from the state. Moreover, in order to promote the jute business, we will be placing the idol in a structure ‘Path Madure Itikatha’ which is made of fine-tuned jute and bamboo,” Dutta said.

The Begur Bengali Cultural Association, which started off with Covid-19 relief work and lake conservation initiatives last year, will be marking its first year of celebrations this time. Sweta Chatterjee, organiser of the pujo, said, “We are going to depict puja as it emerged in West Bengal, from the houses of the zamindars. We want to give it a traditional and authentic look wherein we will be placing the idol in a courtyard within the zamindar-like structure. We will also be sourcing the Dhaki from Shantiniketan to make our cultural activities sound more realistic.”

Bongo Dhara Cultural Association, which is organising the pujo at Bharatiya City, an integrated mega smart city in Bengaluru, will introduce a theme based on matru bhoomi and karma bhoomi. Organisers Bipasha De Chakraborty and Ofelia Dey said, “This year we are bringing in cultural aspects and aesthetics of both Karnataka and West Bengal, as a congregation of karma bhoomi and matru bhoomi. We will also display Path Chitra from Bengal and mandala art work from Karnataka, amid which we will be placing the idol. Besides, there will be a flea market and we will also have singer Ananya Chakraborty of Saregamapa fame performing for us.”