A quiet goodbye: Kolkata bids Goddess adieu with Covid precautions

Durga Puja festivities in Bengal came to an end on Monday, albeit colourful processions, which usually mark the occasion, were largely missing from the city streets, as the idol immersion ceremony was observed by just a handful of people.(Express photo: Shashi Ghosh)

Dressed in traditional outfits and with masks on faces, devotees, while maintaining safe distance, touched the feet of goddess Durga as chants of 'asche bochor abar hobe' (till next year) filled the air. (Express photo: Shashi Ghosh)

One of the most prominent rituals of Dashami, especially in Bengal, is Sindoor Khela where married Hindu women smear each other with vermilion while bidding adieu to the goddess. (Express photo: Shashi Ghosh)

Women offered sweets to the goddess, even as the traditional Sindoor Khela was mostly restricted to organisers and a few local residents at the pandals. (Express photo: Shashi Ghosh)

All puja committees were asked to send bare minimum members to the ghats for observing the rituals. (Express photo: Shashi Ghosh)

Heavy cranes fixed atop boats were seen in action at some of the ghats to help lift and extricate the remains of the idols from the river to avoid water pollution. (Express photo: Shashi Ghosh)

This year, the Durga Puja carnival at Red Road, where big ticket committees showcase their idols before participating in the immersion procession, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Express photo: Shashi Ghosh)

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee greeted people on occasion of Bijoya Dashami. "Let us exchange pleasantries even as we feel sad, and pray that the festival is celebrated with fervour again next year," Banerjee said on Twitter. (Express photo: Partha Paul)

In Bengal, clay idols of goddess Durga are immersed in rivers after a five-day-long revelry, as devotees bid her farewell. (Express photo: Shashi Ghosh)

The ceremony symbolises the end of Durga's annual sojourn to her paternal home. (Express photo: Shashi Ghosh)