An unusual Durga Puja celebration!!!

         
                Living in Kolkata has got several advantages. The best being able to enjoy the Durga Puja festival celebrated with its full pomp and show. The city seems to be in a different level of commotion altogether in the festival nights. Any street/ lane you pass through, you will find atleast one Puja pandal established by the local organisers. Whole city is decorated with lightings of various colors and its something worth watching. The decoration is way much better than what it is during diwali.

I enjoyed the festival like never before. It so happened that parents went out of station. The friends and relatives I did enjoy the festival last year were unavailable. Hence it gave me an opportunity to do pandal hopping at my whims. So I picked up my camera and off I went. As soon as I stepped out onto the road, the decoration and lighting all around enthralled me to just enjoy this amazing festival to the fullest.The first pandal that came in my way was in a maidan near by.

My enthusiasm kept on rising with every pandal I hopped through. Taking snap shots here and there, soon I reached a very busy and heavily crowded location.

The street side spicy mouth watering chats, pani puri, noodles etc were ofcourse a 'NOT to skip' part of the enjoyment. Well I was too busy savouring them hence no pics. :)
After I was done with the pet puja, I followed the crowd to reach to the pandal that was stunning. It really signified how much amount of hard work and creativity the workers and decorators put in to create such amazing piece of work.
The pandal was designed to depict mushroom with the help of artificially made mushrooms. 

The ceiling looked awesome made of artificial mushroom units.

Finally, the Goddess Durga idol.

As I came out of this marvellous pandal still overwhelmed by the creativity, I noticed a kid running away from his father. He just angrily handed the ice cream back to his father and ran away from him with an upset face. I somehow always find it amusing, kids throwing tantrums and troubling their parents. Probably he wanted some other variety and naturally didnt like the one he was provided with.

This father son pair immediately reminded me of the night when my father exclusively took me out for pandal hopping when I was a child. It was around 15-17 years back. He took me to a park which also had joy rides like merry-go-round and even the 'maut ka kua'. Overwhelmed with the recapitulation of this very extra ordinary moment with my father, I unknowingly began to walk in the direction of that park. Soon I got reminded that the park exists no more. So badly I wished to go back to that night when out of nowhere he called me downstairs and told me about his plan of taking me to the park having joy rides etc.

Coming back to reality, I tried to notice more of such father son pair. I did find one where a kid was safely perched on a father's shoulder. The kid from this height was watching all around with his amazed imaginative eyes and requesting  his father to move to some direction or the other to buy him some toy or cold drink etc. It was fun watching the father getting irritated by the incessant demands. :)

The other things that I could notice was that the city Police officers were all active and alert through out the festival. Especially around the pandals with most crowd. Special attention was given to the easy and spacious flow of the masses in and out of pandals so as to avoid any stampede or other mishaps. This was being taken careby young volunteers. There has been a wide spread awareness about making eco friendly pandals and decoration and it was good to find that the organisers kept in mind the wellness of our mother nature also.

After taking some more pics of other pandals and stunning idols, I returned back home early morning. It was an unusually interesting Puja celebration.