Mumbai: The spirit and colour of Durga Puja and Navratri engulfs the maximum city

Mumbai: The festivals of Durga Puja and Navratri are being celebrated with gusto and cheer. This year the festivities acquire a special meaning because it is being celebrated on such a large scale after a gap of two years. The Covid pandemic had either stopped such public celebrations or had forced people to cut down on the scale. But this year the festive spirit can be seen everywhere in all its traditional colours and gaiety.

Even though Durga Puja is often associated with the state of West Bengal and particularly the city of Kolkata but the festivities are being oraganised with equal fervor in other parts of the country as well.

In the city of Mumbai, the Bengali Club is organising the festivities at the popular Shivaji Park. Beautiful idols of Maa Duga, Maa Saraswati, Kartikeya, Ganesh Ji have adorned the pandal. People in their thousands can be seen at the pandal to pray to and seek the blessings of the deities.

Explaining the importance of Ashtami one of the organisers Mr Prasoon said that in the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 minutes of Naumi Devi appears as Chamunda and on Dashami we worship Maa as Gauri. He said that the last two years were difficult as the pandemic forced them to cut down on the scale of their celebrations, but this year coincides with the 100th year of the Bengali Club which has made the festivities doubly joyful.

He said that the entire pandal has been decorated by the well-known Art Director from the Hindi film industry Mr. Nitin Desai and said that by the blessings of Maa we are hoping to create a world record when a young engineer from Bengal performs the Shankh Vadan for more than 1 hour and seven minutes to create the record. We have also used the colour red as this year's theme. The red colour represents the power of women and that's what Durga Puja is all about, "The victory of good over evil".

Secondly, he said that we are proud to use all eco-friendly materials for decorations like fibre, including the idols, which have been made from the soil of the river Ganges. All these decorations will not be immersed either in the Ganges or into the sea. But other than that, we are celebrating the festival in the most traditional way in the traditional spirit.