Its been two years in a row that we are away from Kolkata during the Durga Puja.For the Bengalis, Durga Puja is the most grandest festival celebrated around September-October. So basically irrespective of geography, wherever Bengalis are, there is a big possibility that there would be a Durga Puja near by.
Bangalore, which is around 1900 Km from Kolkata, hosts a number of Durga pujas. And some of these are quite famous. So this year we decided to do puja hopping in Bangalore during the festive days.
A little background of Durga Puja:
Goddess Durga is regarded as the epitome of power in Hinduism. Every year she is worshiped so that people can gain energy and determination to end evil and flourish everything good. Devi Durga(Goddess Durga) is depicted in different forms among Hindus. In Bengal(West Bengal,a state in India), the form of Durga that is worshiped during this festive season, is Mahishasuramardini. In this form the Goddess can be seen slaying the devil Mahishasur. You can get a detailed idea at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga .
Generally pandals are crafted to house the Goddess. Over the years this festival has turned into a major art form in Bengal. Streets are lit up all over the cities and the villages. Pandals are crafted very artistically which sometimes take even a whole year to build.
Some pandals are more popular than others.The popular ones attract people in hordes. These are done on a magnificient scale right from the pandal interiors to the idols.
The three pandals we visited in Bangalore are at
What we first noticed in all these puja pandals is that that Idol, the pandal and the decorations are not given utmost importance. Rather the more important things are the cultural programs and the food stalls that accompany the pandal during the festive days. And this is quite justified.
Bengalis are born gourmets. So being away from homeland, which is Kolkata, the pandal hoppers are bound to get attracted to pure Bengali cuisine. And its not just Bengalis, people from other parts of India also enjoy Bengali cuisine. So the dominance of the food stalls are very much required in Bangalore pujas.
As Kolkata is regarded as the cultural capital of India so having a full fledged stage for cultural programs adjacent to any pandal, seemed to be just in harmony with the Bengali rhythm of life.
On Saturday, we visited the durga puja near Ulsoor lake. Its organized by Bengali Association of Bangalore. As it was the first day of puja, the pandal and the shops where still being fine tuned to their places.
On the next day we set out to see two pandals, one at Sarjapur Road, and the other at Ulsoor lake again. The puja at Sarjapur road is organized by SORRBA. There was a mad rush at this pandal. However, we enjoyed the visit to this pandal and moved on to revisit the puja near Ulsoor lake.
This time the pandal near Ulsoor lake was all set up properly. There was a cultural program going on by the adjoining stage. We enjoyed that as well. Before leaving the pandal, we brought to jars of pickle from one of the shops at the pandal. It was 11:30 PM when we reached home.
Our last day of pandal hopping was on Tuesday. We tried to revisit the pandal near Ulsoor lake once again. But because of lack of parking space, we had to return. On our way back we quickly dropped by our neighboring pandal at Whitefield. Enjoyed the cultural program there for some time and got back home.
Over all, we enjoyed the Durga Puja of 2012. However, it could have been even better if we had spent the time in Kolkata.
Here are some of the snaps from the past few days:
Bangalore, which is around 1900 Km from Kolkata, hosts a number of Durga pujas. And some of these are quite famous. So this year we decided to do puja hopping in Bangalore during the festive days.
A little background of Durga Puja:
Goddess Durga is regarded as the epitome of power in Hinduism. Every year she is worshiped so that people can gain energy and determination to end evil and flourish everything good. Devi Durga(Goddess Durga) is depicted in different forms among Hindus. In Bengal(West Bengal,a state in India), the form of Durga that is worshiped during this festive season, is Mahishasuramardini. In this form the Goddess can be seen slaying the devil Mahishasur. You can get a detailed idea at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga .
Generally pandals are crafted to house the Goddess. Over the years this festival has turned into a major art form in Bengal. Streets are lit up all over the cities and the villages. Pandals are crafted very artistically which sometimes take even a whole year to build.
Some pandals are more popular than others.The popular ones attract people in hordes. These are done on a magnificient scale right from the pandal interiors to the idols.
The three pandals we visited in Bangalore are at
- Sarjapur road
- Near Ulsoor lake
- At Whitefield inner circle
What we first noticed in all these puja pandals is that that Idol, the pandal and the decorations are not given utmost importance. Rather the more important things are the cultural programs and the food stalls that accompany the pandal during the festive days. And this is quite justified.
Bengalis are born gourmets. So being away from homeland, which is Kolkata, the pandal hoppers are bound to get attracted to pure Bengali cuisine. And its not just Bengalis, people from other parts of India also enjoy Bengali cuisine. So the dominance of the food stalls are very much required in Bangalore pujas.
As Kolkata is regarded as the cultural capital of India so having a full fledged stage for cultural programs adjacent to any pandal, seemed to be just in harmony with the Bengali rhythm of life.
On Saturday, we visited the durga puja near Ulsoor lake. Its organized by Bengali Association of Bangalore. As it was the first day of puja, the pandal and the shops where still being fine tuned to their places.
On the next day we set out to see two pandals, one at Sarjapur Road, and the other at Ulsoor lake again. The puja at Sarjapur road is organized by SORRBA. There was a mad rush at this pandal. However, we enjoyed the visit to this pandal and moved on to revisit the puja near Ulsoor lake.
This time the pandal near Ulsoor lake was all set up properly. There was a cultural program going on by the adjoining stage. We enjoyed that as well. Before leaving the pandal, we brought to jars of pickle from one of the shops at the pandal. It was 11:30 PM when we reached home.
Our last day of pandal hopping was on Tuesday. We tried to revisit the pandal near Ulsoor lake once again. But because of lack of parking space, we had to return. On our way back we quickly dropped by our neighboring pandal at Whitefield. Enjoyed the cultural program there for some time and got back home.
Over all, we enjoyed the Durga Puja of 2012. However, it could have been even better if we had spent the time in Kolkata.
Here are some of the snaps from the past few days:
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| SORRBA Durga Puja |
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| Bengali Association Durga Puja |
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| The crowd at Bengali Association Durga Puja |
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| The Puja Stage at Bengali Association Durga Puja |
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| Cultural program at SORRBA Durga Puja |
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| Fashion Show at Bengali Association Durga Puja |
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| Dance program at Bengali Association Durga Puja |
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| The anchor at Bengali Association Durga Puja cultural program |
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| The ground, the people and the zoo-zoo at Bengali Association Durga Puja |
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| Angry Bird with Happy Man. At Bengali Association Durga Puja |
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| One of the pickle stalls at Bengali Association Durga Puja |
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| Pickle and toffee at the pickel stall. At Bengali Association Durga Puja |
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| The God and the Common Man. Taken at Bengali Association Durga Puja during afternoon of Shasthi. |
Hmmm, I wanted to taste Bengali national cuisine!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, did you know that in Minsk there is Bangalor square?
Authentic Bengali food is really very testy. And we are sure that you will like it. Fish and sweets are two of the major parts of the cuisine.
DeleteThanks for the "Bangalore square" info. Actually it looks pretty similar to Bangalore city at night.
http://cs9232.vkontakte.ru/u62157983/144280767/z_d110ba5d.jpg
ReplyDeleteWhat was the name of the pickle stall ?. where can I find them in bangalore ?
ReplyDeletesorry no idea :)
Delete