Clad in new dresses, lakhs of Puja revellers take to streets
After several lacklustre weeks, ‘Sasthi’ signalled the start of the Durga Puja with ‘Bodhon’ being performed on Goddess Durga’s idol
Kolkata: Lakhs of people plunged into merriment and hit the streets of the city clad in new dresses on ‘Sasthi’ on Wednesday.
Despite the prediction of rainfall and the ongoing junior doctors protest, the crowds outside towering pandals were found swelling on Wednesday evening. After several lacklustre weeks, Sasthi signalled the start of the Durga Puja this year with “Bodhon” being performed on Goddess’ Durga’s idol. The entire state welcomes Goddess Durga with the beats of dhaak (drums), aroma of incense and fragrance of shiuli flowers.
According to police, till 7 pm on Wednesday, several Puja pandals, including Tala Prottoy, Suruchi Sangha, Santosh Mitra Square registered a crowd of around 5,000-6,000. As the trends say the number would go up as the time will pass, police sources said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while inaugurating the Tala Prottoy Puja recently said: “What Bengal can do, the rest of the world cannot. Crores and crores of people join this (Durga Puja). Thus, I keep saying that the word ‘Utsab’ (festival) is based on ‘Utsarito’ (sourced) from the people.”
Puja revellers were more interested in visiting Sreebhumi, Simla Byayam Samity, Kumartuli-Ahiritola, Bagbazar Sarbojanin. A similar trend was witnessed in South Kolkata as well. The Ekdalia Evergreen, Jodhpur Park-Selimpur-Babubagan area witnessed a massive rise in footfall. Traffic movement was slow in several stretches.
