Chittaranjan Park Strives For An Environment Friendly Durga Puja...
As the pulsating beats of the dhaki mellows down, a melancholic air descends onto the colony which was throbbing with myriad sounds, teaming with people and the familiar frangrance of “Dhuno”, the smell that typifies Durga Puja, “Durga Pujor gondho” – Puja is over for this year, we await next year i.e. “Asche bochor abar hobe”. The Bangali goes into a depression for a day or two, after 4 days of non stop festivities- more like a 4 day long non stop party! Puja in the morning and evenings are focussed towards gorging on multi cuisine fare, pandal hopping and endless adda (gossiping). Slowly life limps back to normalcy and the Bangali’s numb mind slowly comes back to regular regime!Odd as it may sound, but this is the actual scenario that grips Bengalis at this time of the year! 😊
In a first of its kind in Delhi/NCR, devotees visiting Navapalli Puja or more popularly known as Pocket 40 Puja in CR Park, were greeted with a stunning 50 meter long street art (Alpona in Bengali). Created by a motley group of 25 amateur designers and artists including children over a span of 2 consecutive nights and about 10 gruelling hours of hard work , the work of art has gone viral globally across all social media platforms, reaching even New York, London, Australia and Canada to all overseas Bengali population.
The concern for the environment has gone a step further this year, where in several Durga idols across Delhi/NCR have been created with natural clay, colours and decorated with hand made materials such as jute, gamcha (the quintessential Bengali towel made of cotton threads), bio – degradable thermocol, paints and jewellery and sarees made of clay. The result was evident during the immersion ceremony. Ashok Nagar of Faridabad district, has created the entire pandal and idol decoration with Jute and the Gamcha!!
B Block Puja and Pocket 52 Puja committees immerse their idols in the ground itself as a pioneer in preserving river Yamuna and lessening even 1% of the load on the river. That’s another interesting story. Maa Durga is driven around by B Block volunteers before she is led to the Immersion pit in the ground. Then she is given a ceremonial farewell with complete religious chanting of mantras and shouts of “Asche bochor abar hobe”. The whole process takes about 3 hours . The area is cordoned off as soon as the ceremony is over. However, in Pocket 52, Maa simply climbs down from her dias and is given a fond farewell in gigantic tubs made of iron. Surprisingly in both the places, the idols melt away within 24 hours, proving the fact about the material being used to make the idols.
Pocket 52 idol has bagged the 1st prize in the Best Idol catergory and K block has bagged 2 awards in Best Pandal and 3rd Best Idol categories.
Armed with many firsts, CR Park is soon becoming a pioneer in organising eco- friendly and innovative Pujas and next year plans to have even more visually creative, pathbreaking and unique concepts to enamour and entice the discerning and artistic Prabashi Bangali (outside Bengal Bangali!)
Asche Bochor Abar Hobe! See you next year folks with more news on Durga Puja. Bolo Bolo Durga Mai Ki Jai!!
By Jaya Ray (ray.jaya72@gmail.com)
Picture & Video Credits Anindita Roy (Anindita1110@gmail.com)
Song by Jaya Ray
