Durga Puja makes a comeback in Delhi after 2 years; grand affair on cards

New Delhi: After a two-year pandemic lull, Delhi is gearing up for Durga Puja with pandals already decked up in all their glory and street lined with stalls selling toys and confectionaries.

The Durga Puja committees in the city have sprung into action and are expecting an increase in the number of devotees by magnitudes.

The Durga puja will be celebrated from October 1 to 5. The spirit of the festival has already gripped the people of Delhi including those living in Chittaranjan Park, an area known for its sizeable Bengali community.

The Chittaranjan Park Kali Mandir Society, which organises one of the biggest Durga puja festivals in Delhi, is busy with last-minute preparations.

There is more than the usual rush in the locality. People visiting the temple take their time relishing the beauty of the pandals, ornately decorated as some of them are.

"It is for the first time in two years that we will be able to celebrate the Durga Puja freely and without any concern at such a large scale. We are really excited and all the arrangements are done beautifully," said a devotee.

Keeping in view the excitement among the people, the organisers have made arrangements accordingly and ramped up security as well.

Saurav Chakraborty, the secretary of the Durga puja committee at Chittaranjan Park's cooperative ground, said they are expecting around 1 lakh people visiting every day during Durga Puja.

"People are very excited this year. We are all ready and are just giving the finishing touch to the pandal. This year the celebration would be on a grand level," he said.

This year, the pandal in Chittaranjan Park will be a replica of a typical traditional house in Kolkata.

"We are specifically focusing on the details like louvre windows and colonial-era iron locks and chains for doors," Saurav said.

The influx of people means the revival of small businesses and artisans, who are hoping to make up for some of the losses they suffered during the pandemic.

Stalls for food, sarees, and toys have been set up in the cooperative ground and cultural programmes have also been planned for the first time in two years.

A puja pandal in K-block of CR Park is being designed with paper, cardboard, wooden disposable spoons and rice husk.

On Minto Road, the devotees have started visiting the pandals and it appears celebrations have already begun.

The Minto Road Puja Samity has been hosting Durga Puja for decades. Tapan Mukherjee, who owns a food stall near the pandal, said that this year the business is doing fairly well.

"People are coming in large numbers and because of it, sales have gone up. We are hoping to make a good profit this year," Mukherjee said.