Maha Shashthi marks formal commencement of Durga Puja

Now moving on, Kolkata has embraced the spirit of Durga Puja as Mahashasti marks the official ceremonial beginning of the city's biggest festival, Durga Puja. From grandly decorated pandals to idols of Goddess Durga, the city is alive with festive fervor. Devotees are flocking to temples and pandals in droves. The beat of the dhak and the sound of conch shells signal the arrival of the Goddess who represents strength and power of the Divine Mother. The day is highlighted by the sacred Bodhon Ritual, where the eyes of Goddess Durga's clay idols are symbolically opened. For Bengalis, the festival is more than a religious occasion, but a celebration of Bengal's culture, community and collective identity. Veyon's Shreya Ghosh is on the ground to get you the glimpses of the various themes and the ideas behind this year's Durga Puja Pandals. The City of Joy of Kolkata is hosting over 3,000 Durga Puja Pandals this year. 400 new added Pandals for this year especially. But we are seeing relatively less number of themed Pandals. But right now I am standing inside one of the most magical themed Pandals if I can say so. This is Chor Bagan Sarbojanin and I am currently joined by the club members who are behind the preparation and the execution of this beautiful Pandal. here you can see a beautiful interplay of light and shadow ma'am if you could tell us the theme of this pandal and uh what has been the response of the crowd so far uh so our theme is like aurora it's like beyond sound and it's basically when our uh shilpi or when our artist Sushant Shivani Pal came here for the first time to decide like what we can do so he has been he has came like from the the way of Seer Avenue Ram Mandir so there it's very very noisy place so from that thing from that noise and the noisy place he decided like we could do something like if it could be for two three minutes also it will be fine but we can provide a place where people can come and with a frequency with the sound we in a with our inner meditating pose in a inner peace we can found find and like we can connect to our divine god here's a pandal that will transport the visitors back to the glory days of bengal's maritime era here you can see how this entire pandal is made of wood including the goddess idol and here you can see the forgotten stories the visual stories of the bengal's merchant voyages and it is all made up of wood right here in domdom this is the 41st durga puja pandal here in domdom's torun shongo and you can see that this is this entire pandal is literally on a pond right there And every year they make it a point to make the theme of the Durga Puja related to the pond, something to do with the waters. And here you can see this time they are taking us back to Bengal's glory days of the maritime era. And you can see how Goddess Durga, the idol itself is also in tandem with the theme of the Durga Puja Pandal. It is made up of wood and how these pillars and the other structures are full of motifs and visual stories of the merchant voyages that teleports us literally back to those days when Bengal was in its peak when it comes to its maritime. I am a worker, an African worker. Here you can see the characters of different countries and the cut-outs. Here you can see the indigenous people of each country and their workers, their business structure, how their business network works with different countries. If you look at the maps of those countries, you can see the whole structure here. It's like going from one country to another, from one place to another, it's all shown there. Does it feel like a dance drama? No, it's full of mime. Right from the installation of pandals to the decoration and all, a lot of livelihoods are connected to it. But yes, on the flip side, it's more commercialized also. So it possesses its spiritual connection or the authenticity. city. So that also, because it's more of a hanging out, people go to hang out and a lot of selfies and all that. Maybe there is no place where you can stand quietly for say two minutes and meditate or something. It has any connection with the change in government, but somehow I have a feeling there is a less of the vibe all total. Because yes, I stay in an area where there is a lot of very big Pooja's but this is Jodhpur Park and has a lot of very important temples but I yesterday being Panchami we didn't see that kind of crowd. Well I would certainly tell them that they have to enjoy the food I mean Calcutta is more and more of a foodie city at least from my point of view much more so oh Hilsa how can I say otherwise yeah and then mustard prawns and chili garlic prawns things like that and things out in Tengra and so on I mean there's just incredible cuisine to enjoy here and there's the amazing history I mean whether it's going out to the Maidan and seeing the Victoria Memorial or seeing all the so many other things that make Calcutta the city that it is I mean Chowringhee itself is very impressive and so on