‘Durga puja a chance to reconnect with one’s roots’

With Durga Puja here, the Bengali community in Pune is getting ready to celebrate the festival with gusto. In line with this, the Kalyaninagar Sarbojanin Durgotsav, one of the well-known pujas in the city, has planned a number of programmes for the festival.

From October 20, a host of programmes such as art exhibition, photography exhibition, plays, songs, book distribution, exhibits, plays by children and Rabindra Sangeet recitation, will be organised to celebrate goddess Durga’s arrival. Programmes in Hindi will be held on October 24 to reach out to non-Bengalis.

Prabhat Mukherjee, member of the Kalyaninagar Sarbojanin Durgotsav committee and Nandonik Club, said, “The first Durgotsav was held in 2003. For the first two years, it was held in Kalyaninagar, but for the last seven years, it is being held in Koregaon Park. The best part of Durga Puja is that it gives the Bengali community in the city an opportunity to reconnect with its roots. Probashi Bengalis, i.e. Bengalis who are born and brought up outside Bengal, get a better understanding of their culture, heritage and language through this festival.”

Interestingly, he said that the response from non-Bengalis to the festival was also good. “Every year the number of non-Bengalis coming to the puja is rising. As Koregaon Park is a cosmopolitan area, we get a good response from many communities. Many companies are also setting up their stalls at the puja. This year, Bajaj Allianz, Idea and Finolex among many others have put up stalls.”