Being one of the most celebrated festivals in India, with mostly Bengalis in almost every part of the country getting immersed in prayers before the Goddesses Durga, celebrating her victory over ‘Mahishasura’, Durga puja is grandly ceremonialised during the last 4-5 days of Navratri. While it’s also celebrated grandly in other parts of the country, the festival is a mega bonanza for the Bengalis in Kolkata, with thousands of people flooding the puja pandals every year. In a friendly competition with each other, major organisers in the city of joy make attempts to come up with the most unique and extraordinary themes, making the five days festival glow up with immense colour and grandeur. Here is the list of a few most unique themes one can’t miss adorning this year:
Golaghata Sarbojoni Puja
Golaghata Sarbojoni Puja, one of the most popular area to visit during the Puja, has this year come up with a very unique theme dedicated to postcards stamps and letter-boxes. Set up with at least 50,000 postcards with the help of Kolkata BPO, the entire compound, created as a giant mail-box, is set to attract thousands of visitors during the 5 days of the grand festival.
Beliaghata 33 Pally
With the advancement of the automobile industries and modern cars taking over the iconic yellow Ambassadors manufactured by the Hindustan motors in Kolkata, Beliaghata 33 Pally has recreated the ”Nostalgia” by precisely using the yellow taxis as its theme for decorating the Pandal this year. Artists have creatively used 15 taxis, 200 silencer pipes, 300 car doors as well as other parts of the ambassador to give the pandal a classic grandeur, one can’t miss viewing this year during the Pujas.
Pallishree Sangha
Celebrating its 68th Durga Puja, Pallishree Sangha has planned to take its visitors to a fantasy world during the five days of Puja. The artist has not only decorated the pandal with colours and art in the form of various animals, bugs and birds, but the entire locality has also been painted in a way to match the theme of the pandal. In its four months of hard work, the puja committee made the pandal area attractive to visitors, with hopes that people will save the environment getting inspired by how it looks in the areas bright and colourful ambience.
Deshapriya Park
With its 80ft long idol last year and after creating history for making the highest idol, Deshapriya park is all set with a bigger theme this year. To give the pandal a strong mythological value, the artist this year has worked with a theme of ‘Hazar Haath’, which portrays Durga as mentioned in Chandi Path, in which the Goddess has 1000 hands to destroy 100 asuras (Demons). With around 30 people working for more than six months, the Deshapriya park is all set to attract more visitors this year during its five days celebrations.
Padmapukur Youth Association
With an attempt to pay a rich tribute to the popular Bengali cinema and its film-makers, the Padmapukur Youth Association has planned to design its pandal with a theme paying homage to the Oscar-winning Bengali film-maker Satyajit Ray. The artists and organisers have recreated several characters of ray’s movies and have also used his movie posters to create the nostalgia of classic Bengali movies which will attract thousands of visitors this year.
Kabiraj Bagan Sarbajanin Durgotsab
Celebrating its Golden jubilee this year, the Kabiraj Bagan Sarbajanin Durgotsab organisers have taken the idea of ‘Maitrayee’ (friendship) as its theme to decorate the pandal. Artists have recreated the Maitrayee Express, the connects India and Bangladesh bridging gaps between the people of the two countries. Titled ”Cholo beriye asi” (Let’s go out), the puja committee attempts to attract travel-crazy visitors to their AC coaches and enjoy the puja in a unique way.
