Special arrangements to draw devotees at Durga Puja Pandals

Kolkata / Mumbai, Sep 26 (ANI): Innovative lights with 3D effects, depicting characters from children's poems and story books, have become a major draw at the makeshift temples set-up on the occasion of Durga Puja festival.

The lights have especially been put up to amuse and captivate children.

" Basically we want the children of our locality and of Kolkata and outskirts to enjoy the puja. I hope children are the main visitors who enjoy watching this kind of lightings. So we have depicted 'Jingle Bells', 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars' etc in the lightings," said Abhijit Mujmudar, secretary Singhi Park Sarbojonin Surgotsav.

"I hope when they find the imaginary characters moving around in front of them, they will really enjoy the theme and they will really enjoy the puja," Mujumdar added.

The puja pandals, which put up during the festival in different parts of the city attract attention for their unique workmanship, designs and themes. There is always an explicit competition among puja organising committees to come up with best and different pandals.

Meanwhile, people of the Bengali community Mumbai are also enjoying Durga puja with fervour. Bengal Club Durga Puja Committee at Shivaji Park has set up a special puja pandal. People are thronging the pendal.

Living away from their hometowns in West Bengal these people have tried to recreate the traditional Durga-puja environment.

"They (devotees) get a feel of Bengal in Mumbai. That's the oldest tradition. We have got the roots of Bengal in all our traditions. We perform the puja with full sanctity and with full respect of Mother Durga," said Amit Choudhary, Vice-President, Bengal Club Durga Puja Committee.

The annual Durga puja is one of the biggest events for Hindu Bengalis. Apart from offering prayers to Goddess Durga, people come to these pandals to savour exquisite delicacies served at various stalls and buy clothes and other things.

"It is the most important puja for us. For this Puja, all of us get together. Not only puja, it's a social gathering also. We meet everybody and we are very cordial to everybody. All happiness, new clothes... new... everything is new. We are very happy to celebrate this," said Mamta Sen, a devotee.

On Dashmi, the tenth day of the ongoing Hindu festival of Navratri on September 28, Durga idols will be immersed in water bodies -river, sea etc. By Anitha Menon and Parihas Hate (ANI)