Navratri, Durga Puja In South India, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai & Trivandrum In Festive Mood

From Garba and Dandiya to worshipping Goddess Durga, Navratri brings a whole lot of joy and celebrations and while the rituals may be different in different parts of India, the devotion remains the same.

Navratri is widely celebrated in North and West of India and Durga Puja in the East including West Bengal, Assam amongst other eastern states. In the past few years, with lots of people migrating from North to South of India due to jobs etc, these celebrations have visibly increased in cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram.

In Bengaluru, there are nearly 65 Dandiya and Garba events during Navratri this year, according to Bookmyshow.com. There are more than 100 festive events during Navratri this year with one of the biggest celebrations happening in Palace Ground.

With an increasing number of Bengalis living in Bengaluru now, the city has a hundred-plus registered Durga Puja pandals and many celebrities from Kolkata come to these celebrations for performing.

"Managing an event of this nature with our regular demanding jobs is a herculean task. But where there is GOD, there is a way! With her blessings we are able to feed her devotees and do her puja. Yes, we do get a lot of help in terms of donations from everyone," says Arnab Chakraverty, Treasurer of Aaradhana Bengali Cultural Association in Bengaluru, who also is a senior director in a cyber security firm.

"When I came to Bengaluru in 2005, there were about ten Durga Puja, the famous ones were in Ulsoor, Jayamahal, RT Nagar, Airforce and Yelahanka, now there are countless."

The story is very similar in Hyderabad. There are nearly 50 Navratri and Durga Puja celebrations in the city and every year there is an increasing number of devotees who starts their own celebrations.

Fine star hotels are also altering and including sattvik food in their daily menu for devotees who are fasting during the Navratri days. MoMo cafe in Courtyard Marriott has prepared a 10 day Navratri special thali between October 15-24.

"The Cultural Committee Volunteers of Prestige Highfields have come together to celebrate all the festivals be it Dusserah, Ganesh Mahotsov and etc. We do celebrate for 10 days which include Chandi Homam and Nimajanam," says Nikhil Miryala, a Hyderabad-based IT professional and one of the volunteers.

"We do puja daily twice, in the morning and in the evening including kumkum puja which is more specific to South India. Apart from that, we do organize Ravan dahan, Ramlila Skit and many other Cultural performances related to the festival. While the morning puja sees a little less count of about 200, the evening puja attracts about 1000 devotees and Volunteers make sure everyone receives Prasad."

Although in a much smaller radius, Navratri and Dusserah is celebrated in parts of Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. The South Madras Cultural Association, celebrating their 45th Durga Puja in Chennai, is creating a replica of the famous Bagbazar Durga idol of Kolkata.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Navaratri in Chennai is the creation of 'Golu' or display of dolls. Dolls of various sizes and themes in the markets of West Mambalam, Mada Streets of Mylapore, and Nanganallur are displayed that represents incidents from Hindu mythology, from Lord Krishna's birth to Rama Pattabhishekam to Dasavatharam, and are highly looked after by devotees and collectors.

"We keep Golu (collection of dolls), invite neighbourhood ladies and give turmeric and kumkum, together we all sing Lalitha Sasramam song which creates positivity in our household during Navratri." says Gayathri M, senior IT professional based out of Chennai, who also works for one of the biggest US conglomerate.

In Thiruvananthapuram, the Navratri festival is related to Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple. Idols of Saraswati, Durga and Muruga are brought to the Kuthira Malika palace in front of Padmanabha temple as a procession. The procession finishes at the Navratri Mandapam, in the right side of the East Gopuram of the Padmanabha Swamy Temple.