Durga Puja is an emotion

One of the most significant festivals celebrated in West Bengal is Durga Puja. It is a festival that exemplifies the victory of good over evil because goddess Kali killed the rakshasa Mahishasur. 

And since all of us cannot go to Kolkata to witness this colourful and beautiful festival, let’s go down a picture lane and enjoy the festival, from the comfort of our chairs.

An artisan preparing a Durga ma murti.

Masked shoppers adding that touch of reality to an otherwise divine celebration.

A pandal design from 2017. Pandal artists are usually self-taught with little formal training. Sometimes, they learn the ropes from a guru, secrets passed down from master to apprentice. Apart from being a creative outlet, for pandal artists, Durga Puja is the time to improve their lives and social status.

In 2020, pandals paid homage to the migrant worker crisis and COVID-19. Here are two sculptures of migrant workers.  

The black statue in the front is a clay sculpture from 2020’s Durga Puja.

Another pandal from 2020, this one portrays the nationwide lockdowns that the country faced due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Well you can’t really talk about Durga Puja without talking about food, right? Called as the Pujo Mahabhoj, this platter contains delicacies as well as authentic dishes.

And to close up this photo journey, we have children dressing up goddess Durga.