Rains fail to dampen Puja spirit

While heavy morning rains caused waterlogging in parts of the city and led to inundation of various Durga Puja pandals, people still made a beeline to visit them.
"Early this morning, I went to give Saptami anjali at Mayur Vihar Puja Pandal but due to heavy rains I could just offer the sweets before rushing to office. Waiting for the puja to begin would have meant missing work. The entire pandal was flooded with water," says Arun Das, a visitor.
At Chittaranjan Park, a mini Bengal in Delhi, which had been bustling with the festive spirit from one month ago also saw morning water logging and traffic congestion.

"We faced an initial hiccup due to rains in the morning as preparing the Bhog for people became a problem. But later we managed to run the show. People began to stream in from noon and by evening this place will be buzzing again," says Parimal Mukherjee, volunteer at the Shiv Mandir.
The Chittaranjan Park (CR Park) Mela Ground puja, which claims to be the largest in North India, drew streams of visitors during Friday morning pujas that began at noon.
"On other days people used to come and visit the Mela from early morning but today the crowd picked up during the later part of the day," says Piyush Dasgupta, a committee member of the Chittaranjan Mela Ground.

Dasgupta says the mela, being held on 3.5 to 4 acres area has been equipped to deal with rain, accidents or disaster with modern facilities and sound safety precautions like an ambulance, fire service as well as a police control room.

"We have 1.5 to 2 lakh people visiting everyday so we took no chances. This year we are celebrating 38 years and have taken adequate measure like rain proofing the pandal to avoid water logging inside the pandal," says Dasgupta.
Built at an estimated budget of Rs 13 lakhs, the puja madap has been created in "Hostoshilpo" style (based on Bengal's art and handicraft) with the diety fashioned out of terracota and made to resemble a "Ra-Bangla" (the traditional village deity).

"Our deity was made at the Shiva mandir or Kali mandir and 50 to 60 workers were hired to make the pandal and the mandap and took a month to make. The brainchild behind this year's theme is Ashok Das who has been associated with the Mela Ground Pujas for years and under him we have won many awards in the past," says Dasgupta.
The Mela Ground pandal has been made out of 4,500 bamboos.
"We are also the first puja in CR Park to introduce the system of sitting and eating Bhog (Prasad) for senior citizens and also introduced gate passes for the residents of the area. We distribute Bhog to almost 12000 to 14000 people everyday from Saptami to Navami," Dasgupta told PTI.

The Mela also has food stalls which offer spread of Bengali cuisine as well as stalls for books, handicrafts, accessories, clothing and many more.
"We try to offer a complete package to visitors to give them a taste of Bengal," says Dasgupta.