A Durga Puja pandal in New Delhi turns literature into art.
Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho on Sunday arrived in Kolkata on a two-day visit.
The four-day Durga Puja festival in West Bengal and other states ended on Thursday with people celebrating Vijaya Dasami which marked Goddess Durga's return to her husband's home.
In the first of a two-part festive recipe series, we bring you traditional Bengali preparations to help celebrate Durga Puja.
He said designs for special range of saris will be launched before Durga Puja.
Supriyo Hazra tells us just what dishes you must try out during the nine days of Durga Puja revelry and shares with us some lip-smacking recipes.
Supriyo Hazra tells us just what dishes you must try out during the nine days of Durga Puja revelry and shares with us some lip-smacking recipes.
If the Puja as a brand can be marketed more effectively outside Bengal, even overseas, it might do wonders for the economy, says Atanu Biswas.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is Trinamool Congress's Bhabanipur bypoll candidate, of violating the model code of conduct (MCC) by participating in a programme where the West Bengal government announced a grant of Rs 50,000 to each Durga puja organising committee ahead of the state's biggest festival.
Dressed in traditional clothes, the couple offered prayers to Goddess Durga and also played dhaak, a musical instrument, as part of Durga Ashtami celebrations on Monday.
A comfortable temperature and a clear sky added to the joy of the festival of autumn, Durga Puja in Guwahati and other parts of Assam especially urban areas where hundreds of colourfully decorated and illuminated pandals are waiting to welcome the puja crowd over the next four days.
Briefing the media after a three-hour tour at the project site, Ravi Kant said the trial production would commence in June-July and after a month or two, regular production would begin. "Commercial production, that is the real thing, will start in October, around the Durga Puja time," he said.
A look at the star arrivals.
Wearing his infectious goofy grin, 'Samba Magician' Ronaldinho cast a spell on the football-crazy denizens of Kolkata as his arrival for a two-day visit in Kolkata ushered in an early onset of the Durga Puja festival.
Rediff.com's Indrani Roy visits Pranab Mukherjee's ancestral home in Miriti, Birbhum district. India's President arrived here on Saturday to perform Durga Puja
The organisers, however, remained unfazed, insisting it was in line with the 'communal harmony' theme chosen by the committee for this year's puja.
Durga Puja celebrations have begun and how!
Away from the political chaos in New Delhi, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is celebrating the Durga Puja at his ancestral home in Miriti village of West Bengal's Birbhum district.
Rediff.com's Indrani Roy was the only journalist to attend President Pranab Mukherjee's ancestral Durga Puja celebrations at Miriti village in West Bengal, and is charmed by the sight of the Head of State play a gracious host during the festivities.
Hindu temples in Bangladesh have been vandalised by some unidentified miscreants during Durga Puja celebrations, prompting the government to deploy paramilitary force in 22 districts after three people were killed and many others injured in riots, media reports said.
In the second of a two-part festive recipe series, we bring you traditional Bengali preparations to help celebrate Durga Puja.
The state that is soaked in the puja fervour, is all set to welcome Maa Durga on October 20.
Hearing an appeal submitted by Forum for Durgotsab, a division bench of the high court comprising Justices Sanjib Banerjee and Arijit Banerjee, retained its earlier order declaring all Durga Puja marquees no-entry zones and erecting barricades in front of the pandals to prevent visitors from entering inside in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The present Puja is as much about having fun as it is tied in with bowing to the Mother Goddess.
Bollywood's Bengali ladies are enjoying Durga Puja as seen from these weekend pictures from the North Bengal Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal.
Accompanied by her husband, Nusrat wearing a white and red pat saree and mask offered Anjali (flowers) on the auspicious Maha Ashtami day at the Suruchi Sangha pandal in New Alipore.
After the Covid-19 pandemic that derailed the economy since 2019, the Durga Puja festival in West Bengal is back with an estimated 20-30 per cent jump in festive spending. Retail sector is the key contributor to the state's Durga Puja economy which was Rs 32,377 crore in 2019, according to a British Council study conducted for the state government. Retail accounts for 85 per cent of the total puja economy and the rest is shared among pandal making, decoration, illumination, entertainment, advertisement, food & beverage and others.
Movie stars arrived at the North Bombay Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal to seek blessings, partake in the bhog and serve it.
Take a look at the festive pictures.
Braving intermittent rain, hordes of people were seen flocking big-ticket Durga puja pandals in the city on Monday morning with little or no regard for social distancing norms.
The dizzying inflation has failed to dampen the spirit of the Durga Puja festivities in Assam. In capital Guwahati, puja organisers have outdone themselves and their efforts are visible in the opulent and colourful puja pandals across the city.
Noting that Goddess Durga was worshipped as a symbol of 'Shakti' (strength), Modi said his government was consistently working for the empowerment of women.
All the 450 plus puja celebration committees in Guwahati city have been asked by the police to install close circuit television cameras to monitor and videograph crowd moverment in and around the puja pandals.
Members of Joint Platform of Doctors, in their letter to Banerjee, referred to the steep rise in coronavirus cases in Kerala after the recent Onam festival, and a similar situation in Spain following International Women's Day celebrations and a football match to make their point.
Devotees all over the world will now be able to watch the unique Durga Puja of Belur Math, where a young girl is worshipped along with the goddess, as the Ramakrishna Mission has decided to stream it live on Internet.
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