Meet Bacchu Malakar whose family has been making traditional ornaments for over a century.
Film and television stars made their way to the North Bombay Sarbojanin Durga Puja in Juhu, north west Mumbai, to celebrate Ashthami.
Take a look at the festive pictures.
Rediff.com's Dipak Chakroborty sends some fantastic images of one of the grandest, most thought-provoking and 'out of the box' Durga Pujo celebrations in Kolkata. Joy Maa Durga!
In a statement that expressed the unrelenting stand of the Samajwadi Party government over the IAS officer's suspension, UP minister Ahmed Hasan in the presence of Yadav and his cabinet colleagues said the issue was being "highlighted unnecessarily".
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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.
Through Manorathangal, M T Vasudevan Nair makes himself available to a whole new generation of uninitiated viewers, who can familiarise themselves with his rich body of work and hope to learn a thing or two about life in all its messy grandeur and flawed imperfections, notes Arjun Menon.
A comment in Bengali written against her read "You won't be able to save yourself, your god of earth won't be able to save you.. After your death you will realise your folly. There won't be any excuses for you."
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.
The five-day Durga Puja festival in West Bengal ended on Wednesday with people celebrating Bijaya Dashami which marked Goddess Durga's return to her husband's home.
And it's not just the festival Kolkata's beloved tram service is celebrating.
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.
Sonia condemned the appearance of the said posters and ordered the state Congress committee to inquire into the matter and identify the persons responsible for it.
'Perhaps the greatest curse that modern technology has inflicted on the people during the pujas is powerful public address systems that blare out songs which you have no option but to listen to,' says Subir Roy.
But the more significant development is that just as politicians took over pujas some years ago, NRIs, hi-tech and market managers are now moving in. I have nothing against them except that it would be sad if professional commerce overwhelms the spirit of collective youthful effort that traditionally sustained public pujas.
The pooja pandal is designed in a manner which resembles Hogwarts Castle and displays statues of the Potter characters like Hagrid and Hedgewig apart from Harry himself.
This Puja-typical behaviour invariably tells you how enthusiastic Bengalis are when it comes to Devi Durga and dhunuchi naach and everything in between.
"The puja is around 100 years old. Pranab's grandfather late Jangaleswar Mukherjee started the puja," said Goutam Roy, who has been looking after puja arrangements for the last couple of years.
Kolkata is ready for Durga Puja and Mamata Banerjee is taking an active part in preparations for the festival.
Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
At least four babies, three boys and a girl, who were born in the Kendrapara district hospital here on Wednesday evening were named so by their overwhelmed parents.
Three different invitations were sent out for the wedding and the receptions with top-run guests being sent a large red box that contained an intricate chest incorporating a mini silver temple featuring gold idols of various Hindu deities, including Lord Ganesh, Radha-Krishna, and Goddess Durga.
'Dharti par jo Rab hota hai, woh hai pitaah (There's a God on earth, and it's a Father).'
Take a look at the pictures!
An amateurish crime comedy that wants to be taken seriously, Mrs Undercover can never quite find its bearings, observes Sukanya Verma.
The Hindu American Foundation has reported that Sherawali Temple in Hayward, California was defaced with pro-Khalistani graffiti.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has written to the ethics committee of the Lok Sabha stating that she cannot appear before it on October 31 in connection with the allegations against her due to prior engagements and will be available only after November 5.
rediffGURU Mayank Kumar offers guidance about degree courses, campus, job-linked and executive programmes and studying abroad.
The Odisha government has asked all the district collectors to remain prepared for any eventuality, and directed the administration to evacuate people from low-lying areas in the event of heavy rain.
Uttar Pradesh is under the scanner again as that state IAS Association has taken on CM Akhilesh Yadav for the suspension of Durga Shakti Nagpal, who campaigned against the sand mafia
The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, an NGO in the heart of Kolkata's red light district, has decided to celebrate Durga Puja, reports Indrani Roy/Rediff.com.Speaking to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com, the sex workers say that they want to get rid of ostracisation and be allowed to celebrate Durga Puja just as others do.
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.
The HC was hearing three PILs challenging the restrictions on immersion of idols at the end of the five-day Durga Puja festival.
One would have expected Rashtrapati Bhavan and not the Delhi police to settle the Unidentified Feline Object issue. In its absence, the four legged-visitor spanned in imagined identity, anything from a domestic cat familiar with the palatial surroundings to a swashbuckling Puss in Boots visiting from the outside or indeed a Bagheera from Jungle Book, notes Shyam G Menon.
India's first woman elephant mahout Parbati Baruah famous as Hasti Kanya, tribal environmentalist Chami Murmu, social worker Sangthankima who runs Mizoram's largest orphanage and plastic surgeon Prema Dhanraj who treats burn victims are among 34 "unsung heroes" awarded Padma Shri on Thursday.
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.
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
'It was my late husband Durga Soren (Hemant Soren's elder brother) who built the party and strengthened it.' 'It was due to his strengthening efforts that we have today a JMM government in the state.'
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