Revellers hit the city streets as Durga Puja begins

Hordes of revellers hit the streets on Friday to visit the Durga Puja pandals across the city on Mahashasti - the first day of the five-day festival amidst tight security. The pujas began with the beating of 'dhaks', the huge barrel shaped membranophone instruments and the playing of the hugely popular 88-year-old 'Mahisasur Mardini' - an audio montage of Chandipath, recitation from the scriptural verses of Sri Sri Chandi or Durga Saptashati, Bengali devotional songs and classical music.

Various rituals to worship the goddess, including 'bodhon', was performed in the pandals and in the households where puja is being held on Friday morning. Huge crowds were seen outside the relocated Md Ali Park pandal which showcases the folk art of Murugan in Kerala and at the century-old Bagbazar Sarbojonin in north Kolkata, famous for its traditional 'ekchala' idol in which the idols of Durga, her children, Mahisasura are in a single unit.

People were seen queuing up at the spaceship-themed Kumartuli Park puja and at Santosh Mitra Square in the central part of the city which showcases a 50-kg gold Durga idol. There were winding queues at Suruchi Sangha in south Kolkata, which has as its theme this time the unifying spirit of Durga Puja and at Chetla Agroni club which is themed on nostalgia.

The community puja at Maddox Square, which is one of the most popular in the city, too drew large number of visitors, including former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly. "We are bracing for higher footfall in the next three days - from Mahasaptami to Mahanabami. Our only request to the crowds is that they should not take time in clicking pictures or taking selfies as it will create problem for others, a spokesman of Kumartuli Park Sarbojonin said.

Pujas of erstwhile city aristocrats like Sabarno Roy Choudhury, Sovabazar Rajbari, Hatkhola Datta Bari and Laha Bari in different parts of the city also saw huge footfall. In contrast Kumartuli, the artisans hub which saw frenetic activity for the past few months as skilled men and women raced against time to complete the idols, wore a deserted look.

A corporate group took 200 senior citizens of an old age home to some of the award winning community puja pandals in luxury buses during the day. There was elaborate police arrangement in the city and elsewhere in the state in view of the huge crowd of pandal hoppers and flow of traffic.

The Met office has predicted light rains during the next four days of Puja in some parts of the state..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)