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NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 23, 2006: Hundreds of artisans from West Bengal who have been camping at Chittaranjan Park in South Delhi for the past three months are now giving finishing touches to Deities of various Goddesses for the festivities that are due to start September 28. While the smaller Deities are being brought by various Puja samitis from West Bengal, the larger ones are being made in Delhi itself — albeit with mud brought from the eastern State. Even the clothes that will adorn the Deities and the decoration and jewelry they would wear are being specially brought from West Bengal. The chairman of the Chittaranjan Park Mela Ground Durga Puja Samiti, Virender Kasana, said Durga Puja in the colony would be celebrated at 12 different places and the preparations have been going on for about three months. “Even the music players are being called from West Bengal and waterproof Kolkata style pandals made of bamboo are being erected to provide the festival a very traditional look,” he said. In a second report, here, it says, “Calcutta has the river Ganga, so people offer prayers for their forefathers there. In Delhi, there is no Ganga and there is no water in the Yamuna so we pray in our temple,” says the Chief Priest in Shiv Mandir, Muktipada Chakravorty. With or without the river, preparations for Durga puja are on at the Kali Temple in Chittaranjan Park. Artisans called in from Kolkata are busy giving final touches to the Deities. “We start work for Durga Puja six months in advance. All the material for the Deities is brought from Calcutta. I have inherited this craft from my father,” he says. In this mini Bengal, situated in the heart of Delhi, the tradition of the Mahalya and Durga puja are so well preserved that you actually feel like you’re in Calcutta.

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