Durga Puja passed… gone is the Kali Puja and with them the festival of lights, Deepawali also flickered away…. Festive season, happy peoples…different devotional methods of the hardcore devotees to please the Almighty…. Huge pandals, packed market place…. And the lovely crowd…!

So, all passed now…with the onset of winter, people once again are back on their work. For the daily bread… for their future. Students are preparing for their semester exams. Like way, leaving the pandals Durga Maa and Kali Maa also are taking rest beneath rivers, lakes and other water sources. Thanks that they are not left under trees and street sides… Now, can anyone tell me, how many pandals were formed during Durga Puja? Some 30, here in Durgapur… so, over all in West Bengal? And in the North East? Now total it up all over India? Amazed! Truly so and you should be…

So, after a busy scheduled, Devi Durga is taking rest now. Can you gasp out, what I am going to cram here? A thrilling fact… Till now, you have counted the number of pandals. Now can you please multiply it by the average money being spent on each pandals. I feel, its nearly some Rs 40,000 each, at an average. Likewise it becomes a huge figure and hence let me concentrate on Durgapur itself. This year in Durgapur itself, some 25 plus puja pandals were formed costing Rs 1 Lac per pandal, at an average. In Bank Colony, Bidhannagar, Durgapur, the pandal cost Rs 1.4 Lac and Rs 30,000 additional on lighting. So a total of Rs 1.7 Lacs! And believe me it’s not the best in Durgapur! Neither the costliest! Thus come Durga Puja, the different puja committee starts collecting donation and there begins the competition…competition to worship Goddess Durga…to make a show-off of it and so goes the competition to host the best puja. There maybe some prizes for the best puja pandals also! There you go… money flows like anything, people happy, committee happy, friendship grows, shopping increases, market is happy… but does anyone cares about Goddess Durga? Many will say, when general people are happy, so does she be. But; and this time quite a big ‘BUT’; don’t you think after these show-off, Devi Durga will again remain homeless for 365 more days… In Durgapur, upon my stay here for 15 months, I haven’t come across a multi spaced permanent Durga Mandir. Whereas, in just 5 days of enthusiasm and devotion, people spent nearly 40-50 lacs of money here in Durgapur itself! And I don’t find a properly spaced Mandir costing that much or anyway nearby that here. It’s really amazing! So, to total it up, in all over India, very similar is the case. Then, where goes the main motive of the festivals. People feels proud to say that their committee has spent Rs 1.7 lacs in pandal itself and the whole puja costing Rs 3.6 lacs. Is it really required? Or if so, can’t it be in a more organized manner? Yes, collect money and try it up to give a permanent structure and not the disguise of thermo-coal.


So friends, can’t this be done? I find myself to be really nothing to suggest but please think on this. Take this note of mine as a debate being started by me. Intellectual comments and a resolution on that can be very beneficial. And again, I beg pardon, if I hurt your religious sentiments. I am weak in mythology but, I believe that at least a Mandir gives eternal peace and mental happiness that can’t at all be given by these scintillating pandals.

Above all, in Douglas Jerrold’s words, “Religion’s in the heart, not in the knees.”