Durga puja

While in India, a traveller gets to know the various traditions and understand the forms of culture here. India is a land of myriad folklores and innumerable customs. This plethora of cultural diversity is what makes India such a kaleidoscope of values, habits, arts and crafts. An Indian festival is rarely without a song and dance routine. Various states in India celebrate each function in different ways but the Indian dance forms have a running bond of unity amongst them – of culture and...Read Full Story

Dussehr a is a popular festival celebrated by Hindus all over India, but with different names. It is also known as Vijayadashmi (‘Vijay’ meaning ‘victory’ and ‘Dashmi means “the tenth day) as it is believed that it was on this day that Lord Rama killed the demon-king Ravana and rescue his kidnapped wife – Sita. In other words, the triumph of good over evil. The legendary triumph is reenacted to the day. In the northern parts of India, are huge figures of Ravana, his giant brother Kumbhkarna...Read Full Story

Sun, Oct 2 2011 20:36 IST | 14 Views | Add your comment SHARE: Thousands of people decked in their best walked the streets of Kolkata shoulder to shoulder, visiting one marquee after another, as the Durga Puja festivities got off to a grand start under clear skies in West Bengal Sunday. Leaving behind the drudgery of daily existence amid problems of price spirals, corruption in public life and other problems, young and the old joined in the gay abandon as Kolkata looked its...Read Full Story

Sat, Oct 1 2011 13:36 IST | 52 Views | Add your comment SHARE: For the first time in three-and-a-half decades, West Bengal's ministers have openly joined in organising Durga Puja celebrations, shedding the political diffidence of the previous leftist government, some of whose members were avowed atheists. Puja organising committees are witnessing the ministerial presence in a big way, with many legislators of the ruling Trinamool Congress giving them company. The leaders...Read Full Story

Thu, Oct 6 2011 23:18 IST | 0 Views | Add your comment SHARE: Four days of revelry and merriment came to an end Thursday as idols of goddess Durga and her four children were immersed by teary-eyed devotees in rivers across Meghalaya on Bijoya Dashami. The banks of the Umkhrah river and other rivers wore a festive look, as puja organisers came in colourful processions to the accompaniment of drums to immerse idols of the goddess and her four children. Hundreds of devotees...Read Full Story