Bengali community gears up for Kali puja tonight

Jaipur: As the city dives into the Diwali mood, the Bengali community is preparing to observe Kali puja on Thursday night. It is mainly the Durga Puja committees and some cultural associations in the city who have made arrangements for the worship of Maa Kali, the goddess of death, rebirth and strength."Unlike Durga puja, Kali puja will be a low-key affair. This puja takes place late in the night and continues till the early hours of the next day. On Friday, we are going to immerse the idol after offering community bhog to our patrons and visitors," said Subrata Ghosh from a Kali Puja committee at Jhotwara.At Vidyadhar Nagar on the outskirts of the city, preparations for a grand celebration of Kali puja are in progress. "Besides the traditional puja rituals, we have decided to arrange a big fire show. We have procured a huge stock of unique crackers to be showcased late on Thursday night," said Samir Dandapat from the Kali puja committee.Bengali residents in Jaipur have been observing the local rituals of Diwali and Kali puja rituals simultaneously for long. "We first perform Laxmi puja at our home and then go to the puja pandal to offer obeisances to Maa Kali. We do have bhog at night after the puja is over. The next day, known as Annakut locally, we offer another round of community bhog," said Sudipto Sen from Jaipur Durga Bari.At Jaipur Kali Bari Society, where Bengalis of the city offer prayers on every no-moon day, preparations for Kali puja were at the final stages on Wednesday. "Ours is a 40-year-old Kali puja. We observe this puja by maintaining all the rituals strictly. We do not make idols and immerse them. We have a permanent idol of Maa Kali, and we have been worshipping the idol for years," said Subir Debnath of Jaipur Kali Bari Society.
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