Join live aarti at Bandra Durga Puja from home

MUMBAI: Shashti or the sixth day of Navratra falls on Thursday, heralding the start of the Bengali community’s most awaited five-day celebration of Durga Puja. Given that devotees of the goddess are unable to visit pandals this year owing to Covid-19 restrictions, the

Bandra Durga Puja

in association with The Times of India will bring the festival home to worshippers.


Notunpalli Sarbojonin Durgotsab Committee, also known as the

Bandra

Durga Puja, in association with The Times of India will be streaming live aartis from their pandal. All one needs to do is register one-time at www.bandradurgapuja.com.After the free registration, the user will receive an SMS by 9am every day to join the morning aarti that will take place from October 23-26.

This Puja was started by film celebrities like Pramod Chakravorty, Shakti Samanta and Basu Chatterji 48 years ago. Souptikk Daas, a member of the Puja committee, said, “We are pleased at the wide reach this tie-up grants us. It enables us to draw devotees from other parts of Mumbai as well.”

This year, the venue has been shifted to a small hall since they cannot host many devotees. Notunpalli’s Durga idol is 4-ft tall. “We got it crafted by an artisan from Vasai. It is made in the traditional manner using clay and hay,” said Daas. “This is supposed to be a sarvajanik Durgotsav but the ‘sarvajanik’ (public) has gone out of it this year! Normally, we receive 4,000-5,000 visitors each day. Still, being confined at home during the festival does not mean boredom. Our members and their families themselves will perform poetry, music or dance items from home every day.”

Apart from the pushpanjali and puja rituals, these events will be showcast live over Notunpalli and TOI’s social media pages. “We have an artiste who will sing in 14 different voices. Another member from London will sing Bengali and Hindi songs of Kishore Kumar,” said Daas.

Manish Banerjee, general secretary, said, “This year our focus is on safety and therefore we are having the puja on a very small scale. We are following all norms issued by authorities. Most people will take darshan online from the safety of their homes. We will also help out a few institutions who are in the front line of fighting Covid-19 from the money that we have collected from our members. We seek the blessing of the Goddess to help us tide over this difficult time.”

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