A blend of Marathi and Bengali cultures at Durga Puja pandals

PUNE: Durga Puja pandals across the city have hosted a variety of cultural programmes during the Durgotsav. While the dominant flavour has been traditional Bengali — with many pandals getting artists from Kolkata to enthrall audiences here — there has also been a pleasant infusion of Marathi seasoning to the cultural menu this year.
At the Pune Kali Bari, Maharashtrian girls joined in during the traditional dhunuchi dance performance set to dhaak music.“The dhunuchi dance is a ritual dance performed by Bengali women. But we wanted to promote a blend of Bengali and Marathi cultures. On Wednesday, eight Maharashtrian girls joined Bengali girls for the dance,” said Anup Dutta, of the Pune Kali Bari. On October 19, they have planned a dhunuchi dance set to dhol-taasha and dhaak beats.
At the Congress Bhavan puja pandal, the motto was inclusiveness. “We focus on multilingual programmes and involve everyone. We host quizzes, drawing competitions and conch blowing competition. There are also contests on ‘uludhun’, a ritual of making sound with the tongue, and dhunuchi dance,” said Madhumita Ghosh, of the Bangiya Sanskriti Samsad. She said that anyone is free to participate. “We had Suchitra Date, a renowned Bharatnatyam dancer, and she danced to the aarti. On Tuesday, we had ‘broto chari’ performers from a remote village in Bengal. In Maharashtra and West Bengal, the culture of theatre is very strong. We staged Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Chandalika’ here. We also have something with a Maharashtrian flavour. The programme depicts Savitribai Phule, Rani Laxmibai, Kalpana Chawla with navrasas.”
For the Bengalee Association Pune (BAP) in Baner, the theme this year was feminism. Debarati Basu, BAP’s cultural coordinator, said, “On Monday, there was a narration of ‘Krishna’, a poem is by Sabyasachi Deb. On Wednesday, we had ‘Ekush Shotoke Durga’ which translates to Durga in the 21st century. It had shlokas and works of modern feminist poets like Mallika Sengupta.”