In Pics: Lakshmi puja at celebs' places

Trust our Tolly celebs to seamlessly shift from one festive mood to another. The Durga Puja celebrations done and over with, it was time for them to switch gears for Lakshmi Puja on Tuesday. Many of the T-town divas dressed up in their traditional best to welcome the goddess of wealth and prosperity. (In Pic: Sudipa and Agnidev Chatterjee)

Prosenjit Chatterjee, Arpita, Paayel Sarkar, Rachna Banerjee, Koneenica Banerjee, Sidhu and Aakash Rohira dropped in at Pallavi Chatterjee’s residence to offer prayers to the Goddess. There was a lavish bhog awaiting the guests which featured loochi, aloor dom, alu-phulkopir torkari, khichudi, sweets and payesh. Prosenjit, who was a little puzzled with the photographers present, politely excused himself saying, "I have come here as Pallabi's brother, not as Prosenjit Chatterjee."

Rituparna Sengupta too had arranged for the festivities at her place and hosted Rahul, Surojit Chatterjee and Jayasree Bhattacharya. In a totally traditional avatar, complete with the sindoor and laal tip, she looked serene in a plaid sari. "I couldn't be in Kolakata during the Pujas much because I was acting as a brand ambassador for a Mumbai pja. Howvere, I made sure, I enjoyed the festivities during the Lakshmi puja. I do lakshmi puja every year, and this is a complete family time for me. I will start shooting for Mainak Bhaumik's next soon, so this was a nice break with friends and family," Ritu said.

Paayel Sarkar and Rachna Bannerjee in front of the Lakshmi idol at Pallavi's place. Paayel received a lot of praise for her acting in Srijit Mukherji's Chotushkone. In fact, Sidhu of Cactus even told her that he wanted to watch the film a second time, even if only to get the cross-references used as sub-text in the film. Pallavi, who has lost a lot of weight, confessed that she turned veg, entirely for spiritual reasons. "Once, when I was younger, I had stopped having fish because I was angry with my mother, but this time, turning vegetarian was entirely a spiritual decision," she said. (In Pic: Payel Sarkar, Pallavi Chatterjee & Rachna Banerjee)

Sonalee did Lakshmi puja at her own home before dropping in at Pallavi's. The pretty lady started out by wrapping around the entire six yards around her, but changed into a salwar kameez by the noon. "Lakshmi puja is celebrated in our house every year. I get the idol myself. This time, I put alpona also," she said. After the puja was complete at her place, she went fopr the shoot of Jol Nupur, before heading for Pallavi's place to gorge on some khichudi. "I love khichudi, but in our home, we only make luchi for Lakshmi puja. So I came here to have some khichudi," said Sonalee.

The puja at Srabanti's place was a quaint affair. A little golden idol with minimal decorations around made the little corner of the room look regal. ‘I don’t do this puja only for my prosperity. I pray to god that every person at least gets a decent meal,’ said a neon sari-clad Srabanti. She told us that other than the bhog, which was prepared by her mother, she did all the other preparations for the Puja. However, she added, "My son helped me a lot, I must say."

"I cook the bhog for this puja completely on my own. i have been doing this puja since childhood, and I hope I can do this till the end of my life," said Surojit of Bhoomi, who along with wife Kamalini did Lakshmi puja at their residence. "When we were kids, there used to be an elaborate puja in our home. from the eve of the Puja, all the women of the house would get together and start preparing the sweets like naru and moya. But we were strictly restricted from touching any of them till the goddess had had her share the next day. It was torture. Being able to smell the aroma and not being able to taste it was tough," he laughed.

Soumitra Ray of Bhoomi celebrated the festivities at his dada's place. The whole team of Robi O Nobin was present for the puja. Arjyesh and Agnish, his two sons, too joined him in offering prayers to the goddess. Later in the evening, the musician posted a picture of him jamming with his two sons on his Facebook page with a caption that read, "WHAT MORE CAN ONE ASK FOR? A nice jam with my two sons."

A selfie is always a good way to begin or end festivities. Akash Rohira made sure he captured the perfect smiles with Pallavi, Konineeca and Sidhu at Pallavi Chatterjee's home. The DJ, who was on a fast for Navratra, made up for it by feasting on the tasty bhog. ‘I wait for this day, especially because I get to eat khichdi & begun bhaja. I also get to offer anjali,’ he smiled.