Grand Durga Puja celebration in New Jersey

The annual New Jersey Durga Puja 2015, organized by Kallol of New Jersey, was held at the Ukranian Cultural Center in Somerset from October 16 to 18. This year, it was attended by about 1,500 people a day.
The crowd at the Puja was mostly Bengali, with a number of food stalls serving Bengali gourmet fare.
The Puja was performed in adherance to all the rituals and turned out to be the quintessential Bengali affair it was meant to be.Proceedings began with the drumming of the dhaak. The first day of the celebration also featured a concert by Bangla rock band Fossils.
The second day of the celebration was saptami and ashtami combined or the “anjali day” for Bengalis. The evening saw a cultural program hosted by NRIs and a show by the children, closing with a concert by Raghab Chatterjee.
The third and last day of the celebration began with the Nabami Puja and concluded with the Dashami puja. Thakur baran, sindoor khela and dancing on “Dhakertaale” followed, to much vigour from the participants.

Durga Puja 2015 ended with magnificent fireworks and a performance by Papon.
Kallol has been organizing the Puja since 1977 and it is one of the oldest Durga Pujas in the east coast region of the US.