Western Michigan Bengali Cultural Association (WMBCA) of Grand Rapids, Michigan, celebrated their 13th Durga Puja in the Wyoming Junior High School premises on Saturday, October 1, 2016. Almost 500 people attended the event that went on for the entire day with Puja, cultural events and delicacies prepared by local Indian restaurants.
The day started around 9am in the morning with the stage all set for the Puja to begin.
Arun Rajgopal
conducted the entire ceremony - starting from Pran sthapan in the Devi pratima to Bodhan, Anjali, Sandhi Puja to the Aarti. Even though the Puja was held indoors, the crisp fall morning echoed with the devout chantings of the Durga Mantras, Stotras, Shlokas and Stutis accompanied by the drum and gong beats and blowing of the conch. The festive spirit was at its peak as everyone present, joined in.
The celebrations flowed down to the lazy autumn afternoon as everyone enjoyed family time of fun and laughter as they watched a comedy film.
As the sun went down, the evening celebration started with the Sandhya Aarti, followed by the Dhunuchi Naach, Visarjan in darpan and Sindur Khela. All the married ladies bid farewell to
Devi Durga
as they touched her feet and applied Sindur on her forehead.
The evening cultural programme started around 8.30pm with the Chief Guest Abe Carrillo, Director-Inclusiveness & Diversity, Herman Miller, Inc speaking about the traditional richness of India. The programme continued with a performance by the members and their families that included a lovely musical show called 'The Wonder Years' where each stage of life, starting from growing up to getting married was showed with songs and dances.
The final musical performance was by Aritra Dasgupta and
Swagata Nag
who came down from India and enchanted the audience with their melodious renditions of popular Hindi and Bengali numbers.
The entire festivities ended with joy as the celebrations that made everyone feel of being in India even when they were thousands of miles away from home.