Shubho Bijoya !!

Wishing all my readers and visitors a Shubho Bijoya!

I know it is a little late but for Probashi Bangalis the time is extended till Diwali ... right?
So technically, I'm not too late.

May the good always prevail in your lives.
And may the good help you with courage.

I had a whale of a time this Durga Puja.
Celebrating after almost 2 years, back in my city, among familiar people and smells and places, I was really at peace.
Nothing can compare to the warm exuberance the people of Pune celebrate Durga puja with.

This time B was hell bent on making up for the two years of lack lustre Puja that I had to deal with.
So we had started off the celebrations on the day of Panchami itself.
Not to mention the drives every evening before that to see if the pandals are done and the idols have arrived.

The first two evenings, Panchami and Shasti, we spent at Congress Bhavan, one of the oldest Puja pandals in Pune.
Went for Pushpanjali and Aarti to Rohi Villa at Koregaon park for Shaptami, Ashtami and Navami.
That is my favourite puja pandal.


Evenings were divided between various other places.
But it was Rohi villa for the Dhunuchi naach and aarti, every evening.

And then it was pandal hopping.
Not to forget the gorging on delicacies like fish chops, rolls, biryani and luchi kosha mangsho.
Singaras and veg chops and mishti doi and rosogollas for B.

Among the various places we visited the Kalyani nagar puja pandal, the AFMC pandal, the Kali bari pujo and the new Viman nagar pandal.

We had the khichuri bhog at Congress bhavan on Shaptami and Rohi villa on Ashtami and Nabami.

The cultural programmes in the evenings are more watchable at Rohi villa than any other place.
This year the musical program on Nabami night was wonderful and a perfect round off for our perfect Pujo.

The stalls are few and with average products at Rohi villa. Among the food stalls, the only mentionable one is Pradeep caterers from Bombay. They served awesome food and had different stalls for pure vegetarian and non vegetarian food .... a huge help for vegetarians like B.
While Congress bhavan has the maximum number of food stalls with a huge variety of foods, it was only Radhika that ruled in both flavour and hygiene. 

That is the line for Bhog in the afternoon at Rohi Villa, Koregaon Park.
The line on the left is for all and the line on the right is for senior citizens only.
Extremely well managed and a wonderful menu that changed everyday, this puja is indeed perfect in every way.

All too soon, it was Dashami and time to say goodbye to Durga.
While this year Nabami and Dashami had fallen on one day, the puja organisers everywhere had decidedto keep the deities for one more day, thus allowing us full celebration of five whole days.

The evening of Dashami saw a very light rain with dark clouds as Durga started her journey back.
The sun came out later to spread a golden hue all over.
The Visharjan was done amidst dhaak and dancing and dhuno.
And lots of Sindur on everybody after the Debi boron.

And all too soon, she was gone!

"Asche bochor abar esho Ma!"
We will wait eagerly for you.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Durga Puja!
Please do share your experience with me. I'd love to hear your stories too.


I had made similar posts on Durga Puja a few years back.
The writing and the enthusiasm was far better then.

You can enjoy reading them here.