This was the first Durga Puja celebration which I attended in Mumbai. As members of the 78 year old Bombay Durga Bari Samiti which organizes the Puja at Tejpal Hall, my family and I were present during the Puja as well as the cultural programmes held in the evening beginning from Panchami to the last day of Puja on Navami before the immersion on Dashami. Needless to say the scale of celebration is miniscule when compared to that of Kolkata, but still the Mumbai celebrations are quite a large scale when compared to those of the other smaller cities in India. It begins with the 'AnadaMela' on Panchami evening when families set up stalls with delicious home made goodies like rolls, luchi -aloo dum, singhara, kachuri, ghoogni, sweets etc. which leave your taste-buds craving for more. Then on 3 main days of the Puja i.e. Saptami, Asthmi, Navami, people come down for the Pushpanjali which is followed by distribution of fruit-prasad. Every one's invited to join in these celebrations and in the afternoon there is the tasty bhog of kichudi, labra, payesh and mishti. In the evenings there are plenty of entertainment programmes performed by the members themselves, invited professional troupes from Kolkata and other places , celebrity singers etc.
The other famous Pujas in Mumbai include the ones at Shivaji Park and Lokhandwala. The latter is famous as the one begun by the Bollywood playback singer Abhijeet and attracts lots of celebrities. Also there is the famous Mukherjee family's Puja ( Rani and Kajol) which is quite old and revered that is held at Poddar school.
Well, the spirit of Bengal is carried anywhere, where a few Bongs get to meet; could we ever doubt that?
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