SHILLONG/TURA, Oct 16: Dussehra celebrations took off on Friday evening to bring to a
end of Durga Puja at a pandal in the city on Friday.
grand finale the colourful five-day festival of Durga Puja with devotees partaking in Durga Visarjan in which the idols of the Goddess were immersed in water bringing the curtain down on this Hindu festival that is annually anticipated with much enthusiasm by devotees.
Although dubbed as colourful, most of the puja pandals, especially in Shillong this time, were devoid of decoration and illumination but spirits remained high and the footfall was significant in view of the seemingly de-escalating COVID-19 scenario.
Garo Hills, particularly Tura, has been witnessing this
at Babupara ghat in Tura on Friday evening.
celebration for the past one hundred years when the first Durga Puja was offered by the nepali community at their permanent puja mandap near Sepoy colony, Akonggre.
Since then, the festival has grown with each passing year. This year, there were 122 puja mandaps, Tura alone hosting 26 major puja centres in town.
The auspicious festival of Durga Puja celebrates the victory of good over evil as Goddess Durga killed the demon king, Mahishasur. According to Hindu mythology, it is believed that the Goddess visits her earthly abode during this time to bless
her devotees.
Despite COVID protocols, the celebrations this year has been has been on an upscale as devotees took the opportunity to meet up at puja venues, after months of restrictions due to the COVID pandemic.
The Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Conrad K Sangma, also paid a visit to the puja mandaps in Tura on Wednesday evening.
The grand finale was the immersion procession that began from Tura bazaar with the idols of the Goddess
toys.
being taken from the pandals through the thoroughfares of the town before arriving at the Babupara immersion ghat for the final rituals on Friday afternoon.
Led by the oldest Durga Puja committee, the Nepali Durga Puja Mandap, devotees walked by the side of colourfully decorated open trucks carrying the idols of the Goddess. With devotional songs, burning of incense, and a dash of revelry, the convoy snaked its way gradually to the immersion ghat.
To the chants of “Durga Maa ki Jai” the idols were released into the water, a moving moment for many devotees among the swelling crowds, as the people bid farewell and brought down the curtains to this year’s festival.
The Durga Puja celebration this year, however, was still not at its best form in Shillong as much seemed missing including the long queues of shops outside puja pandals with mouth-watering delicacies, crowded pathways leading up to the decorated and lit pandals among other cherished things.
While the inhabitants of Meghalaya were at it, quite a number of tourists were also in Shillong for puja celebrations, according to hoteliers.