Kali Puja fever grips Barak Valley

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR, Nov 10: Sunny day with no trace of rain set the mood of the celebration for the ‘Kali Puja ’ today which saw a huge assembly of devotees and visitors from the morning itself in different pandals of the town. By the evening, with the swelling number of visitors to the pandals, the celebration took the shape of a carnival. The devotees in the evening flocked to different temples and pandals of the town  to offer prayers to the Goddess Kali.

 In the midst of all the noise and bustle of big budget celebrations, there have also been puja mandaps in Silchar town which have maintained the serenity and an aura of sacredness. Under Silchar municipality area, there were hundreds of puja pandals. The pujas besides maintaining austerity, discipline, sacredness, solemnity and sublimity hogged the limelight and are the favourite destitions of pandal visitors, devotees and revellers as well. Along with that, with fast changing times and ethos, stress is also on artistry, decoration, illumition and all the glitter and glamour that go to add a touch of modernity.

 This year, the puja committees of the district have avoided lavish spending and laid stress on creating an atmosphere of religiosity with accent on giving the image of Goddess a sense of beauty and divinity. The puja in Kali mandir of Mahashashan at Shashan Road area, Fatakbazar Kalibari, Sri Sri Sanyasi Baba Ashram, Mahakal Ashram and Mashimpur Kali Bari of the town are among the oldest and important pujas. Thousands of devotees visited the temples to pay their homage to the goddess of destruction, Maa Kali.  However, the big budget puja committees of Tarapur Rice Mill, Shyama Prasad Road, Kamala Road, Mitali Sangha, Park Road, Itkhola Durga Mandap, Dakshin Bilpar of the town and Kalibari Road, Das Colony, Rangirkhari and Hailakandi Road are hogging the limelight for all their show of colours, beauty, decoration as well as extravaganza and subsequently have become the hub of pandal hoppers. The sound system at different puja pandals were humming and buzzing with devotees and visitors. The police and security forces were in their usual alertness.  Police along with officers from intelligence department, fire service and electricity department made arrangements for smooth functioning and conduct in all the puja pandals and other public places. Makeshift police control rooms have been setup at different places of the town to avert any untoward incident. Besides, CRPF personnel have been deployed in different parts of the town to maintain peace. In Janiganj area of the town, the puja gathered the attention of the revellers with their beautiful decoration and lighting.