Durga Pooja: Pandal Hopping

I had been planning to do this for the last 3 years for Maya, a blog follower from the US. She had mailed me long ago asking me to visit C R Park and get her photos from there to refresh her memory of the place she grew. Somehow the plan never materialized until yesterday.

Thanks to being surrounded by some wonderful Bangalis I went pandal hopping to pray to the Goddess in her majestic best. Lopamudra was the official guide and she was generous enough to take me around the pandals in South Delhi. Others joined in later and we had a fantastic time. Some photographs from yesterday.

From right to left: Sangeeta, Meghna, Supriya, Lopamudra, Shweta

Huge pandals like this one were set up across C R Park and GK-II.

The detailing of the decorations was nothing short of brilliance. This artificial tree had everything, green leaves, bee hives, nests and birds.

The lighting inside the pandals was done very artistically and added to the pious atmosphere.


Goddess in her various majestic moods!

These special drums are called dhaks and are decorated with beautiful cloth pieces and faux feathers.

Dried coconut fibre is burnt in these earthen pots along with incense. Men and women dance to the tune of the dhaks holding these earthen pots. This dance is called Dhunuchi Naach.

This young boy danced and played the gong like instrument close to 40 minutes to accompany the dhaks.

There was a beautiful dance performance about the various tales associated with the Goddess.

The streets were lit with lights and children and a few adults (like my friends and I) indulged in the merriment by blowing soap bubbles.

The streets were lined with numerous shops selling yummy snacks. I discovered Puchkas (a brother of the Delhi Gol Guppas) and fell in love

There were other things for sale as well like candy floss etc.

That was the day I had. It was fantastic. I'm already waiting for next year and doing this again :-)


Happy Bijoy Dashmi everyone!


Will post a couple of videos tomorrow :-)