Thane celebrates Kali Puja

THANE: If you missed out the Bengali celebrations during Durga Puja last month, then the Kali Puja is your chance to catch up. You can be at your Bengali best today, at the various city pandals and the Kalibaris in and around Thane.
The celebrations that began in the wee hours of Friday, and at some places last night, comprised the puja, pushpanjali and the traditional Bengali bhog of khichudi, labda, bhaja, chatni, paayesh, mishti etc.Maa Kali devotees have been thronging pandals and the Kalibari premises since last evening.
Subhas Banerjee, the general secretary of the Sommeloni Kalibari Bengali Education Trust, Vartak Nagar, says, “This is the 18th year of Kali Puja for us and we are going all out celebrating it with devotion. It is believed that ours is a very jagrut temple and whoever visits us leaves blessed. It is also the oldest Kali Puja in the city.”
Bimlesh Kumar Singh, a senior caretaker of the temple trust, says that this year, the puja began at 9pm last night. At midnight, there was the traditional ‘boli’ or sacrifice ceremony that comprises cutting a chaal kumro (white pumpkin) to symbolise animal sacrifice for mother goddess. “At 1 am, we had the pushpanjali, 1.30 am the hom (havan) and at 2 am, the bhog distribution of traditional khichudi, paayesh, chatni and mishti was carried out. The entire celebrations got over at around 4 am.”
Kalibari will be conducting the annokut celebrations today in the afternoon. Around 800 devotees are expected to partake the bhog distribution ceremony that will begin around 1.30 pm. The annokut bhog comprises bhaat, daal, tarkari, paayesh, mishti and chatni. “This is traditionally a poshchim-bongo concept. Thala bhore bhaat dewa hoy. There are five different types of bhaja also,” says Banerjee.
The New Bengal Club is another of Thane’s popular Kali Puja pandals. The puja here began early. The secretary of the organisation, Suman Dutta says, “We are celebrating our 13th year of Kali Puja. This year, the puja started at around 8 pm. Devotees offered pushpanjali at around 10.30 pm, followed by bhog prasad.” Members here have a strong commitment towards the environment and keeping that in mind, they have an eco-friendly Maa Kali idol. Talking about the venue, president Dipak Sengupta adds, “Our pandal is in front of the Regal Plaza building, Lokpuram, opposite Hiranandani Meadows.”
Amra Probasi from Hiranandani Estate (Ghodbunder Road) is celebrating its 13th year. President Kumar Rudra and secretary Samiran Biswas say that Kali Puja was the first big event that was organised by them after the club was formed in 2002. Subhashish Das, one of the members, says, “Ours is the biggest Kali Puja in Thane and we have devotees from Navi Mumbai, Kalyan, Vasai, Mulund and Bhandup coming here for the puja.” The eco-friendly idol of Goddess Kali has been made by artistes from the Nadia district of West Bengal using the traditional clay and hay.