Pandal Hopping Day #3 ..Best Pujas list, also..

Navami is here. The dhak has just gone wilder. The bigger the day, the bigger the puja. Behala today for Pandal Hopping. “missed it? See it here!” 😛
I don’t know why I called the Saptami day the best hopping experience when I had already hopped on Navami. Maybe I was kidding then. To start the day, missed the Shuruchi Sangha puja, the so called best puja this year. That was a great miss.
But surely, could not have afford to miss Babubagan, Jodhpur Park or Behala notun Dol.
Babubagan, yes it goes into a tough competition with Shibpur and ultimately wins it. Its magic starts right from the entrace, made of bricks, glass and crushed cans.
Pick of the day: Babubagan and also it had the best protima for the day.

The best pujas seen this year were:

• Babubagan
• Shibpur
• Jodhpur Park
• Behala Notun dol
• Mitali
• FD Park
• Chaltabagan
• 66 pally
• Badamtalla
• Beliaghata Naumilan

Pandal Hopping, Day #2

I am real bad at routine things. That is why, when it is Dashmi today, I am here to describe my second day of Pandal hopping which was on the Super Saptami. Nevertheless, I have the opportunity to exclaim, “Missed the pujas, see it here now” So, Super Saptami is here. Parked my body to the bed late at 1:00 and so woke up late at 11:30. Woke up with a question, “When are we leaving for hopping today?”
8:00 clock. So, the indian culture which I mentioned in one of the previous blogs gets followed. We left home at 8:45. Today we were going to visit the Pujas in the south like Kalighat, Ballygunge, Rabindra Sarobar, Lake Avenue, Southern Avenue. So the clock struck 8:00 and I am all set to leave. Ok! we are late! 45 minutes of Champions League T20. Here are the Pujas that we saw.

Out of the many Pujas seen on Super Saptami, Songoshri was the first. It goes without saying, that the Pujas in the south flourish in their ambience and beauty. Such good pujas “lagatar”
Badamtalla and 66 pally, both are in the same lane and what grandeur they contributed to this puja. Speechless. Just wondering, the kind of festivity the lane would have experienced.
66 pally was a class apart, especially. With an excellent theme, which was how Durga Maa comes on an elephant and goes in a doli and also an excellent Protima.
When we thought, this was the best we can get for the day, there came Shibpur which I can say was the 2nd best puja seen in all. The pandal was made of semi-circular wood cuttings, cellotape base like. Before Shibpur was Mudiali, which was made of electic wires.
Midway we also had Puchka and Muri chat, which just added the “spices” to this lovely day.
The reason why I call Saptami as Super because it was the best hopping experience, this season. 🙂

Pandal Hopping, Day 1

Mahashashti, 2nd October:

Phase 1: It is time to get out, and celebrate. It is time to hop to your favorite Puja around. It is time to get colorful. Such were my thoughts, when I opened the Telegraph Metro to see a list of Pandals to go to. The holiday mood had already set in, which was significant with me getting up at 10:00. Then, no breakfast or bath whatsoever, but to sit n’ play carom with cousins at home.
Phase 2:  In the afternoon, went to Mani Sqaure to watch the movie  Force starring Genelia D’ Souza and John Abraham. No! I will not tell you the plot, but just one warning – Don’t watch it. They both acted well, but still movie had no base. The script was the same old one where the villain and the hero fight, and the hero wins. Where is the “old” factor in this? Haha! The hero works for the police.
Phase 3: Came home at 4:00. Fought with sister, then freshening up a little. The schedule was here. Pandal hopping was to start at 8:00. Excitement could not be contained. It is said, “Kuch paane ke liye, kuch khona bhi padta hain” Bass, that’s it.. was going to miss Bigg Boss for Pandal Hopping. Oo ji, kii farak penda hain. 
Phase 4: Indian culture – Never to be punctual. So, following the Indian culture, we were late to leave by half an hour and so I could see the few glimpses of Bigg Boss. Salt Lake side puja, was set as the destination. And here we go, Shri Ganesh to watch Maa Durga. 
“What took place, next, cannot be explained. A picture speaks for thousand words”

While the idol at FD Park was the biggest, the one at Mitali was simple, sober and yet the most beautiful. Beliaghata Naumilan and Chaltabagan were the best at creativity.