A Hindu priest takes photograph of an idol of goddess Durga during Durga Puja festival. AP
After two years of being confined to their homes because of the COVID-19 outbreak, revellers across Kolkata took to pandal hopping with vigour since Mahalaya this year. The pandals have been witnessing a huge crowd since Sasthi, the first day of the Durga Puja celebration, which fell on Saturday. At the busier Durga Puja pandals throughout the city, there were long lines of pandal hoppers, dressed in new clothes, ranging in age from youngsters to the elderly.
People had to change their celebration schedules over the course of the five days due to prediction of rain since Sunday, and many made the most of the bright but hot and muggy Saturday. However, some places across the city of joy experienced scattered thunderstorms for a while on Saturday evening too.
But, it did not prevent the pandal hoppers from getting out of their houses to witness the brightly illuminated celebrations. People were seen approaching the venues amidst heavy rain with much enthusiasm. Several clips of such scenes were shared across social media where visitors could be seen doing anything and everything to battle the rain.
In a viral video shared by a person from Kolkata on her personal Facebook, a group of young boys and girls were spotted utilising a plastic sheet to cover their heads while entering a puja pandal amid a heavy shower. They maintained a queue and moved in sync to keep the cover intact over their heads. Though the situation was not quite easy to handle, the wide smiles on their faces reflected their joy.
The caption of the post reads, “Happy Pujo to all.” Since being uploaded, the footage has received over 1.6 million views on Facebook and nearly 10,000 users have reacted to it.
The viewers wasted no time appreciating the innovative idea of the young brigade to beat the rain. A user noted, “This is the emotion of Bengalis for Durga Puja.” Another one marked it as a “great idea.” An individual stated, “No one can restrict Bengalis during Durga Puja.”
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