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Puja Diary
Tritiya The long wait is over. Mother has arrived! Amidst the blowing of sha(n)kh (conch shells), the idols were brought into the pandal. The interior work of the pandals is being carrried out in full swing. The lighting is complete. The lighting this year is simply scintillating. The blue halogens are making MeghaMallar visible and bright from quite a distance Chaturthi The Puja spirit is already on. The 'adda' spirit is already visible. Mother Durga is not yet fully decorated. The decoration work is still in progress. The chandelier has been put up, and the pandal is looking marvellous. There is a new stage on the left of the Pratima. This has been specially done to cater to the large number of cultural programmes that have been scheduled this year. There is a rumour that there will be a buffet dinner on Dashami night! Lets see .. Check out the Chaturthi photos in Silver Jubilee: Chaturthi photos Panchami The decoration and Pandal interiors were completed in the morning itself. In the evening the Silver Jubilee Celebrations has been inaugurated with pomp and colour. The inauguration programme was well laid out. The dancers gave a brilliant performance, ably supported by the singers. This was followed by a brilliant 'Dandiya' Dance. The mass scale spontaneous participation of the residents really made the evening a memorable one. Meanwhile, the snarling traffic jams have started. The flyover in front of MeghaMallar was packed with cars for most part of the evening. Check out the Panchami photos in Silver Jubilee: Panchami photos Shasthi Silver Jubilee Shasthi was a grand success. After the 'Bodhan' the cultural Programmes of the evening had a large audience. The main theme of the children's programme (age 4 to 10) was 'The River'. The tiny tots put up a brilliant show, ably directed by Smt. Tapati Mitra. She deserves a special word of praise for the untiring effort put up by her for these shows every year. This was followed by the Dance Drama 'Abhisar'. The participants belonged to the age group of 9 to 12. The dancers were very skilled and the drama was a huge success. The last programme was another drama - called 'Bagh' put up by the young boys of MeghaMallar, ably directed by the evergreen Sri Prasun Sinha. It was a sprited performance and was well appreciated. The streams of people have begun. Its one am now, and the roads are still quite crowded. Check out the Shasthi photos in Silver Jubilee: Shasthi photos Saptami Saptami - the first of the three big days. The weather was cloudy and it rained heavily from 10:00 to about 12:00 in the afternoon. Then it cleared but the conditions remained cloudy till late afternoon. However, the 'brick-on-edge' surface in the Puja Mandap prevented the formation of mud that used to happen previously. Morning Puja and Pushpanjali was well attended. The lunch was well attended as well. After the usual post lunch 'paan' from 'Shamirer dokaan' and the afternoon adda - the crowds vanished. It was time for the afternoon siesta - the traditional 'forty winks' so typical of the MeghaMallarites. The first programme in the evening was directed by Smt. Sheila Mukherjee. It was a very neat show. The performers were the children of MeghaMallar, and they really excelled. The makeup was impeccable and so was the acting. This was followed by the latest craze that has caught on - the Bangla Band. This year the Bangla Band is almost everywhere, thanks mainly to the FM radio. The group was 'Ekalabya' - and the singers were Shubhankar, Jayati, Amrita, Debasish,Indraneel and ParthaSarathi. They had a distinctive style and performed with gusto. Special mention should be made of Jayati who sang really well. However it was generally felt that the duration of the show was a bit too short. Bangla Band is a controversial topic - it is either liked or disliked. There are no 'in-betweens'. Consequently, this became the topic of the late night adda of Shaptami. Check out the Saptami photos in Silver Jubilee: Saptami photos Ashtami Ashtami - the second of the three big days. The weather was excellent - typical 'Sarat' weather, pleasant breeze from the North-East, bright and sunny, harmless fluffy white clounds strewn in the sky. The spirit has really picked up. It was a packed house during the Pushpanjali and the lunch. The demand supply of 'gorom luchi' was becoming a problem as we rushed with the lunch to make the timely start of the 'Sandhipuja' which started at 3:00 in the afternoon. Dr. Pakrashi was there, conducting the show with quiet efficiency. The evening programmes were a big hit. The first was an audio-visual quiz conducted by Ramanendu. The topic was MeghaMallar. The participation and the level of enthusiasm was to be seen to believe. Six teams, representing different age groups, and the enthusiatic audience made the show a huge success. The questions would be put up in this site soon. This was followed by 'gaan' - a set of melodious songs by Smt. Nilanjana Mukherjee. the last programme was a 'natok' directed by Sri Prasun Sinha. Excellent acting by Joydeep(Mustaq), Smt. Kumkum Chatterjee and Smt Ruma Raychaudhuri. The background music by Bapi(Ambarish Chakraborty) was really of professional quality.. Check out the Astami photos in Silver Jubilee: Astami photos
Saptami Menu		Astami Menu		Nabami Menu
Khichuri Beguni Labrar torkari Ba(n)dhakopir danla Amshotter Chatni Papor Payesh		Luchi Begun Basanti Cholar daal kosha aloor dam doi patal peyper chatni bancharam-er komola bhog		bhaat shukto muger daal finger chips mochar cofta matar paneer jolpai chatni mishti