Durga pujas: Breaking new ground in celebrating tradition

Innovation is quite the USP for Durga Pujas this year as organisers look to reinvent the celebration of a festival steeped in tradition and age-old lore with everything contemporary, ranging from eco-friendly pavilions to free wi-fi at the venues.
At first sight it may appear to be a fad, but ask Anshuman Sengupta, member of an organising team for D-Block Puja at Chittaranjan Park, and he points out that the free wi-fi they are providing at their pandal, as the shamianas or pavilions are termed in Bengali, opens up a whole new virtual arena for festivities.
"Visitors at the pandal can click photos and instantly post these online using our free wi-fi. It is exciting to think of the reach this would give our puja on social media. We are on facebook and similar platforms ourselves to showcase the puja in the e-space," says Sengupta.

Clearly, when the puja launches into the world-wide web, 'likes' become footfall and 'shares' are votes in the contest for being the 'best puja'.
The CR Park Mela Ground Puja Committee has a busy Facebook page containing all the announcements and the schedule for various events.
The many posts by the visitors to the page are regarding queries about the timings and the programme along with messages of eager anticipation for the puja carnival which kicks off on September 30 and would continue till October 3.

"Dear All, We are on 1400+ Likes... Lets make it 1500... so get set and go. Promote our page and invite friends and lets welcome MAA with 1500 Likes (sic)... Thanks all for the support," Mela Ground organisers declare in a post on the social networking site.

Not to be outdone, the B-Block Puja Committee has a puja countdown on its Facebook page. The innovativeness quotient for this puja is in its design for the pandal and the variously quirkily-named events for the patrons and visitors.
Thus, apart from the unusual, pot-shaped design for their pandal, there are contests like the 'Main Khiladi, Tu Anari' game show, which is looking for talents in the art of balancing trays, walking straight in a blindfold and suchlike.
There is interestingly a senior citizens' 'nite' which organisers say will provide an opportunity to the participants to "pour their hearts out on the stage".

If the pujas in the Bengali borough of CR Park are making unprecedented strides in their putting together of the celebrations, their counterparts in other pockets in Delhi have not been too far behind either.
The Arambagh Puja near the RK Ashram Metro station on the Panchkuian road has gone eco-friendly in 2014 after a bumper silver jubilee edition last year.