People soak in 'Mahashtami' spirit, throng streets of Kolkata

Revellers thronged the streets of Kolkata amid scattered rain on 'Mahashtami' -- considered the most auspicious of the four-day Durga Puja festival -- to witness the array of marquees featuring innovative art work and illumination.

People were seen standing in long queues outside the prominent puja pandals on Sunday, even during heavy rain in the evening hours in the northern and southern parts of the metropolis.

'Mahashtami' was ushered in with 'pushpanjali', the offering of flowers to the Goddess.

At Belur Math, the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in Howrah district, the traditional 'Kumari Puja' -- a custom of paying obeisance to a little girl dressed as Goddess Durga -- was held by monks in the morning in presence of thousands of devotees.

Deviating from popular practice, a couple in the city's Baguihuti area worshipped a four-year-old Muslim girl during 'Kumari Puja'.

"Do we know which caste Maa Durga belongs to? She has no caste, religion or creed. Motherhood does not belong to any religion," said Tamal Dutta, who chose his colleague's four- year-old niece to be the 'Kumari'.

As evening descended, roads were filled to the rafters, as revellers soaked in the festive spirit and witnessed the spectacle of colourfully-lit marquees with various art work and themes.

The rainfall, however, resulted in traffic snarls at several places in the city, even as around 25,000 police personnel, including home guards and civic volunteers, were deployed to manage the surging crowd.

In Jadavpur area, an illuminated bamboo-gate collapsed amid strong winds and heavy rain around 5 pm, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.

"We are lucky that nobody was injured in the incident, though vehicular movement was affected for some time," he added.

According to the Met Office, Kolkata and its surrounding districts are likely to be hit by thunderstorms and moderate to heavy rainfall on Sunday night.

"There is high possibility of rain and thunderstorm in some parts of Purulia, Bankura, West Burdwan, Howrah and Nadia, including North and South 24 Parganas," an official of the weather office said.

"It will generally be a cloudy sky tomorrow. One or two spells of rain or thunderstorms are very likely to occur at many places in the metropolis and districts like Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Coochbehar," he added.