Rain may play spoilsport during Durga puja festival

With the monsoon yet to begin its retreat, Durga Puja festivities in West Bengal may get partially affected by thunderstorms or sharp showers, the Met department said here on Saturday.

A cyclonic circulation lies over north-east Jharkhand and another such weather system is hovering over Jharkhand and North Odisha, which may bring rain at one or two places in West Bengal affecting revelries during the four-day long Durga Puja, the biggest festival of the state.

The Met department has forecast thunderstorms at one or two places in the state on Mahasaptami on Saturday.

The weather god may also play spoilsport on Mahastami on Sunday with thunderstorms having been forecast at one or two places in South Bengal, including Kolkata, the Met said.

The weatherman has, however, forecast heavy rain at one or two places in Gangetic West Bengal on Vijaya Dashami on Tuesday, the day when Goddess Durga goes back to Kailash with her progeny Kartick, Ganesh, Saraswati and Lakshmi.

On Vijaya Dashami, the idols of Goddess Durga and her children are immersed in rivers and other water bodies as a ritual, bidding farewell to them for a year.