Festive mood gripped Bangladesh with the near simultaneous celebrations of Durga Puja and Eid-ul-Azha in the country.
The Bangladeshi Hindu community, which celebrates the Durga Puja as one of their biggest festival, today ended their 10-day celebration with the immersion of the Durga idol.
Thousands of Hindus today joined colourful processions beating drums and chanting mantras as they drew an end to the festival.
The celebration was marked by, among other means, exchange of greetings via SMS.
Bangladesh has a sizable Hindu population who worship and organise Durga Puja.
On the other hand, Muslims are set for Eid-ul-Azha, one of their biggest religious festivals, on Monday. Muslims in South Asia traditionally buy cattle for sacrifice during the month preceding the festival.
Throughout the month, the makeshift markets in sprawling fields across the country attract customers.
The holiday began today, but with a weekend in the middle, Thursday was the last day of work. It is set to end on Wednesday.
The capital Dhaka, with a nearly 20 million population, wore a deserted look as thousands of people headed to their hometown at the end of the last working day before the two big religious holidays.
But those home-bound had to face traffic congestion, exorbitant fares and long waits at the terminals.
Heavy rains during September-end have damaged most highways including Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways.
For the last three days traffic has been slow towards north and southeast.
