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Durga Puja has turned out to be more of a social festival. The preparation required to make it successful depends entirely on the contributions from all the sections of the society.  Bangalinet has brought forward these important people who are behind the glory of the festival.

Purohit__________________________
Gobinda Chakraborty, the Kulpurohit of the family of Sabarno Roychowdhuri avails from Mohishadal in Midnapur. Trained in Sanskrit and vedas from an early age, he assisted his father in performing puja. Three years hence, he has taken over from his father and performs puja, maintaining the austerities. Bangalinet had an interesting chat with him on the eve of Durga Puja. Purohit Chakraborty follows the Durga Bhakti Tarangini

method to perform the Puja maintaining the 398-year-old tradition. Durga Bhakti Tarangini is composed by Kabi Vidyapati of Mithila. He says, "The puja atmosphere and methods remain same in the Roychowdhury household as was in the beginning. The tithis are strictly and rigorously followed missing out nothing. Durga Puja for me is a packed up schedule. Moreover it is the time for worshipping the Mother Goddess.”

Flowers for the Goddess__________________
Jagannath Ghat different from other wholesale markets is distinct because of the fragrance of varieties of flowers. The Haraparboti Flower Decorators is one of the biggest wholesalers of flowers. Proprietor Sukumar Mondol, handling the 70-year-old family business for the past 35 years finds the present situation comfortable and is excited as well because of the arrival of the “Devi-paksha”. “Yes, I am definitely going to enjoy the festival like others, but

what excites me is the fact that our sale will go up by leaps and bounds”. He approximates the value of his daily sales figure (Year 2001) to be around Rs. 200-250. But during the five days of the puja alone, he estimates a sale of Rs. 8000-10,000 per day. The man from Dewulia, Midnapore now eagerly waits for Durga puja. “This is the biggest

  Dhaki_________________________________________
His passion and spirit took him to the Indo-Soviet festival in Russia during the tenure of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. This zealous man of seventy-eight is non other than Jogen dhaki, who has been to different parts of the country and abroad with the captivating beats of dhak and plays for the goddess in Puja mandaps and enchants the people around with his scintillating performance at a

price of 4,000 to 5,000 for the four days of the festival. The spirited man speaking to Bangalinet said, " Playing dhak has been my childhood wish and performing it for the Mother Goddess has always been my passion."  

Brass bands_________________________
An almost mandatory accompaniment for all the festive processions in the city, the brass bands are fast losing their ground. Mehboob Band, the brass band company is one of the earliest ‘Tasha Parties’ of Kolkata. Their glittering dresses, swift movements and music of the percussion

instruments form a part of the immersion procession on the last day of the Durga Puja.  Band Master Pran Chandra Udhas on the eve of Durga Puja said, “ We consider the occasion of Durga Puja the start of our season. We accompany almost all the known Barowari Pujas of Kolkata. In great demand on the Dashami day, we charge around Rs. 4,000 for two hours of performance.” The clarinets, cymbals and drums accompanied with organ music mark the farewell of the Goddess on the dusky evening of Dashami reminding us of the end of the four day long celebrations.