BALASORE: They are away from home, but close to their roots. While the entire State immersed idols of Goddess Durga in a colourful procession yesterday, Bengalis living in Balasore district stuck to their tradition while bidding adieu to the Devi.
People from the community exchanged ‘Shubha Bijaya’ greetings before the immersion ceremony. Their other rituals included ‘Darpan Bisarjan’ followed by ‘Sindoor Khela’. Women mostly took part in ‘Sindoor Khela’ when they smeared each other’s forehead with vermillion. They too distributed sweets. The male members smeared red ‘abir’ on each other’s faces and embraced each other in kolakuli (hug).
“Immersion of deities is just like bidding farewell to daughter. So, before the idol is taken out in procession we dress the Goddess like a newly-wed daughter and all rituals such as ‘kanakanjali’ are performed. Then we bid adieu to Devi,” said Swagatika Sen, a Bengali resident.
As Balasore is nearer to West Bengal, the puja traditions, including immersion, practised in that State are too followed here by the Bengalis. While the Bengali residents here observed their family puja with pomp and gaiety, the same rituals were reflected in many community puja mandaps.
This year the town had 71 community puja mandaps. The idols were immersed in Nuniajodi and Balighat in Budhabalanga river. Denizens - young and old, men and women - thronged the streets that connect Balighat to have glimpse of immersion ceremony.
‘’The puja was incident free and the immersion passed off peacefully. There was no untoward incident. Elaborate security arrangements were made to prevent traffic snarl-ups and vehicular movement was regulated at road crossings. Altogether 31 platoons of police forces were deployed,” said SP Rekha Lohani.