1. Hill Shops Open But Sales Low
Darjeeling limped back to normalcy today after a 104-day crippling shutdown but the usual vibrancy in the run-up to Dashain, one of the most important festivals in the region, was missing.
“There is very little sale. People don’t have money to spend. Many had to buy stuff at a higher rate during the strike,” said a grocery shop owner at Chowk Bazar.
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung had on Wednesday said the strike in the hills would be called off at 6 am on Wednesday, a few hours after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced a meeting within a fortnight to "discuss all related issues".
Source: The Telegraph
2. Humanity Is the Only Religion, Says Kolkata Pandal
The ‘41 Pally’ Durga Puja committee in south Kolkata has opted to send messages of “peace and harmony” through its pandal this year. Selecting ‘Amra Manobikotay’ (we are for humanity) as its theme, the committee has been drawing a large number of visitors to its pandal. Instead of holding weapons to kill demons, here Durga is seen holding the hands of children and standing over a huge stockpile of arms.
Whenever a baby is born, any one of the religions marks him/her as its own. Here, we wanted to show that religions are our demons, and a newborn should be protected from the clutches of religion and taught that humanity is the only religion in this world.Executive committee member of 41 Pally, Sunny Mukherjee, to The Indian Express
Source: The Indian Express
3. A Village Without Puja Since 1883: 'Curse' Haunts Babla
For the residents of a hamlet in East Midnapore's Galsi, Durga Puja is not an occasion for celebration and there has been no puja for the villagers since 1883.
The residents of Babla – a hamlet of 950-odd families and around 130km from Calcutta – have been afraid of hosting a puja in the village after three deaths of the principal organisers on all three occasions that a puja was attempted.
All the three deaths took place on the auspicious occasion of Mahashtami, in 1865, 1866 and 1883.
"It could not have been a coincidence. They were all healthy young men. Maybe, the goddess does not want us to have her puja. It is our misfortune, but there is nothing we can do about it," said Joya Panja, a homemaker from the village.
Source: The Telegraph
4. Showers Bring Gift of Cooler Weather
The rain gods blessed the city this afternoon and cooled down the atmosphere, much to the delight of pandal-hoppers.
It had been a scorcher of a start to Puja with the maximum temperature yesterday, Sashthi, soaring to 36.8 degrees Celsius – the highest since the start of summer and five notches above the normal temperature for this time of the year.
The sky was overcast since morning on Saptami. The cotton clouds typical of autumn and Puja were missing. The rain came down around afternoon, in varying intensity for about 15-20 minutes.
But that was enough to bring the mercury level down by more than two notches to 34.3 degrees Celsius.
Source: The Telegraph
5. Fire Breaks Out at Wooden Utility Manufacturing Unit in Kolkata
A fire broke out at a wooden utility manufacturing unit at Ultadanga area in north Kolkata this afternoon, a Fire Brigade official said.
The blaze, which broke out at 1 pm, was brought under control at around 3 pm by 10 fire engines, the official said.
There was no injury to anyone in connection with the incident, he said.
Source: The Times of India
6. Digha Pujas Organise Anjali for Visitors
The Durga Puja organisers at the beach resort of East Midnapore's Digha have made arrangements for tourists to offer anjali at mandaps on Puja days.
Of the dozen pujas at Digha, a couple of them have also made arrangements to distribute packets of prasad among tourists on the day of Ashtami after the anjali.
Some of the organisers are going around making announcement over the public address system inviting tourists to their puja pandals to offer the anjali.
Source: The Telegraph
7. Scurry to Bring Hill Tourists
Tour operators in the Darjeeling hills have started contacting their counterparts in other parts of India in a bid to bring visitors to the region ahead of Diwali following the withdrawal of the general strike.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president, Bimal Gurung, had said last night that the shutdown would be lifted from this morning after Union home minister Rajnath Singh had said the Centre would hold tripartite talks on “all issues” related to Darjeeling.
The strike that stretched over 100 days had taken its toll on the tourism industry which is the backbone of Darjeeling's economy.
The withdrawal of the strike in the middle of the Puja festivities has raised hopes among the tourism stakeholders that some tourists could still be brought to the hills ahead of Diwali.
Source: The Telegraph
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