1. Lakhs Descend On Roads But Cops Keep City Moving On Shashthi
The city woke up to the beats of dhaak (drums) with Bodhan on Monday, heralding the start of five-day festivities. By evening, lakhs hit the streets to make up for the weather-dampened spirits over the last few days. The crowd count on Monday surpassed Sunday’s record-high, stretching police to the brink.
From north to south, traffic moved slowly and by evening, office-goers added to the usual evening surge of puja revellers. The result was expected. In quick succession, Bidhan Sarani towards Hatibagan was closed to traffic from Shyambazar five-point crossing and MG Road towards College Street had to be closed from Sealdah flyover. In south, traffic movement was restricted on Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road towards Rashbehari crossing.
(Source: The Times Of India)
2. United For Mamata, Divided On Puja
They are all equals at the top of the Trinamul Congress pile, comrades united in the cause of Mamata Banerjee, but every autumn, they turn into fierce competitors, not in politics, but Puja.
Till the paribartan, the biggest social festival in Bengal used to see many divides — north versus south of Calcutta, theme versus traditional décor, neighbourhood versus neighbourhood — but since 2011, the greatest divide of them all is the one that separates Mamata’s trusted lieutenants, vying to make their pujas the biggest crowd-pullers in the city.
While some, like Subrata Mukherjee, are veterans now, having been in the game since the ’70s, others, such as Aroop Biswas, are not to be taken lightly, although they have emerged on the scene in the last decade.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Three Faiths Unite For One Puja
Puja organisers Swapan Rooj, Balbir Singh and Saiyad Abusalam Kadri are called “The Three Musketeers” for scripting a trailblazer 28 years ago.
The friends have been organising a puja in Andal’s Ukhra’s, near Durgapur, that is billed as the first such community event of the coal-belt pocket.
Now in their mid-fifties, Swapan, Balbir and Abusalam — called ‘The Three Musketeers’ after the Alexandre Dumas novel — recall the 1990 day when they had the brainwave.
“The three of us were chatting at a tea stall one evening about a month ahead of puja 28 years ago. I suggested whether we could organise a community puja so that the people could enjoy the festival together,” said Abusalam, an Eastern Coalfields miner.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Cancer Survivor’s Feat Of Clay
A 19-year-old cancer survivor, without any formal training as an artisan, has made his debut as a professional idol maker this Durga Puja, a career break that he hopes will take him to his next goal of studying art.
Arpan Sarkar, a first-year undergraduate student at Budge Budge College, had been diagnosed with blood cancer in 2012. While his battle with cancer continued till 2015, the prolonged period of treatment also opened a window of opportunity for him.
“In a way, my first break is linked to cancer. While undergoing treatment at the Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre and Research Institute in Thakurpukur, I attended workshops where participants were encouraged to express their unique talents. My painting skills were praised for the first time there and I gained a lot of confidence from it,” Arpan, a resident of Daspara village in Budge Budge, told Metro.
(Source: The Telegraph)
5. Tweak In Traffic Norms Unclogs Road To Airport
Serpentine snarls near Sree Bhumi Puja pandal, which had left several fliers stranded on VIP Road for hours, triggering late shows and near-miss situations at the airport over the past three days, have prompted Bidhannagar City Police to go back to the drawing board and make changes to traffic plans. Immediate implementation of the new set of dos and don’ts brought speed and smoothness back on VIP Road from Monday evening.
Such was the situation from Chaturthi that airlines had started issuing advisories to fliers to report at least three and a half hours before the scheduled departure of their flights. “The step was taken keeping in mind feedback from several passengers about getting stuck on their way to the airport because of the traffic jam around puja pandals on their way,” said a senior official of an airlines.
(Source: The Times Of India)
6. Shashthi Homecoming For Dum Dum Blast Victim
The sound of a coffee mug hitting the floor is enough to scare Sangita Prasad. The 31-year-old has largely overcome the physical injury sustained during the blast at Nagerbazar on October 2. But her trauma persists. On Shashthi, the homemaker was discharged from hospital as doctors at ILS Hospital, Dum Dum, found her stable enough to be sent home. But they say the mental scar will take time to heal.
“I still pinch myself to believe that I survived the blast. Even if I try to forget the incident, it keeps coming back,” Prasad told TOI on Monday.
Prasad had just paid Ajit Haldar, a fruit-seller who died of injuries from the blast last Saturday at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, for the fruits she had bought and was waiting for the balance when the blast shook up the entire locality, killing a child.
(Source: The Times Of India)
7. This Durga Has Promised Life To 3
On Mahashashthi, when the entire city was celebrating the homecoming of goddess Durga and the victory of good over evil, another Durga, a homemaker, played saviour to three lives in death.
Durga Sadhu (59), a Baguiati resident, was declared brain dead at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals after suffering heavy intracranial bleeding on Monday evening. With her family consenting to donate her organs, the city medical and administrative machinery swung into action to make it possible for two renal failure patients and one with a failing liver to receive new organs. Efforts were on to retrieve her kidneys and liver when reports last came in.
(Source: The Times Of India)
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