ChinmayC Blog

Kolkata is fully back to its old-normal ways after two long painful years as West Bengal's biggest festival Durga Puja heats up. Pandal hopping is in full flow with thousands on a spree of ' Thakur Dekha' (how many Goddess idols have you seen?) almost since the start of Navaratri. Although Durga Puja rituals start only from Mahashasthi which starts today, technically for all here Goddess Durga descends on earth on Mahalaya, the last day of Pitru Paksha, that is the eve for the beginning of the bright lunar phase or Shukla Paksha . There are crowds thronging the major pandals, particularly from afternoon to late night every day, with their mobiles clicking non-stop, falling upon each other for a better view, the rush for the selfies in all available spaces, thronging all the eating joints to their fullest capacity and all the smiles. Celebration is the motif and soul of the festival. Married or unmarried couples of all ages who could be going through lots of strain and stre...

Again, a shocker. Unbelievable news that came at the most unexpected moment. It has happened to us several times in the recent two years—persons quite close to us die and we come to know about them months later. This time the occasion was a nice gathering of a few senior citizens under their Senior Citizens Club in Thane, Mumbai . A member of the Shiv Sena who attended the event not as a senior citizen as he was much younger informed me to my casual inquiry about the famous Shiv Sena leader Anant Tare that he has passed away about a year back. I was taken aback and was too shocked to ask more questions. Instead, I came down to the nearby lane and telephoned Tare’s personal associate Sunil. And to my horror he confirmed the news that Anant Tare had indeed passed away on 22 nd February 2021 at a private hospital in Thane. He was hospitalized for some illness in December and before the day he was to be discharged he had a brain stroke and later a hemorrhage. As the doctors prepared for...

The destroyer of evil this year has arrived today—the sixth day of the illuminated lunar fortnight or Sashthi —with the idols of Goddess Durga being installed in public pandals across India and offerings of prayers for the first day rituals. Navratri celebrations   (nine nights of worship, prayers and ritualistic dancing for various forms of Goddess Durga) is already in full swing from the 16 th of October, 2012. Elaborate rituals, offerings of various nature, daily Prasad of fruits and Kichdi Bhog as a full midday meal and evening cultural programs will continue for the Saptami (7 th day of the lunar fortnight and 2 nd day of Durga Puja), the Ashtami (8 th day), Navami (9 th day) and Vijaya Dashami or Dasera (10 th and immersion day of Devi Durga, in most Pujas Bhog is not distributed on this day). On the Dasera day Goddess Durga idols will be immersed in the rivers or lakes across the country along with public symbolic burning of evil in various forms. Happy Durga Puja-2...

The female Goddess of the Shakti cult in the forms of Amba Devi and Durga Devi is descending on earth tonight to mark the beginning of the illuminated lunar fortnight. Today is the  the new moon day called Amavas and the last and most important day of dark lunar fortnight called Pitru Paksha which belongs to dead ancestors of all Hindus who pay homage to their forefathers.(Pitru)  As this fortnight has everything to do with the dead it is termed inauspicious and no crucial decisions are taken during this period. From tomorrow Navratri festival in worship of Amba Devi will be celebrated in mostly western India with singing and dancing every night till late for nine days. This form of dancing is called Dandiya Raas . From the sixth evening of this fortnight Durga Puja will start. Goddess Durga , the most powerful form of the shakti cult, is worshipped in India in terms of 'Durga Puja' during Sept-Oct every year. This puja covers five days including the day of installing ...