Author Topic: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"  (Read 2422 times)

Anirban Halder

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Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« on: October 25, 2015, 19:07:18 »
Durga Puja  ("Festival of Durga") is an annual Hindu festival in India that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It usually spans six days and predominantly celebrated among Bengali communities all over the world. In southern parts of India it's also known as Dussera. It is crazily celebrated in Calcutta where everything else stops during these 5-6 days. You can Google and find lot more trivia :)

A famous journalist named Vir Sanghvi once commented - "You can take the craze of Diwali in Delhi, Christmas in London, Summer Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Valentine's day in Paris and then add it to the month long madness of Olympic Games or the World Cup and cram all that into a span of 5 days and you still wouldn't know what you are missing if you haven't been in Kolkata during Durga Puja"... I don't think his comment is necessarily true, though exaggerated but you get an idea.

Now here are few glimpse of Durga Puja 2015. I don't have whole lot of Durga Puja photos. I certainly welcome others to share their Durga Puja or Dussera photos in this thread.

#1. This is how inside of typical Durga Puja marquee or pandals look like. These idols are all temporary structure and thrown into river after six days. The outside of marquee is gorgeous too. I will find more pictures of that.


#2. Photo of a photographer :)


#3. It was 35C (i.e. 95F) and 80-85% humidity. But do you feel any less enthusiasm? I was sweating all over the camera.


#4. Priest performing daily puja/rituals.. [EDIT]
Anirban Halder

Anirban Halder

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2015, 11:37:12 »
#5. Durga Puja always will have these regional/colonial drummers on certain days.


#6.


#7. And, there are occasional fireworks.


#8. Seems no one is interested in holy water!
Anirban Halder

golunvolo

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2015, 19:55:13 »
I love that fireworks image. The play with movement, colors in the background...and I can almost see and expression of enjoyment and fear in the running kid -looking to the fire at the same time-

Bruno Schroder

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2015, 20:30:12 »
This looks like something indeed!
 I like the fireworks too, you bring back the  feeling I had when I was playing with that, many years ago :)
Bruno Schröder

ColinM

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2015, 23:25:06 »
Lovely collection Anirban.

I especially like the energy and life captured in #7

Anirban Halder

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2015, 03:02:14 »
Lovely collection Anirban.

I especially like the energy and life captured in #7
Thank you for your kind words, Colin.

This looks like something indeed!
 I like the fireworks too, you bring back the  feeling I had when I was playing with that, many years ago :)
Thank you Bruno. When a photo does that, I consider a successful shot. :)

I love that fireworks image. The play with movement, colors in the background...and I can almost see and expression of enjoyment and fear in the running kid -looking to the fire at the same time-
Thank you Paco. Glad you liked it :)
Anirban Halder

armando_m

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2015, 03:53:55 »
very nice series
I particularly like the ones where you capture the priests in their rituals
Armando Morales
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Akira

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #7 on: October 27, 2015, 04:19:21 »
I always enjoy reports with images of various cultural events.  Thanks for sharing, Anirban!  I'm particularly interested in the rhythm played by these three drummers.
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Somnath Goswami

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #8 on: October 27, 2015, 04:23:32 »
beautifully covered  :)

Anirban Halder

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #9 on: October 27, 2015, 05:40:57 »
very nice series
I particularly like the ones where you capture the priests in their rituals
Thanks a lot, Armando. I wasn't happy with the PP. I've done some edit to the priest photo #4.

I always enjoy reports with images of various cultural events.  Thanks for sharing, Anirban!  I'm particularly interested in the rhythm played by these three drummers.
Thank you Akira. Glad you liked them! I will send you a link of the traditional tunes of those "durga puja" drummers.

beautifully covered  :)
You inspired, to start this thread! :)
Anirban Halder

Gary

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #10 on: October 27, 2015, 05:48:12 »
#4 is my fav. I felt I was there, your image allowed me to feel, hear and smell that moment and place in time.
"Everywhere you look there are photographs, it is the call of photographers to see and capture them."- Gary Ayala
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Critiquing my snaps are always welcomed and appreciated.

Akira

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #11 on: October 27, 2015, 05:58:35 »
Thank you Akira. Glad you liked them! I will send you a link of the traditional tunes of those "durga puja" drummers.

Thanks, Anirban!  I could search in YouTube myself, but the direction of someone who "knows it" helps a lot!
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Anirban Halder

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Re: Durga Puja - Festival of "Victory of Good over Evil"
« Reply #12 on: October 27, 2015, 10:11:39 »
#4 is my fav. I felt I was there, your image allowed me to feel, hear and smell that moment and place in time.
Thank you so much, Gary. It means a lot. I'm happy this photo could elicit such reaction.
Anirban Halder