The Capital city here dazzled with scores of alluring structures built up on the occasion of Ganesh Puja on Monday. Most cultural and educational institutions, besides social and street clubs organised the puja with much religious fervour and gaiety.
The puja in the Saraswati Sishu Mandirs in the city was unique as the students were seen worshipping the god chanting hymns like priests. The chief attraction of the puja seemed to be the decorative pandals draped in various colours. They were also marked for their innovative design and art. They brought into focus an array of themes. Besides, their statues were enthralling.
Areas like Unit-4, Saheed Nagar, Master Canteen, Raj Mahal, Ashok Nagar, Bapuji Nagar and laxmi Sagar lined up a series of puja mandaps, which were thronged by the fans with much zeal and enthusiasm. One of the most important and attractive things in the puja pandals was their archways which got specially designed in several innovative ways. Multi-coloured lights, festoons and archways added to the beauty of the pandals.“Our priority is the gateway to the pandals,” said an organiser of Ganesh Puja at Ashok Nagar.
According to Siddharth Mallick, a member of Knock Out Club in Unit-9 area, the specialty of their puja pandal was their interior and exterior designs and archway. The archway looked like the Facebook page where they fixed the idol as photo update by lord Ganesh’s father lord Shiv. Other gods and goddesses liked and commented on the photo updated by lord Shiv.
While Bhoumanagar Club in Unit-4 designed their puja pandal like the Ram Mandir in the city, the pandals of Rajmahal and Master Canteen were attracting crowd by their grand idols.
Some archways were looking like temples, ancient royal buildings and churches. The price of the idols of lord Ganesh worshipped in different puja pandals was ranged between Rs 500 and Rs 20,000 depending on their design and quality.
The Ganesh Puja has brought joy and exuberance among the inhabitants of the city once again and has set the festive season in motion.