It was like a tussle between the devotees of Goddess Mother Durga and the super cyclone Phailin which went on for almost three days and in this tussle it can be easily said that finally the devotees defeated Phailin at least here at Hazaribagh.
It started raining since the evening of October 12 with thundering and speedy winds which were sufficient to create a panic among the devotees hours before Phailin touched the mainland. local administration and even the members of puja committees started announcing that people should try to remain in their homes to avoid inconvenience.
In the late evening of October 12, people came out of their homes returned before midnight. Next day it was ‘Mahanavmi’, though the thundering, speedy winds and rain were on peak but devotees came out to worship Goddess Mother Durga in large numbers. Till noon, heavy rush of devotees was present in the temples, mandaps and puja pandals.
The number of devotees in the evening and late evening hours was much less than previous years but no where Phailin succeeded in creating deserted look.
On October 14, the Vijaya Dashami Day, it seemed that Phailin has made up its mind to leave the field and a huge turnout of devotees in the streets brought back smile on the faces of street vendors. In the evening MP Yashwant Sinha launched the arrow towards the effigy of demon king Ravana. Thousands of people enjoyed the firework show and burning of effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakaran and Meghnath. Till late night emersion of idols of Goddess Durga took place and devotees in large numbers stayed there to say goodbye to their mother and to pray that next year, mother come early.