Kali Pujo- The Bengali Way of Celebrating Diwali

I love to spend Diwali in Mumbai and never leave the city during this time of the year. Diwali in Mumbai, or for that matter entire North India is very different from my home state Bengal. In my part of India Diwali or Deepavali is celebrated as “Kali Puja” or “Shyama Puja” and not "Lakshmi Puja" unlike the rest of the country. After Durga puja this is the second largest Puja for the Bengalis.

The Original Fatakeshto's Kalipuja has opened a branch in Mumbai ;-)

As a child I used to be terrified of this day. I was scared of the darkness of “amabasya”, the protruding red tongue of the deity and of course the myth surrounding the goddess.The idol of Kali is intimidating in itself. She is stark naked with dishevelled black hair and a protruding red tongue against blue or jet black complexion. Her ornaments are not the ordinary ones made out of gold or silver, instead she wears a garland of severed heads and a skirt of chopped hands. Out of her four hands she holds a “kharga” (a form of sword or axe) in one hand and a bleeding severed head in the other, with a fox beneath to lick the dripping blood from the severed head. Below her lies Lord Mahadev on whom she had stepped mistakenly. Legend has it that after mistakenly stepping on Shiva she protruded her tongue out of shame. Readers now tell me one thing isn’t the idol scary?

Idol of Andheri Sarbojanin Kali Pujo

The legend of Mahakali states that she is the tamer of ghosts and spirits. A day before Kali puja is known as “Bhoot chaturdashi”or the fourteenth day dedicated to Ghosts. On this day Bengalis light fourteen lamps and eat “choddo shaak” or an assortment of 14 green leafy vegetable. I remember as a child I used to be scared to death on this day, as per legends this is the day when ghosts and spirits roam around freely. Now tell me which child would not be scared of such legends?

Kali puja is performed at midnight. Kali is worshipped by dacoits and tantriks, a religious sect who are said to believe in cannibalism, at odd places like jungles and crematoriums respectively. Legend has that on the day of kali puja the dacoits sacrifice a human child in front of Ma Kali and drink its blood. Even the tantriks do the same and they drink the human blood out of a human skull. Among the unique offerings that is made to Ma Kali is meat and “karonbari”(alcohol).

Huge Kali idol at Fatakeshto Mumbai

I used to be so scared of this puja that I hardly used to step out of my house. Ever since I shifted to Mumbai am slightly relaxed. Firstly now I am a grown up and secondly here they worship goddess Lakshmi. Among Bengalis a girl should be like lakshmi or Lokkhi(Bengali pronunciation for Lakshmi) and not Kali. We refer to a quite, docile and good girl as a “lokkhi Meye”(meye means girl). So in Mumbai it is all Lokkhi Lokkhi and nothing to be scared of.

Light Decoration

The Pandal

Mumbai's Durga Pujas on Sashti

Unlike these days Sashti during our childhood was restrained, it meant folahar for lunch and luchi torkari for dinner followed by wearing the not-so-favourite new dress. Ma also wore her new chapa saree, the one she would later be wearing inside the house (ghare porar saree). On Sashti Ma kept a fast for my well-being and ate folahar. Today I keep the same fast for my son and miss her folahar the most. Folahar is a mixture of soaked saboo dana(sago) with milk, fresh fruits, dry fruits and mishti doi. No cooking only mixing the ingredients is required. I believe Ma mixed (or makha/makhto) it really well. Something of a mother’s touch made it extra delicious which I am unable to imitate.


Yesterday was Sashti I kept fast and went to Kallol Kali Bari at Bangur Nagar, Goregaon(W) to offer my prayers. Kallol is celebrating 50 years of celebrating Durga puja therefore they have made grand plans. The pandal decoration is reminiscent of a filmy set replicating Rajasthani designs. The adjacent Kali temple has also been well decorated. Film Director Anurag Basu and music director Pritam are closely associated with this puja. Bangla band Cactus performed in the evening to a packed audience.

The entrance gate

The walls of the pandal

The idol

In the evening we went Pandal hopping at D.N Nagar. The puja in D.N. Nagar is slightly subdued this year as their chief sponsor Sahara group is going through tumultuous times. This year they have used various masks to decorate the pandal.

Mask Themed Pandal

Pragati near Andheri station is the oldest puja of this region. They retain their traditional charm with daker saaj protima and stalls selling traditional Bengali ingredients like muri, murki, khoi, motor daal, aamsatto, gamcha etc.

Pujo Asche

Pujo asche is what we Bengalis start feeling from the month of August after the monsoon subsides. The black cloud in the sky gets replaced by the floating feathery white clouds, the intoxicating fragrance from the shiuli flowers scattered on the ground fills up the air, the kash ful adorns our river banks, the reddish tinge appears in the sky before sunset, and shops brims with new stocks and we understand that Ma Durga is on her way.

These are not Bengali but Kuwaiti Kashful ;-)

The festivity almost starts with Vishwakarma Puja, which takes place roughly 20 days ahead of Durga Puja. Then on the Mahalaya day we wake up early in the morning to the chantings of Birendra Krishna Bhadra and the mesmerising songs of “Mohishashurmordini” or Mahalaya as popularly known. The final countdown starts with Mahalaya and within 3-4 days Devi Durga is there in our beautifully decorated pandals.

As a child I remember that Ma used to start preparations for puja almost two months ahead. She used to start cleaning the house and throwing or donating discarded stuffs. After that she began her puja shopping. First she used to go to Gariahat alone and buy the clothes that were to be given to relatives. The shopping for our clothes used to be done one month ahead of Puja in New Market. This day Bapi accompanied us. Those were not the days of shopping malls. I wouldn’t be able to sleep the previous night out of excitement that the next day we were going shopping. At 10am we used to board the bus and reach New Market. After that Ma went on a shopping spree hopping from one shop to another looking especially for my clothes. She usually bought my clothes from Treasure Island, our shoes from Bata and accessories like wallets, bags, table clothes, curtains etc from Hog Market.

Lunch was always the yummy Biryani from Aminia. My parents unlike our generation considered eating out sacrilegious. In the entire year we used to eat out only three times once during Puja shopping, once on their anniversary and once on Christmas day at Park Street. My mom would have got a heart attack if she had seen the number of times we eat out, or get take-away. After lunch we did the remaining shopping and by 4pm wrapped up. Before boarding the return Bus, Bapi often bought me a kulfi from Rallis or an ice cream cone from scoops. On some years we used to go for a movie after shopping only if my parents found the movie suitable for my viewing. Only once when I threw serious tantrums they made an exception and went to watch Rocky V (they were scandalised as it had few “scenes”).

After the shopping part was over the distribution part started. That means we went to the houses of various relatives and similarly relatives visited us. I used to look forward to what clothes I will get from my umpteen Uncles and Aunts. Well there was also little bit of recycling involved. If one was not particularly liked it went to someone else. Only we had to be careful that if something came from my maternal side it shouldn’t go to the same side but to my paternal side and vice-versa otherwise it would be a huge goof up.

I used to take out my new clothes and shoes everyday out of the Almirah and have a look. The smell of crisp new clothes makes me nostalgic even today. I made plans when and how to wear them during the Puja days. Some of my plans were often discarded by Ma as she found them very denpo for my age. Finally the day came when Durga idol with her face covered with newspaper came to our neighbourhood Pandal and for me puja began.

Lokhandwala Sarbojanin

Lokhandwala Sarbojanin at Lokhandwala Andheri (W). Popularly known as the Puja of singer Abhijeet. It is one of the biggest in Mumbai. The area for this Puja is huge and the ambience is reminiscent of Maddox square. Stalls for Bengali saree and artefacts are an added attraction. Food stall by speciality group (the group with chains like Mainland China, siggri, sweet Bengal) serves a variety of food including Bengali sweets. Dhakis come from Bengal and everyday in the evening there is a special Dhaki dance which you ought not to miss. Cultural programmes by well known artists are there every evening, but entry is by invitation only. Khichudi Bhog is served on all four days. It is open to all and very well organised.

Mumbai's Durga Pujas

If you are a Bengali and new in Mumbai and destined to stay here during the upcoming Durga Puja don’t feel home sick. Mumbai is next to Kolkata in terms of number of Durga Pujas. You can hop at least 200 pandals within those four days. You will get here everything from egg roll to chandannagarer lighting, dhunuchi naach to dhaker kathi and khichudi with labra to saradiya sankhya during those four days. Most Pandals organise cultural programmes where artists from Kolkata are flown in. Numerous stalls adjacent to the Pandals sell everything from sankha pola to dhakai jamdani, and gourmet things like bori, radhuni and khejur gur. The food stalls overflow with Bengali foods like aloo chop, beguni, ghughni and moghlai parota. Therefore relax and treat yourself to Bengali food, music and the quintessential adda. Here is a pictorial round-up of Mumbai’s Durga Puja.

Chandannagar Lighting at Vashi

Puja Pandal at Koparkhairane




Pandal Decoration at Chembur

Dhaki at the Lokhandwala or Abhijeet's Puja

Queue for Bhog at Mukherjee Barir Pujo

Aatpoure Durga Protima at Thakur Village Kandivali

The Bengal Club at Shivaji Park is the oldest Pujo of Mumbai

Lokhanwala Sarbojanin had LED lighting