Guest guest Posted October 18, 2004 Report Share Posted October 18, 2004 Now, cyber Durga for NRIs IANS[ MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2004 07:40:05 PM ] KOLKATA: If you are away from home in a foreign land and missing the Durga Puja festivities, don't lose heart. Instead, get to a computer and connect to the Internet to find Goddess Durga with her entire ensemble waiting for you. Keeping in mind the millions of lonely and homesick Bengali hearts, who may be thousands of miles away from home, an IT company in West Bengal has arranged to webcast the Durga Puja festivities. On the company's website, http://durgapuja.visitnortheast.com , one can get to see not only the various community festivities, but also offer homage to the deities. "There are millions of people across the globe who can't make it home for Durga Puja, and so miss it. It's our effort to take Goddess Durga and their home ambience to them," said Tanmoy Goswami of Techno Developers' Group. The website, which Goswami claims is gaining in popularity with NRIs in North America and Europe, will beam pictures of various community marquees where clay idols of the deities are worshipped. "The idea is to give our visitors a snapshot of what is happening in West Bengal in Durga Puja," Goswami said. The website would also webcast the elaborate rituals involved in worshipping Goddess Durga and worshipers can offer homage by clicking on the site. "One can watch the prayer ritual called 'pushpanjali' as it is performed, complete with the chanting of the religious hymns. That way, one could also offer ones homage and prayers," Goswami said. The five-day festival that celebrates 10-armed Hindu Goddess Durga's slaying of demon king Mahishasur, marking the victory of good over evil, begins October 19. The deities are worshipped inside ingeniously and aesthetically decorated temporary marquees, colloquially called 'pandals', which are visited by millions of merrymakers dressed in their best. The autumn festival, the equivalent of Christmas for Bengalis in terms of festivity and revelry, will end Oct 23 with the immersion of the idols of Durga, her four children - Laxmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik - and the demon king. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/890076.cms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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