Maharashtra government honours Bengal Club as a heritage Durga Puja pandal in Mumbai

Bengal Club durga puja received recognition from the Department of Maharashtra Tourism

On autumn evenings these days, taking a stroll in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park walkway, lined with huge rain trees, is quite refreshing. There is a nip in the air and the streets are decked up with lights, colourful kandils (handmade lanterns with a wooden framework covered with glossy paper or lightweight mesh) and astonishing light gates, giving a vibe of a mini West Bengal right in the heart of the city. As I walk closer to the Bengal Club, the sounds of ulu-dhwani  (ululation, which is believed to be auspicious)and dhaak (a kind of drum) get louder. This is a remarkable year for the 101-year-old club, which has been observing Durga Puja in the city for 88 years. Moreover, this year, the club has received the recognition of ‘heritage Durga Puja’ in the city from the Department of Maharashtra Tourism. Their Durga Puja souvenir was unveiled by the Governor of Maharashtra, Ramesh Bais, on October 20.  

Bengal Club’s puja pandal, set up on 10,000 square feet in the Shivaji Park ground, welcomes visitors to a glowing #ILoveBengalClub installation that has become a photo spot. The entrance to the puja pandal are flanked by  two sculptures of elephants, decorated with zari work, stones, beads and glitter. The puja venue covers 20,000 square feet.

From the pandal to the Durga idol, red is the colour this year, as it symbolises energy, power and divinity. With a Sheesh Mahal theme incorporating Divya Jyoti temple decoration, the design of diyas can be seen all over the pandal cloth. Inside the pandal, diya lights and mirror glass work create an immersive feeling. Nilesh Choudhury, who visioned and created this pandal, is a Hindi film art director. He says, “We have worked on this pandal with 90 workers for over a month inside various warehouses, to craft things like figures of elephants, pillars, detailing of the pandal, embedding zari, mirror work, moulding, carving, and so on. We have used plywood, velvet and cotton, cut glass pieces, fibre, zari and small decorative items.”

The 20-foot tall Durga idol is sculpted with clay from the Ganges by sculptors from West Bengal. This year, the puja committee is also running an organ donation camp where people can get educated about organ donation and register themselves as donors.

Joy Chakraborty, spokesperson of the Bengal Club, says, “It is a matter of pride that we are able to sustain the puja celebrations that our forefathers started. We are proud that the Bengal Club’s Durga Puja has been recognised by the Government of Maharashtra. Last year was our centenary year and we presented a letter to the Maharashtra Tourism Department along with the history of our puja. They went through it and selected three puja pandals in the city — Mahalaxmi Temple, Mumba Devi Mandir and Bengal Club’s Durga Puja. Our puja has been identified as one of the must-visit destination for tourists.”

Since the puja has become bigger with people from every community looking forward to Durga Puja, this year, the puja committee has made the celebrations more cosmopolitan by including dhol -tasha. Tasha means drumming the dhol, a kind of drum, a tradition of Maharashtra that can be heard mostly during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The dhol -tasha players  will be playing along with the dhakis from West Bengal.

“From 2019 onwards, we had roped in national award-winning art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai for the pandal design and decoration. Since he passed away, his protégé Nilesh Choudhury has worked on the pandal,” adds Joy.