Durga Puja 2023 – Pandals You Should Not Miss This Year
It’s that time of the season when everyone is busy planning to get puja ready. From a 6-year-old kid to 60 years, everyone is so much engrossed in counting days to celebrate those incomparable 4 days of togetherness, fun, romance, pandal hopping, and food.
Durga Puja 2023 Calendar
| Puja Day | Day of the Week | Date |
| Maha Panchami | Thursday | 19 October 2023 |
| Maha Sasthi | Friday | 20 October 2023 |
| Maha Saptami | Saturday | 21 October 2023 |
| Maha Ashtami | Sunday | 22 October 2023 |
| Maha Nabami | Monday | 23 October 2023 |
| Bijaya Dashami | Tuesday | 24 October 2023 |
From time immemorial, Bengal boasts of exuberant world-famous pandals that attract people from across the globe, let alone the natives. The best part of this celebration is that you can enjoy its signature taste from both famous clubs held pujas and from your local para pandals. As the street starts getting ornamented with lights and decorative bamboos, we start feeling enthralled within.
Durga puja is incomplete without pandal hopping but for many it’s tedious. With almost a thousand pujas held across Kolkata, it’s not possible for one to cover them all. The teeming crowd and unavoidable traffic make it all the more daunting. So here are few top puja jaunts in Kolkata you should keep it in your pandal hopping list:
Deshapriya Park:
Now it’s more famous for its last year 88 feet Durga idol than anything else. Deshapriya Park was the showstopper. This year, it has a plan to replicate Thailand’s white temple sprawling across 1200 sq. feet. It’s believed that the White temple in Thailand is made by God itself because of its enigmatic heavenly feel. If you want the same fee in Kolkata, I think Deshapriya Park should be in your list.
Bagbazar Sarbojanin:
Bagbazar, for centuries, has been carrying out the legacy of the traditional form of Durga Puja. If you want to know how a very simplistic traditional puja has been boasting of for decades, come to Bagbazar. It’s very unlike other theme-based pujas across Kolkata and has its own charm where tradition beats the contemporary style.
Suruchi Sangha:
New AliporeSuruchiSangha is well-regarded for its mesmerizing charm reflected through its pandal themed after different states of India. Each year they represent Durga as a native of different states of India. The architectural body stature of Goddesses has something to drool at.
Rupchand Mukherjee Lane’s Sarbojanin Puja:
Now, this is not the place that catches media every year. But this year, it did. What’s so special here? The entire pandal is being decorated with amazing arts and even the Durga idol is being modeled after a painter. But the twist in the story is the entire pandal decoration is being done by a Muslim family. ‘Unity in diversity’ will be reflecting here in a true sense.
Kumartuli Park:
No one would think of ignoring Kumartuli, the ultimate place where most of the clay-modelers live and have been shaping the famous Durga idols of Kolkata from time immemorial. It’s not about the theme that matters here but how beautifully the idol is shaped and being worshipped in a traditional way.
College Square Sarbojanin Durgotsav:
This is the time of the year when you can experience a massive visual shift of College Square. It’s a place that remains covered with books and students. But with the arrival of Puja that sets amidst the picturesque lake, turns the place in absolute beauty, especially at night when lighting glistening off the water.
Sedalia Evergreen Durga Pujo Club:
Sedalia Evergreen has always been at the top of the list for its long-built glamour grandeur of pandals and idols. Best known for replicating old Indian temples, this year, Ekdalia has something similar with more glamorous features. Be prepared to be astonished by your every move.
