Our member Ms S. Sil had visited London in the year 2022. Her experience of the Bengali culture and Durga Puja celebration left her feeling nostalgic. She speaks of the different places she visited in London and especially the Durga Puja.
Ms S. Sil had gone to London in the month of August 2022.There she visited most of the places like Queen Elizabeth palace, London eye, Thames River, London bridges etc. But one of the stories she wanted to share with us was the Durga Puja celebrated in London by the Bengali cultural society, Reading. Reading is the UK registered charity, established in 1982 by the local community.
At Swanley town hall, St Maryโs Road, Reading, Durga Puja was celebrated for five-days as celebrated in Kolkata. That year the celebration was for four-days as Saptami and Ashtami had fallen on the same day. During the day everyone participated in the Puja and in the evening they all enjoyed the cultural programs. On each day from Shasthi to Bijoya Dashami different kinds of programs like antakshari, dandiya etc. were held where majority of the people could participate.
In the day time after the Puja people used to sit around for adda and then relish the bhog comprising ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข, ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ, ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ and ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ. Food and handicraft stalls were also put up for people to have a great time relishing authentic Bengali flavour of all kinds. On these days people were found in traditional attires like saree, designer kutas and dhuti-punjabis.
I was extremely happy to be able to participate in Durga Puja even while staying in London.
