Shirish Paranjape
Different community groups in Christchurch celebrated Durga Pooja in some unique ways last weekend.
The main Durga Pooja was held on Saturday, October 12, 2019 at Cotswold Preschool and Nursery. It 
was attended by over 150 guests. All the decorations at the Pooja were prepared by a team over a few weeks leading up to the event.
These decorations included LED light fountains and many more.
Plastic Free Event
Amritajit Sarkar, one of the organisers, said that they have tried to keep this event ‘plastic-free.’ The plates for lunch were of recyclable materials, while wooden spoons were used instead of plastic ones. The glasses and cups were made from recycled paper.
This event coincided with the declaration of the results of the local elections.
Lianne Dalziel elected the Mayor of Christchurch for a third term, visited the event briefly. This was her first public event after the Local Government election results were announced.
Hosting families
Years ago, the first Durga Puja began at the residence of Amlan and Karabi Ghosh. It is still the first stop and people gathered to pay homage to goddess Durga on the Ashtami day.
Separately, Durga Pooja was celebrated at the residence of the Tarafdar family.
The uniqueness of this event was all the decorations, as well as the wonderful idols, were made by the family themselves – rather than buying them from a shop.
Kasibhatla family from Andhra Pradesh had a Community Golu with a display of idols which depicts the coming together of Gods to share their powers with Goddess Durga.
Embracing good qualities
The final event was Christchurch Vijayadashami Utsav – Dussehra celebrations, organised by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.
The organisers invited all present to destroy the negative qualities within them.
Each participant wrote one negative quality which he or she wanted to change on a balloon, and then burst the balloon with an arrow shot from a bow.
The idea was to ensure that everybody – including the children – understood the true meaning of our traditional festivals.
‘Anger,’ ‘Too much TV,’ ‘Too much social media’ were among the ‘evils’ that people wanted to overcome.
All in all, it was so inspirational to see traditional festivals being observed, but also used to spread messages relevant in modern society.
Shirish Paranjape is our Correspondent based in Christchurch. He was re-elected as a Member of the Fendalton-Waimairi-Harewood Community Board at the Christchurch City Council.
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Photo Caption:
- Decorations at the Tarafdar Residence
- The main event at Cotswold Primary School
