By Mayukh Goswami

Mangaldai   : After three of days of unbridled pomp and gaiety devotees across Darrang District bid adieu to Goddess Durga amid fervent beating of drums and shouting of slogans like ‘Durga Maa Ki Jey’ while taking the idols to the the immersion sites with rallies from each of the Puja mandaps . The idol immersion process began from around 2 pm at four notified separate immersion river sites namely Mangaldai River in Mangaldai Town, Tongani River in between Kharupetia and Dhula, Bornodi River in Dumunichowki and Nonai River in Dolongghat and it reportedly continued till filing of this report in the evening. It is to be mentioned here that Darrang District this time witnessed a total of one hundred ninety nos of Durga Puja celebration which included nearly four hundred years old Royal Puja in three separate places namely Gakhirkhowa Raja Howli, Raja Howli and Mohanpur Howli. On the other hand Puja of Hanuman Temple in Kharupetia which has been celebrating its golden jubilee have pulled the maximum no of crowds on each day of celebration because of its sculptural decoration in the model of block buster Hollywood movie ‘Bahubolee’. Similarly the unique themes like ‘Join hands to eradicate Mal Nutrition’ and “women empowerment ‘ witnessed in the Puja mandap in the introduction year of Udayan Sanggha at ward no 1, Mangaldai has drawn the attention of many conscious visitors. The young office bearers of the Puja Committee have also drawn appreciation from conscious circles of Mangaldai as they showed great gesture to the on duty persons of various emergency services like Police, medical staff, anti fire squads and safai workers whom they greeted during Puja and distributed ‘Puja Prasad’. Meanwhile, the historical Durga Puja celebration Committee of Radha Krishna temple, Mangaldai on Friday observed ‘Kumari Puja’ (worshipping of girl child yet to experience menstruation) with traditional religious rituals and culture. On the occasion more than one thousand girl child have been greeted with nutritious food and gift packets comprising fruits, ornamental items, steel dishes and cash among others. The function was ceremonially inaugurated by President of Mangaldai Marowari Society Chandmal Agarwala in presence several other prominent persons including Prabhu Agarwala, chief patron of the Radha Krishna temple management Committee and Dhirendra Kumar Sharma, former President of Darrang Zila Karmachari Parishad among others.