Skip to content
 
Search

Latest Stories

Durga goes digital

Keerthi Mohan
By Keerthi MohanOct 19, 2018
Keerthi Mohan
See Full Bio

by Amit Roy

FOR Hindu Bengalis, the main religious festival of the year is not Diwali, but Durga Puja, which this year runs until Friday (19).

Back in India, the clay idols of “Mother” Durga, her two “sons”, Ganesh and Kartikeya, and two “daughters”, Lakshmi and Saraswati, are immersed in the Ganges at the end of the period of worship.

This is to enable “mother”, who has been visiting her father’s home for a week, to return to her married abode. People brave heaving crowds of a million or more go “pandal hopping” in Kolkata to view the various Pujas taking place in the city.

In Britain, the equivalent of “pandal hopping” would be to go city dashing. This is also the time of the year when little or no work is done in government offices across West Bengal. C

ynics joke it is hard to distinguish this period from the rest of the year. “Last year there were between 50 and 55 Pujas in Britain,” I am told by Dr Sumit Konar, a postdoctoral chemistry researcher at Edinburgh University. “This year the number is up to 61.”

The locations range from Aberdeen to Bournemouth, from Belfast to Middlesbrough. To see 61 Pujas in Liverpool, Basingstoke, Bristol, Cambridge, Lei cester as well as Camden and several others in London in just a few days, would require British Rail to guarantee there will be no signal failures, strikes or the wrong sort of leaves/trespassers on the line.

Sumit has collaborated with Maitri Roy, a software engineer, and Abhirup Ghosh, who is doing a PhD in informatics, to produce an online  map of the country – UK Puja Parikrama – with stars denoting the various Pujas.

Durga has gone digital, with organisers posting “live” images of their respective celebrations. Bengalis are known for putting on rival Pujas, but Sumit assures me: “The big news is that Bengalis in the UK have shown great unity. All the Puja organisers have actively  participated in a common Whatsapp platform and shared individual Puja details.”

The clay deities are imported from a district called Kumortuli in Kolkata where they have been made for generations. Given Theresa May’s hard line on migrants, Bengalis are always relieved when Durga and the other deities make it through immigration.

Related News

Norman Tebbit
UK

What was the Tebbit Test and why was it controversial?

Pedro Pascal
Entertainment

Pedro Pascal hits back at At Marvel fans questioning his 'Fantastic Four' casting at 50

Kangana Ranaut
Entertainment

Kangana Ranaut calls equality a delusion, says it created a "generation of morons"

Sinner-Getty
Tennis

Sinner thrashes Djokovic to reach first Wimbledon final

More For You

The real challenge isn’t having more parties, but governing a divided nation

Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn

Getty Images

The real challenge isn’t having more parties, but governing a divided nation

It is a truth universally acknowledged that voters are dissatisfied with the political choices on offer - so must they be in want of new parties too? A proliferation of start-ups showed how tricky political match-making can be. Zarah Sultana took Jeremy Corbyn by surprise by announcing they will co-lead a new left party. Two of Nigel Farage’s exes announced separate political initiatives to challenge Reform from its right, with the leader of London’s Conservatives lending her voice to Rupert Lowe’s revival of the politics of repatriation.

Corbyn and Sultana are from different generations. He had been an MP for a decade by the time she was born. For Sultana’s allies, this intergenerational element is a core case for the joint leadership. But the communications clash suggests friction ahead. After his allies could not persuade Sultana to retract her announcement, Corbyn welcomed her decision to leave Labour, saying ‘negotiations continue’ over the structure and leadership of a new party. It will seek to link MPs elected as pro-Gaza independents with other strands of the left outside Labour.

Keep ReadingShow less
Amol Rajan confronts loss along the Ganges

Amol Rajan at Prayagraj

Amol Rajan confronts loss along the Ganges

ONE reason I watched the BBC documentary Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges with particular interest was because I have been wondering what to do with the ashes of my uncle, who died in August last year. His funeral, like that of his wife, was half Christian and half Hindu, as he had wished. But he left no instructions about his ashes.

Sooner or later, this is a question that every Hindu family in the UK will have to face, since it has been more than half a century since the first generation of Indian immigrants began arriving in this country. Amol admits he found it difficult to cope with the loss of his father, who died aged 76 three years ago. His ashes were scattered in the Thames.

Keep ReadingShow less
One year on, Starmer still has no story — but plenty of regrets

Sir Keir Starmer

Getty Images

One year on, Starmer still has no story — but plenty of regrets

Do not expect any parties in Downing Street to celebrate the government’s first birthday on Friday (4). After a rocky year, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer had more than a few regrets when giving interviews about his first year in office.

He explained that he chose the wrong chief of staff. That his opening economic narrative was too gloomy. That choosing the winter fuel allowance as a symbol of fiscal responsibility backfired. Starmer ‘deeply regretted’ the speech he gave to launch his immigration white paper, from which only the phrase ‘island of strangers’ cut through. Can any previous political leader have been quite so self-critical of their own record in real time?

Keep ReadingShow less
starmer-bangladesh-migration
Sir Keir Starmer
Getty Images

Comment: Can Starmer turn Windrush promises into policy?

Anniversaries can catalyse action. The government appointed the first Windrush Commissioner last week, shortly before Windrush Day, this year marking the 77th anniversary of the ship’s arrival in Britain.

The Windrush generation came to Britain believing what the law said – that they were British subjects, with equal rights in the mother country. But they were to discover a different reality – not just in the 1950s, but in this century too. It is five years since Wendy Williams proposed this external oversight in her review of the lessons of the Windrush scandal. The delay has damaged confidence in the compensation scheme. Williams’ proposal had been for a broader Migrants Commissioner role, since the change needed in Home Office culture went beyond the treatment of the Windrush generation itself.

Keep ReadingShow less
Eye Spy: Top stories from the world of entertainment

Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh

Eye Spy: Top stories from the world of entertainment

Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh’s ‘Sapphire’ collaboration misses the mark

The song everyone is talking about this month is Sapphire – Ed Sheeran’s collaboration with Arijit Singh. But instead of a true duet, Arijit takes more of a backing role to the British pop superstar, which is a shame, considering he is the most followed artist on Spotify. The Indian superstar deserved a stronger presence on the otherwise catchy track. On the positive side, Sapphire may inspire more international artists to incorporate Indian elements into their music. But going forward, any major Indian names involved in global collaborations should insist on equal billing, rather than letting western stars ride on their popularity.

  Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025 Garavi Gujarat Publications Ltd & Asian Media Group USA Inc