Bhopal: May Goddess Slay Modern-Day Mahishasurs; Bengali Durga Puja Ends With Sindoor Khela

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Owing to ill health, Indira Bhaduri, the 94-year-old mother-in-law of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan gave a miss to the Sindoor Khela at the TT Nagar Kali Badi in the city on Sunday.

“I am feeling bad. Maa has been coming here since 1956. She used to supervise the preparation of bhog,” Rita Bhaduri, her daughter and the wife of theatre and film actor Rajiv Verma, told the Free Press. About her sister Jaya Bachchan, Rita said that they had requested her not to come. “If she comes, the function becomes a media event, there is so much crowd, so much halla-gulla,” she said.  

Sindoor Khela is held on Bijoya Dashmi - the last day of five-day Durga Puja. “ Goddess Durga had come to her mother’s place and now she is leaving. So we are bidding adieu to her with moist eyes. We are offering sweets and pan to her. We are applying sindoor to her,” said Rita, explaining the concept behind the event.

Clad in off-white sarees with red borders, women applied sindoor to the forehead and the feet of goddess Durga. After this, they smeared sindoor on each other's faces. They also performed dance to the beats of dhaak (a drum-like instrument).  Some of them played dhak and blew conch shells. 

Mahua Chatterjee, a teacher and a theatre artiste, said that every year they used to start preparing Prasad at 3.30 in the morning. “But this time it could not happen due to the overlapping of Tithis. And we distributed special prasad called dahi karma made of poha, banana, milk, curd, khoya and sweets on Saturday only.” 

Dr Ruma Bhattacharya, a psychiatrist, said that though they are observing the ritual, their hearts are heavy with grief and pain over what happened with a woman doctor in Kolkata.  “I wish Durga Maa appears on this earth and kills all the modern Mahishasurs,” she said, referring to the RG Kar Hospital incident. “ We pray Justice for Devi,” she adds. 

Many non-Bengali women also joined the celebrations. “I have been coming here for the past five-six years. Bahut maza aata hai,” said Shubhangi Mishra, as she played dhaak with vermillion smeared on her face.