Durga Puja ends with Red Road Carnival
The Durga Puja proper was over but one can say it actually ended on Saturday evening with the Durga Puja Carnival on Red Road, also called the Red Road Carnival.
The grand precession of the best Durga Puja idols from Kolkata and the suburbs on trailers, accompanied by cultural performances, moved along Red Road to rapturous applause from the large gathering seated in specially constructed galleries on both sides.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in many ways the patron-in-chief of Durga Puja now, was present, as were several VIPs, celebrities and diplomats, and many foreign tourists.
Foreign tourists have been coming in more and more over the last few years. The last two pandemic-filled years, though, were a dampener for Durga Puja in general and in terms of foreign tourist arrivals too. This year saw a full recovery from the pandemic in every aspect, be it local crowds, business or foreign tourists.
The celebrations around Durga Puja have taken a much larger turn due to another reason: the inscribing of ‘Durga Puja in Kolkata’ by UNESCO in its list of Intangible Cultural Heritages recently.
The carnival lasted for nearly five hours, ending a little after 9 pm.
