Kolkata Devotees from all walks of life, dressed in their best attire, headed towards the puja marquees on Thursday as the city celebrated Mahanavami — the fourth day of Durga Puja.

“I have already visited many pandals (marquees) but will try to cover more before the festivities end,” a young girl said with enthusiasm.

Following the almanac, Mahashtami formally came to an end on Wednesday afternoon, and Mahanavami (ninth lunar day) began with Sandhi Puja held at their confluence.

Amidst beats of ‘dhak’ or drums, some Puja communities like Bagbazar Sarbajanin and Samajsebi sangha offered ‘Kumari Puja’, the ritual of the worship of a pre-pubescent girl as a goddess on Navami.

The little girl is seen in a red sari, adorned with floral ornaments and given ‘sindur’ (vermillion) mark on her forehead which is usually a part of Mahashtami.

She sits before goddess Durga’s idol on a decorated chair as priests chant hymns.

The Maha Arati on Navami is a special attraction. In many of the traditional households celebrating the festival, ‘yagna’ (rituals done before the sacred fire) is organised before the morning puja rituals come to an end.

Thousands of devotees bond over sumptuous community feasts at marquees. The delicious ‘bhog’ (community feast of food items offered to the Goddess first) platter includes a varied spread from ‘luchis’ (deep fried puffed bread) to ‘khichuri’, vegetable items, to fish and even mutton.

Santoshpur Trikone Park marquee, Ekdalia Evergreen, Maddox Square are some of the Pujas that drew mammoth crowds. This year the two puja committees- Sribhumi Sporting Club and the Md Ali Park recreated Chittorgarh fort as seen in the period film ‘Padmaavat’, were the major crowd puller.

On the other hand, long queues could be seen outside the cinema halls and multiplexes as some chose to watch the latest films of their favourite actors.

As per Hindu mythology, goddess Durga killed Chando and Mundo — two ‘asuras’ or demons at the confluence (sandhi) of the two days. The goddess is worshipped as the undefeated divine force with lotuses and offered her favourite food items.

The five-day festival is considered the biggest event in this part of the world when even newspapers don’t hit the streets and roads are choked with devotees and revellers throughout the day and night.

According to Hindu mythology, goddess Durga, accompanied by her four children — Ganesh, Kartik, Lakshmi and Saraswati — descends on earth every year to visit her parents to fight evil. This is the occasion that the puja celebrates.

Durga, the slayer of demon Mahishasur, comes astride her mount lion and wields an array of weapons in her 10 hands in symbolic representation of Shakti, or woman power.

(IANS)

Noida It’s quite a task to convince one’s tastebuds to try vegetarian food when you belong to the opposite world. The probability of liking the place in question drops significantly when it is also alcohol-free. Still, I dared to land in Burma Burma — a completely vegetarian restaurant and tea room — that is making waves in foodie circles for its authentic Burmese cuisine and enhanced tea experience.

Located in the DLF Mall of India, this recently-opened Burma Burma outlet is its fifth in India and the first in Noida.

Visiting here is a visual treat as it gives one a fascinating insight into Burmese culture and art. This establishment brings to forefront Mandala art — an ancient Buddhist art form — which is an essential element of Burmese culture. Digitally printed bright Mandala patterns on the walls, a pagoda statue, colourful furniture and cane chandeliers all over the place gives it a lively and artistic vibe.

Once seated, I was offered sunflower seeds to munch on while I went through the vast food menu to decide my meal for the evening.

Burma Burma juxtaposes spicy, sour, sweet and raw flavours of the cuisine and presents that beautifully on your plate in varied forms — soups, salads, noodles, curries and fried snacks.

The tea bar here has a suspended designer display rack above it showcasing beautiful Burmese artefacts made from paper, cane and bamboo.

One can take their pick from the huge variety of white, black, green teas and herbal infusions.

Without further ado, I started with Nutella bubble tea. A harmonious blend of black tea, milk and gooey tapioca pearls with Nutella, it was refreshing and well-balanced.

Coming to soups, I tried the “Samosa soup” which is highly recommended for people who love spicy food. A little samosa was served in the tangy soup with spring vegetables and spiced black chickpeas. It was tangy, bursting with intense flavours and alluring aromas. This was hands down my favourite.

Other options that can be tried in this category were chickpea tohu soup and pumpkin and basil soup.

Next came the Thoke sampler or a salad platter that comprised of a raw mango salad, tea leaf salad and sunflower leaves and crispy wheat flakes salad. Being a person who doesn’t enjoy salads, I was pleasantly surprised.

The salads were fresh, crunchy and savoury. I loved all three varieties, but the sunflower salad topped with crispy wheat flakes and tossed with tamarind chilly dressing, outshined.

In starters, I was served tohu mok palata — chickpea mash cooked with onions, tomatoes and spices. It came with a Burmese-styled layered flaky parantha that looked like a mini Malabari parantha. It was delicious.

Next up were Burmese falafel, panfried rice dumplings and paukse or steamed buns with crunchy tofu patty.

Falafel — made of yellow lentils, spices, onions and coriander and finished in zesty garlic sauce was decent and the gravy was quite interesting.

However, the rice dumplings topped with papaya salad fell flat and were kind of bland.

The cute white mini burgers or steamed buns with tofu patty looked tempting and were juicy and delectable.

While gobbling down these appetisers, I pampered myself with heavenly Seabuckthorn Mary and Spiced Ginger coolers.

Seabuckthorn Mary with pink salt rim is by far the most fascinating and unique thirst quencher I have ever had. It was a mix of seabuckthorn, multiple spices, tabasco sauce, kaafir lime, jalapenos and fizz. Topped with a lemon wedge, this beauty was mentally-stimulating. This one should not be missed.

The Spiced Ginger cooler, decorated with a red chilly and lemon wedge, came with inverted cranberry popsicle. It was equally enticing and left a lingering aftertaste on the palette.

A visit to Burma Burma is incomplete without trying the traditional Khowsuey or noodles which come in different versions like dry, medium dry or in curry form. I ordered Taungyi shan khowsuey with pounded mock meat, sweet soy and pickled greens. Six toppings — peanuts, fried garlic, pepparica, fried onion, diced spring onion and lemon — were presented separately with the delicacy.

The dessert range here is elaborate and stellar — from sinful smokey avocado and honey caviar ice-cream to Rangoon baked milk — house-based milk served with saffron pistachio cream, vanilla whipped ganache, raspberry gel, fried brioche and almond nougatine.

What makes the latter special and easy-to-love is that after it is served, a frozen rose is sprinkled over it.

Overall, Burma Burma provides a memorable and classy dining-cum-artistic experience and it is totally worth the hype.

(IANS)

Thiruvananthapuram The state-wide shutdown called by the Sabarimala Karma Samithi on Thursday saw huge response with near total effect while just a few private vehicles moving on road.

The dawn to dusk shutdown backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was called against Wednesday’s police attack on protesters who were opposing the entry of women within the age group of 10-50 years to the Lord Ayyappa shrine.

At a few places in Kozhikode, Malappuram and here, protesters stoned buses of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation following which their operation was suspended.

On the occasion of Mahanavami all state and central government offices, banks and educational institutions were closed.

Shops and markets also remained shut. There were poor attendance at the IT parks here and in Kochi. It was the railway commuters who faced the brunt of the shutdown as they failed to get taxis and public vehicles from the stations.

The temple opened on Wednesday at 5 p.m. for the monthly pujas. It was first day after the Supreme Courts September 28 verdict allowing women of all ages to enter the shrine revoking the traditional ban on all those girls and women who are within the puberty limits.

Traditionalists came up in arms against the new norm as the state government deployed a huge police force to enforce the top court’s order. The temple will remain open till October 22.

(IANS)

Lucknow A complaint has been registered in an Uttar Pradesh court against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and three others for using national symbols and letter heads of President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on its site without due permission.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Anand Prakash Singh on Wednesday set November 12 as the next date of hearing when the petitioner lawyer Omkar’s statement would be recorded.

Others named in the complaint are Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, Facebook India Head Ajit Mohan.

The petitioner has further alleged that the social media giant runs an application which allows certain national symbols to be used without permission.

He has submitted screen shots as evidence.

The petitioner has demanded that the named persons be punished for this offence as they were not only getting cheap popularity with the use of such symbols but were also earning a lot of money.

“This has hurt my sentiments and has hurt national pride,” the petitioner has said.

(IANS)

Nagpur RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday stressed on the need to further strengthen the armed forces to ensure enhanced “internal and external security” and pre-empt any subversive attempts from within or outside to harm the country’s unity and integrity.

On the external security front, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, while addressing the traditional annual Dussehra rally at the Reshimbaug here, said that unless the nation was “self-reliant” in defence production, security could not be assured.

While the pace of national efforts in this direction has to be accelerated, it was essential to be more attentive to address the basic amenities of the armed, social and economic security of the armed forces and their families, he pointed out.

“There have been some laudable efforts in this regard by the government. Efforts were underway and speeded to enhance the morale of our armed forces, making them well-equipped to provide them with latest technologies. This is one of the reasons the country’s prestige is rising globally,” Bhagwat said.

He called for securing not only the land borders of the country but also the maritime borders, especially the hundreds of small islands/islets dotting the country from Andaman and Nicobar Islands to Lakshadweep.

Targeting the Leftist forces, he said there has been attempts to create a vicious atmosphere in the country by establishing an “anti-national leadership with blind followers solely committed to the neo-left doctrine” propagated by the so-called “urban Maoists”.

Their cohorts were already established in various levels — intellectual circles and institutions — through the manufacturing of a vicious atmosphere that weakens the social unity, which is the bedrock of internal security of a nation.

“A world of psychological warfare is being carved out of this so-called ‘Mantrayayuuddh’ in our traditional ‘Rajneeti Shastras’ (Political Sciences),” Bhagwat added.

The chief guest at the occasion was Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi who spoke on children and juvenile security issues and problems being faced by a vast multitude of children worldwide and the need to secure them.

(IANS)

Srinagar A shutdown called by separatists affected life across the Kashmir Valley on Thursday with heavy security deployed here and other vulnerable places.

The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a separatist conglomerate headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, called the shutdown against the killing of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, Mehrajudd in Bangroo, his associate Faiz Ahmad Waza and Rayees Ahmad in a gunfight on Wednesday in Srinagar’s Fateh Kadal area.

Shops, other businesses and public transport remained closed in Srinagar and other district headquarters of the Valley.

Skeletal private transport moved in the uptown areas of Srinagar.

Educational institutions were closed due to the Dussehra holiday.

The authorities have imposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar’s old city areas.

Train services between Baramulla and Bannihal towns were suspended as a precautionary measure.

However, no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the valley.

(IANS)