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2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with
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Durga Puja at Chembur

Over the last ten days, I have taken you along on a tour through the South Indian celebration of Navaratri in Mumbai. It is now time for something different. I usually try to take Samhith for the Ramleela as well as other Navaratra Pandals. Dandiya is something I havent been able to introduce him to, and that is mainly because I dont dance at all! However, if there is one celebration we manage to catch, it is the Bengali Durga Puja. Somehow, the image of Mahishasura Mardini seems to attract me each year, as do the decorations..... So, here is the Chembur Durga Puja this year......


We were welcomed at the gate by this huge replica of a temple - 



I read in the paper that it was built to resemble a south Indian temple, but I was more impressed by the way the temple had been decorated..... with straw baskets!!



All over were straw baskets - on the walls, they were the decorations....


On the ceiling, they were lamps and chandeliers!



As for the deity, she was as beautiful as ever! Thankfully, we were early and had the entire place to ourselves!



And yes, before I forget - we gorged on Bengali sweets before heading home!

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Location: Chembur, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Comments

  1. ArtiOctober 8, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    Such elaborate and beautiful decorations! I just visit the local Durga temple during Navratri and Dandiya raas is something that is avoided by me too..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anu ShankarOctober 9, 2011 at 10:45 AM

    ha! another similarity btw us!

    ReplyDelete

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