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21 Stunning Images That Capture The Madness And Opulence Of Kolkata's Durga Pujas

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When you look back at the Durga Pujas, it's a string of stories that's going to stay with you for a while, and if you are lucky, forever. The shoe-bites you braved to pandal hop, the roadside egg-roll in the wee hours of the morning, turning up for the Ashtami pushpanjali bleary-eyed, or waking up at the crack of the dawn to visit as many pandals possible and beat the peak hour crowds.

Photographer Ronny Sen, who recently bagged the prestigious Getty Images-Instagram grant, has beautifully captured the Durga Pujas unfurling in Kolkata. From the vendor selling devil horns to the last vestiges of the Puja drowning in the muddy waters of the Hooghly, this series has it all.

The Dhakis playing at the 66 Pally Durga Puja in south Kolkata. 56 year old artist Purnendu De who hails from Burdawan suggested to the organisers that hence it's their 66th year he wanted to go back 66 years in time in Calcutta and then imagine the whole space. Whatever he thought was an important part of Calcutta back then, he recreated all of them in two dimensional forms to make this pandal. Among many other landmarks he made the Howrah bridge, different churches, the Nakhoda Masjid, the radio office and so on. The organisers say that about one million people have visited this particular pandal in the last 5 days.

An installation in one of the streets at the very popular Sovabajar area in north Kolkata. The road that leads to different pandals are filled with various such decorative lightings and installations.

The inside of the pandal at the Badamtala Ashar Shangha Puja in south Kolkata.

Habu Saha, secretary of 33 Palli Bashi Brinda Pujo in Beliaghata was fascinated with the yellow taxi in Kolkata which was the iconic ambassador car. He got in touch with artists Shib Shankar Das who built this entire pandal with scrap of real ambassador Taxi's. He said, "the ambassador car and the yellow taxi was a prominent symbol of Kolkata, until very recently Hindustan motors stopped its production in Uttarpara in the outskirts of Kolkata. It's never going to come back. We want to pay our tribute to the iconic car." They have also made small videos about yellow Taxi's in Kolkata which they are floating around through friends on social media platforms like Facebook and what's app.

The FD Block Puja in Salt Lake has made a pandal which shows the human life now being completely controlled by digital technology and different mobile apps.

The FD Block Puja in Salt Lake has made a pandal which shows the human life now being completely controlled by digital technology and different mobile apps.

​​​​​Baghajatin in South Kolkata is getting a desi version of Madame Tussauds as a Puja pandal. The Rabindra Pally Durga Puja has filled the whole pandal with celebrities statues. Last year they did seven wonders of the world.

Miraya Laiq (left) will be 3 years old this November and Aarika Laiq (right) will be 5 years old this December. This is one among the 12 dresses they got for the Durga Puja. A portion of the Puja shopping was done in Bangkok when they went there a few weeks back with their parents on a holiday trip.

This year it rained on all the three major days of Durga Puja. But, people hardly stayed home.

The sweet shops were the most busy during the whole period.

Srihari is a restaurant in Bhawanipore where people who want breakfast can go grab hot kachauris in the morning. It's more than a hundred year old and is very popular for sweets also.

"Singur Movement" reads the decorative lighting in front of one of the pandals on EM Bypass.

Sindur Khala ( Vermillion play) is an age old ritual in Durga Puja. Women apply Sindur on goddess Durga's feet and also on the forehead of other women and smear it all over their face. Although, widows and unmarried women are forbidden from participating in this.

Sindur Khala ( Vermillion play) is an age old ritual in Durga Puja. Women apply Sindur on goddess Durga's feet and also on the forehead of other women and smear it all over their face. Although, widows and unmarried women are forbidden from participating in this.

Tithir Saha ( far right) is 28 years old and works at the TCS. His father TK Saha who is a businessman stated this Durga Pujo at their home two years back. Tithir says he wants to continue the Puja after his father.

The world map being made on the top of a pandal in South Kolkata.

Bimal Das has no time this year to take his family out for pandal hopping. He lives in Barasat and comes daily to Kolkata to work. He says that during the Puja's he makes some extra money

On the last day of the Puja, Sri Sri Sridhar Jew, a Thakurbari which is doing the Durga Puja for the last 200 years goes to one of the ghats in Bagbazaar to immerse the Durga idol.

An excited man during the immersion on the last day of the Durga Puja.

Immersion on the last day of the Durga Puja.

Immersion on the last day of the Durga Puja.

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