Puja celebrations!

It's evening and the streets of Steel City are busy yet again. Small families on two wheelers and the affluent in their four wheeler hatch backs and many in sedans thronged the streets to visit the Puja pandals. I made it a point to visit as many pandals as possible this year. I found the religious fervor at its peak in these pandals. People standing still in front of the idols with folded hands and many lying full length paying obeisances. The donations (called chadhava in Hindi) are used for feeding the poor and distribution of Prasad to the devotees.

As I was clicking these pics in a pandal in Hudco, I heard the sound of the drums and the bells from the adjacent Kali Mandir. I ran to attend the Aarti there and was able to click the priest performing the Aarti from behind!

Happy Puja celebrations everyone!