Durga puja parade held on River Thames
LONDON’S Bengali community celebrated Durga puja with a parade on the River Thames last Saturday (8).
It took place on the Golden Sunrise boat, with an accompanying yacht carrying idols of the deity. The boats were decorated with the traditional chhou masks and various puja artifacts from Kumartuli, which transformed the boats into a mini tableau of Bengal.
The Heritage Bengal Global (HBG), a not-for-profit organisation comprising members of the community, organised the Durga puja parade to coincide with events in Kolkata as part of its initiative to create a worldwide forum to bring together Durga pujas organised by Bengali groups in the world.
More than 200 people took part in the parade in London on the boat, which sailed from Millbank Pier next to Westminster to London Eye and back.
The deputy high commissioner of India in London, Sujit Ghosh, along with representatives of Royal Army and Royal Air Force, was present at the event, with other dignitaries.
Kumartuli artisan, Kaushik Ghosh, flew down from Kolkata to help decorate the boats.
At the Diwali celebration at Trafalgar Square, the HBG members participated in the cultural show entailed as Adivasi or tribal cultural programme commemorating India’s first president from the tribal community, Droupadi Murmu.
“This year the back-to-back events of Durga parade on the River Thames and Diwali at Trafalgar Square helped immensely in our endeavour to promote Durga puja and the traditional cultural heritage of Bengal, which should likely put Kolkata on the global tourism map,” said HBG director Anirban Mukhopadhyay.
“We wanted to convert the Unesco intangible tag of Durga puja to something more tangible to realise its full potential.”