- There are many, many, many, many, many Durga pujo pandals in Mumbai, pretty much one in every area. It’s wonderful to see how many Bengalis live here and come together annually to make sure so many pandals are set up all across the city.
- People dress up way too much, much more than those in Kolkata.
- There is no us-them feeling between different paraas. Everyone who walks can partake of the Prasad/bhog.
- There are some amazing cultural programmes.
- The ‘Bengali food’ available around the pandals can burn a big hole in your pocket.
Anyway, now for lack of better things to do, I made up my very own rating of which pujo scores well on different grounds. Please note that this list is based on the rather limited number of Pujos I managed to visit.- Most homely pujo: Tejpal hall (Peddar Road) - It’s one of the oldest pujos in the city and despite the long line of big cars queued outside and the flamboyant and obviously expensive clothes and accessories, the place has a very barir pujo feeling to it.
- Best pandal: Powai – It was a massive pandal created in the form of a sandstone castle and was created quite well.
- Most overrated pujo: Juhu Road – This is ‘famed’ as Rani Mukerjee’s pujo. Or so I heard. Celebrities flitting in and out of the pandal, serving the afternoon bhog, blah, blah, blah. We walked in to see nobody except a rather lackluster pujo. Moreover, what’s with the celeb-obsession. Since when did Bipasha Basu and Shaan become the chief attractions of a Durga pujo for god’s sake?!
- Most innovative: Pujos in Mumbai score rather low on innovation…no fancy (or shall we say, creative?!) pandals or protimas here. But this small pujo opposite PVR Juhu, that we coincidentally stumbled upon, had golden protimas, which were comparatively unusual and interesting.
- Best fish fry: Based on multiple comments, I have come to the conclusion that it was at the Sree/Ma Durga snacks place at the Powai pandal. A thick layer of fried bhetki coated by a well-fried batter…yummy!
- Most expensive: Lokhandwala – All you could see around that place were expensive, high end food joints. Whoever pays 95 bucks for a single piece of fish fry!
- Value for money: Again, this goes to the little pujo opposite PVR, Juhu. The only place that came the closest to Kolkata pricing policy in terms of food.
- Best fair: The Powai pujo for making optimum use of the large playground where the celebrations were held. Food stalls, curio and clothes stores filled up every inch of the venue. Shivaji Park comes a close second.
- Best ambience: Powai – The only place where you knew it was a pujo from 500 yards outside the pandal. Twinkling bulbs adorned the trees outside and you could see Bengali families queuing up to enter the place.
However there was one thing that not even the best pandal got us in Mumbai. Pujos in Kolkata are as much about pandal hopping, eating and worshipping, as much as it is about spending time with friends and families around the venue of the pujo, soaking in the atmosphere of the place. Durga pujo is in the air during those five days. I found it missing here. I have heard that a pujo in Vashi (now shifted to Panvel) comes close, but I will have to probably wait for another pujo to discover that.
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