Mahalaya - The first day of "Devi paksha"

"Mahalaya" is the day from which countdown starts for the biggest festival of autumn season in Bengal. This is the new moon day that marks the end of "Pitri paksha", that is the period of the Gods, and the beginning of "Devi paksha", that is the period of the Goddesses. This is the day to pay homage to our ancestors to seek their blessings before we get into the celebration mood of the festival days.


People flock to the nearby banks of the river Ganga to observe the rituals of Mahalaya. Priests come early to execute the ritualistic procedures for themselves and to look for opportunities to earn a few extra money by guiding others who seek to be their "Yajmans" (the customers). Others set up temporary stalls on the bank of the river to sell items related to the ritual.

It is the festive season knocking at the door. So everyone is eager for that extra money which they can earn on this occasion. Even the children living in the streets nearby get into their business of fishing out the coins thrown at the river Ganga as offerings. They throw a stack of ring shaped magnets tied with a very long nylon thread into water to pull out the coins for them.The preparation for the four days long festival picks up huge momentum from this day.

To see all the photographs of Mahalaya please visit my Picasa album.
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My first story on Photojournale

"On the Streets" is the name of my first photo-story published on Photojournale. Its a collection of street photographs from my city: Kolkata. I call it "photo-rambling" on the streets of my city. I invite you all my friends to see the photographs there. Now only thirteen photographs are uploaded on the site but I shall add more later. So keep watching the place.

Please let me know how do you enjoy them through your comments there.

Thanks for viewing!!
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Flower Market - More photos

Last Saturday I went to flower market again to capture some more colors. The day before at night we had heavy rain here. Naturally the place was filled with mud, small pools of water and rotten flowers scattered here and there. These are the problems of any thriving market place here. So instead I focussed on its beauty, its colorfulness.


I found this vendor in the market showing his beautiful garlands to the buyers.

In the lotus market sticks of lotus bundled together can be found for sale.

Decorative flowers of different colors would be sold to the retailers who will make beautiful flower bouquets to sell them in the local market.

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Jagannath Ghat

Last Saturday I and my friend went to Jagannath ghat to try our luck with street photography. A "Ghat" in general term is a concrete structure built on the bank of a river to facilitate bathing, and as such has a rest room and the stairs that get down to the water. Jagannath ghat is one of the oldest on the bank of the Ganga in Kolkata. The installation has some architectural speciality, unlike others. One can find the porcelain tiles lining the inner walls of the rest room, wrought iron columns and nicely curved ventilators.







Photographers flock the place to shoot at the colorful flower market nearby. The colors are fascinating!! I hope to go there again to capture some more color.

The ghat itself is the place for lots of activities. The daily life passes by with the devotees singing bhajans at their ashrams or local youngsters watching latest Hindi movie in a shady video parlour or people bathing in the river and observing different rituals.

While returning I found this lovely couple playing in the shade of the rest room.

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