SHILLONG, Oct 22: Durga puja celebrations have begun with great fanfare in 250 pandals across Meghalaya, however, one of these is different from the rest as it’s the only committee organizing the puja entirely by women members.
With Durga puja being the celebration of Goddess Shakti it’s only apt that this all women puja committee the Bongo Bondhu Puja Committee believes that its strength and confidence is bestowed by Goddess Durga.
“We are an all women’s group of 16 members and we have been celebrating Durga and Kali puja since 2012. We women undertake every aspect of the puja right from bringing the idol from the idol makers to immersion,” Bongo Bondhu Puja Committee president, Saswati Dey, said.
The committee holds the Durga puja at Forest Colony near Polo ground.
Apart from Dey some of the other members include Shoma Pde General Secretary and Krishna Dey as Cashier.
The committee was formed after some of the members felt their role was stifled as women members in one other puja committee.
“We got together and thought why not we women conduct the puja ourselves. Initially, there was a huge challenge right from collection of donations to bringing in drum beaters from outside the state to making the pandal with local artisans,” Dey said.
“Over these years we have managed to learn how to conduct the celebrations smoothly and we women, mostly homemakers, have grown strength to strength and also grown in confidence,” she added.
The committee of women not only conducts the puja, but also donates to the poor and needy after the puja.
“Every year we donate exercise books close to one lakh to the needy school children across the state and that gives us tremendous satisfaction,” Dey said.
The Bongo Bondhu Puja Committee said that in the coming years would like to include woman priests and women drum beaters.
“We want to have woman priest and drum beaters but we have to get them from West Bengal and it’s expensive for us now, but we hope our dreams would be fulfilled by Maa Durga in the coming years,” Dey said. (UNI)
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