Kolkata: The four-day Durga Puja festivities began in full swing on 'Mahasaptami' today (Oct 20, 2004) in West Bengal, where thousands of community pujas are being held across the State.

Following 'Bodhan' the invocation of the Goddess, who is on her annual sojourn to her parents' place yesterday (Oct 19, 2004), hundreds of devotees thronged the ghats of River Ganga at day break today for the ritual bathing of 'kala bou' (banana tree stalks), symbolically representing Lord Ganesha's spiritual consort amidst chanting of mantras by the priests.

The stalks were then ceremoniously placed to the rhythm of the 'dhak' next to Lord Ganesha in the pandals, where the Goddess and her progeny had already been placed.

Thousands poured into the metropolis from the suburbs and the districts to see the artistically created images, the decorated pandals and the innovations in lighting through the night.

A massive arrangement by the city police was in place to keep the swelling crowds of puja revellers and traffic under control.

With increasing competition among community puja organisers to design the best pandals, artists and decorators have created highly imaginative structures and idols using materials as varied as logenzes, rakhi and gulal, winnows, wood apple, traditional dokra work, waste plastics, cashew nuts and chalks.

Besides a dozen-odd prizes declared by corporate houses for the pandals, a Kolkata NGO made a novel effort to let orphan children enjoy their puja, by gifting them a guided trip of the pandals as judges.