Dear Friends

The South London Sarbojonin Durga Puja Committee would like to give you a warm welcome to the 2010 Durga Puja from 13 October 17 October 2010.

New Protima and Venue

Our pandal will be at the new location of Chak 89, 105 Bond Road, Mitcham, Surrey, CR4 3HG
(Tel: 020 8646 2177, Click here to get directions to Chak89 venue).

View Larger Map

This is a spacious location with ample onsite parking with public transport links. Please, do NOT park in the Hoo Hing cash and carry car park if Chak 89 is full, because it closes at 22:00. You may park on the yellow line on the road itself.

Coming via public transport: local tube stations are Colliers Wood and Tooting Broadway. Get on bus no 152 from Colliers Wood station, or on bus no 280, 270, 127, 355, or 264 from Tooting Broadway station.

In our thirty-first year, 2010 is going a very exciting year for us because we have also new Protima.

Sarbojonin means for all people, so our simple philosophy is dedicated to providing a homely and relaxed atmosphere where you can enjoy the Puja at your comfort and leisure. Partake in anjali followed by musical entertainment and freshly cooked meals.

Ashtami Friday 15/10/2010

We will be expecting the Mayor Wandsworth \ Merton and Member of Parliament for Tooting Mr Sadiq Khan to join us on 15th October 2010. In addition we will anticipate ZEE TV, as they have done for 2008 and 2009 to cover our event.

Monthly timetable

Daily timetable

As you know the Puja is a live event so the following times are only approximate:

Anjali In the evening this should be around 18:30 to 20:00.

The Cultural Programme will normally start at 20:00.

The evening meal will be served from 21:00 onwards.

The organisers of the Puja are a small number of individuals based in South London.

In these challenging times, we need all the assistance we can get. We obviously have a large number of supporters, why not become one! Send us your ideas for how you can make the 2010 Puja a successful event:

Mr A P Dutta apcdutta123 @ yahoo.co.uk
Mr S Bhadra s.bhadra @ sky.com

In the meantime please forward a link of this website to your friends and colleagues. You have already helped us by doing this.

So come and join us in celebrating something special from India.

Background

For many, the autumn festival of Durga Puja is the most important religious festival in the Bengali calendar. Few other festivals occupy so much media coverage each year or mean quite so much in terms of spiritual fulfilment.

Durga puja still symbolises victory over evil both on a personal level and in society at large. She is Ma, mother, as well as much loved daughter of Himavat, the Himalayas, who visits for a short while and then returns to her mountain home. A glimpse of her face, as in Satyajit Rays film Pather Panchali, evokes a whole range of thoughts and emotions.

The experience of being present in the sight of Durga and her family of Ganesh, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kartik, of having darshan, is often an emotional one. Worshippers can bring whatever feelings and thoughts seem most appropriate in these private moments of prayer, reflection and meditation. When the priest gently requests 'ma go' (Mother dear) to listen to the prayers of those attending, his reactions and movements set the tone of the whole proceedings. The involvement of participants at every level of the proceedings, including the choice of flowers and cooking the food, the raising of the funds and sending out invitations, ensure that Durga puja is a lively social occasion. Physical contact with the images during puja such as the offering of bhog and sindur brings the worshipper in closer spiritual contact with Durga too for those fortunate enough to attend celebrations.

Swami Vivekananda, who inaugurated Durga puja in 1901 at the Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math, Kolkata using a clay image from Kumartuli, best sum up the way to think about the worship of the image of Durga: 'The Hindu does not worship an idol made of wood and clay, he sees consiousness within the earthneness and loses himself in it.' This is the religious experience of Durga puja.

Pujas in UK

Puja committees in the UK have been importing images from the centre for clay image making, Kumartuli in North Kolkata and elsewhere since the 1960s and many are now celebrating at least 40 years of Durga puja. There are several sarvajanin puja committees in London as well as Birmingham, Leicester, Liverpool, Milton Keynes,Grimsby, Glasgow and Cardiff. Some have even conducted bishorjon or immersion of Durga images, such as the Cardiff puja committee in Cardiff Bay in 2004 and the Camden puja committee in the Thames with the protima made by Nemai Chandra Paul of Krishnanagar for the British Museum Voices of Bengal exhibition in 2006.

Durga puja 2008

Video no 1

Video no 2