Lakshmi puja marks D-Day festivities

MUMBAI: Colour and revelry marked the festival of Diwali on Tuesday. Families performed Lakshmi puja at home during the evening mahurat while offices and corporate houses, not to mention the Bombay Stock Exchange, conducted the ritual earlier in the day. Few people distribute salaries, donations or charity on this day in the belief that wealth must be retained on Diwali.

In the Sindhi households, Lakshmi puja acquired a lavish tone. Choice sweetmeats made from dried fruits and nuts to the typical 'singar ji mithai' and 'tosha' found pride of place at the evening ritual as did the homemade, aromatic 'kaju barfi'.

Enclaves like Bandra-Khar, Andheri, Chembur and Mulund were filled with Sindhis shopping for the 'hatri', the white puja thali with a coloured tripod that is a must for Lakshmi puja. "We place gold and silver coins embossed with Lakshmi-Ganesh in a bowl of milk, mithai, 'mitera' and radish inside the tray and crown it with an oil lamp," said Maya Jhangiani, who also placed her Dhanteras purchase before the deities.

In Lalbaug, the family of Ganesh Gully mandal secretary Swapnil Parab continues to prepare Diwali 'faral' despite the exigencies of modern living. His wife Roshani said, "My mother-in-law makes chakli, karanji and two types of laddoos made from rava and besan. It takes three to four hours to prepare each item."

Most households in Dadar-Lalbaug, Girgaum, Vile Parle and Worli follow this time-honoured tradition as time permits. Keshavji Naik chawl in Girgaum made a pretty picture with lanterns and light bulbs. "We will have an extended Diwali until Tripurari Purnima on November 28, when we will host a grand 'deepotsav'. Our chawl is set to celebrate its 121st Ganeshotsav the following year. We have invited past secretary Bhaskarrao Kamat, who is 100 years old, and composer Anandji, who lived here, to inaugurate the festivities," said mandal president Bhalchandra Gharat.

Around 10pm on Tuesday, the Bengali community began its night-long worship of Goddess Kali. This year the well-known Fata Keshto puja mandal of Kolkata has installed a Kali pandal at Andheri Sports Complex until Wednesday. "Our founder, the pockmarked Fata Keshto, is variously described as hooligan and Robinhood but in fact it was he who stood up to the Naxal movement way back in the 17th century. Amitabh Bachchan was a frequent visitor at our Kali puja in Bengal," said organizer Prabandha Ray.

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