Are you among the unlucky ones who have had to stay back because of work and have therefore not been able to make the trip back home to West Bengal to celebrate your favourite Durga Puja? Well, here’s something that’s bound to bring you cheer. You can celebrate the Durga Puja here itself and all you need is just an Internet connection. Utsavlive.com, a three-year-old website, now provides you the option of watching and experiencing the Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal from the comfort of your living room. At 4am on Mahalaya, September 27, the website livestreamed ‘Mahishasura Mardini’, a programme on Mahalaya and Chandipath (welcoming of goddess Durga) by Birendra Krishna Bhadra, a theatre director from Kolkata. The programme is originally aired on Washington Bangla Radio USA, an online Bengali radio and entertainment service. There is also a recorded version of the progamme that people can listen to on Utsavlive.com. The website also provides viewers the option of submitting their Pujo. “This option allows people from anywhere in the world to submit details, pictures, and other information about their Sabeki Pujo (the traditional puja that they held at their ancestral home), the Parichita Pujo (known pujas in the town), Parar Pujo (local puja), and Natun Pujo (new puja such as one in society and housing complexes). These puja details are used to create a database, a platform for puja organisers to get in touch with sponsors, and to provide a first-hand experience of all the puja celebrations happening in the world,” says Kolkata-based Saikat Sengupta, one of the four founders of the website. “Surpisingly, we have received a number of such Puja submissions from those abroad in countries such as Australia, US, and UK,” says Saikat. “People in Kolkata are not that net savvy. So, until we approach them with the proposal, they don’t do it. Currently, we have not received any puja submissions from any other state in India. Hopefully, we’ll soon do.” For the ongoing Durga Puja celebrations, the website has also launched a contest under five categories – Pujor Khao Daoa ( Puja recipes), Pujor images, Pujor Lekha Lekhi (articles and paintings on Durga Puja), Pujor Gaan (songs and dance performances), and Pujor Fashion. Puja lovers from all over the world can participate in this contest. The entries will be displayed live on the website. The winner will be decided on the basis of the maximum number of Votes and Facebook ‘Likes’ the application receives. The winner will be presented with a memento. “We started in September 2009, simply as an e-card website related to Puja celebrations,” says Saikat. “In 2010, we added a few more options such as Pujor sms. However, it’s only this year that it has become a full-fledged website catering to all festivals in India, starting from this Duga Puja. We wanted to provide a platform where puja lovers can come together and share their views and opinions on the festivals, while participating in such contests.”Saikat says the need to start such a website stems arose because of the fact that most people were unable to make it home to celebrate the festival with their family. Hence, a portal like this would give them a feel of the festival without going through their moments of guilt, he adds. The most interesting thing that the website offers is Ebar Pujo Chai — a platform where you express a wish to Goddess Durga and hope to get it fulfilled. For Saikat, it almost came true. He narrates, “I posted a wish to get a Samsung tablet. Next day, I got an offer to participate in a contest, for which the prize was a Samsung tablet. Due to paucity of time, I couldn’t take part, but to know my wish almost came true was interesting.”
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