Telipukur Yuba Sangha
As a result, we have distributed our force equally along a number of places,” said a senior officer of Bidhannagar City Police. At Behala Young Men’s Association, artist Sanatan Dinda’s theme ‘ Chhuti’ (Holiday) portrays the lost joys of childhood.
“The installation highlights how poverty forces some children into work, while growing dependence on mobile phones keeps others away from outdoor play and nature,” said Sourav Roy, the primary organiser of the puja. The installation pays tribute to artistes who shaped the golden era of recorded music,” an organiser said. “It took me one and a half hours to get home from Tala, instead of the estimated 45 minutes,” noted Soma Ghosh, a resident of Bhowanipore. Police said they were actively tweaking shift schedules to adapt to changing footfall patterns across both traditional hubs and emerging centres.
This year, the festival’s centre of gravity has noticeably shifted towards suburban neighbourhoods such as Behala, Nagerbazar, Salt Lake and Patuli. Driven by viral social media reels and word-of-mouth acclaim, visitors are flooding these newly celebrated venues, several of which have already bagged top festival honours to cement their place in the city’s hall of fame. A short distance away, Behala Young Men’s Association and Barisha Sarbojanin have been seeing a surge of visitors with imaginative concepts. The central installation features a whimsical cloud factory where children ride elephants and horses through layers of sky. In New Town, the CA Block Cultural Association has dedicated its ninth-year pandal to the gramophone to revive the magic of classic music culture. “At a time when music is largely accessed through digital platforms and playlists, the pandal celebrates the gramophone record as a once-essential source of entertainment in Bengali homes. In Nagerbazar, Telipukur Yuba Sangha showcased theme artist Bhabatosh Sutar’s ‘ Ek Pukur Bhalobasha’ , centring its design around an intricate pond setup. “It becomes a storyteller. A witness to generations. A keeper of forgotten afternoons. And perhaps, a reminder of what modern cities are slowly losing,” Sutar explained. The emergence of peripheral venues has redistributed traffic across Kolkata. Traditional hotspots like Sreebhumi, Ekdalia and Suruchi Sangha registered a more manageable crowd on Sasthi. The situation has changed this year and the crowd is much more manageable this time. the early morning transition period proved challenging for commuters While law enforcement successfully kept major thoroughfares clear during the afternoon and evening hours.
“Till last year, all senior officers were made to sit at control rooms set up near these pujas.