Message from the President
Durga Puja is one of the largest festival celebrated in various parts of India and internationally
with a lot of fanfare. We are proud to announce that this year ‘The Association of Bengalis in
Poland’ is hosting Durga Puja Festival on September 28, 29 & 30, in Warsaw.
Durga Puja, also called Durgotsava and Navaratri, is an annual Hindu festival in the Indian sub-
continent that reveres the goddess Durga. The festival epitomises the victory of ‘Good over Evil’
and begins on the first day with Mahalaya, welcoming the arrival of the Goddess. On the sixth
day (Sasthi), the worshiping of the Goddess begins elaborately with decorating the idol and its
surroundings in the most traditional way. It continues for the seventh (Saptami), eight (Asthami)
and the nineth (Navami) day and the festival ends on the tenth day of Vijaya Dashami, when
with drum beats of music and chants, see the women folks dance and spray colored powder on
each other to bid goodbye to the Goddess till we welcome Her again the next year.
We are proud to make a modest beginning this year and expect a diverse group of people from
all over Poland and nearby countries to attend this event. The program will include performing
the daily puja and Arati, followed by a cultural evening performed by Indian and Polish artists.
With utmost pleasure we invite people from all communities and regions to be part of this
maiden Durga puja celebration and be one amongst us to make it a memorable one this year
and an inspiration for the coming years.
Padipto Maulik