Kolkata: Showers failed to dampen the Panchami spirit as Kolkata’s streets filled with revellers heading to Durga Puja pandals across the city.Pandal-hopping began on Chaturthi night on Wednesday itself, with long queues outside crowd-pulling pujas in Gariahat-Rashbehari and along the CR Avenue stretch near Radha Madhab Saha Lane and Muktaram Babu Street. Streams of visitors continued to throng pandals till around 3 am on Thursday and at some places, organisers had to remain on duty till 4 am.Thursday, Panchami morning, was the first day of the puja break for most schools and colleges and few seemed willing to miss the celebrations. A few sharp spells of rain and temporary waterlogging could not deter people from their pandal-hopping agenda. From Tala to Shyambazar, Rashbehari to Kasba, Hatibagan to Kumartuli, pandals drew steady crowds from the morning. By evening, umbrellas and raincoats became an essential accessory. “It’s inconvenient but I don’t want to risk getting drenched and fall sick,” said Sipra Basu, a pandal-hopper from Behala.“We chalked out our pandal-hopping plan, depending on traffic. But the priorities changed with the rain. We checked the weather forecast before stepping out. We are also carrying umbrellas and a raincoat for my son,” said Kaushiki Chatterjee, a professor from Salt Lake.As forecast by the Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata, different parts of the city received rain of varying intensity on Thursday. The Met office has not ruled out similar showers in Kolkata on Friday and Saturday. While Alipore recorded 2.2 mm of rainfall on Thursday, some pockets received heavier spells. Officials said the shower predicted over the next two days was also likely to be uneven, with some areas receiving more than the others, though heavy rain was unlikely.“There’s no certainty about rain. It was sunny in the morning, so we set out for the Dum Dum Park pujas. Once Saptami starts, people from the districts will come and the crowd will swell even more,” said Anupriya Majumdar, a college student who reached Bosepukur Sitala Mandir around 11.30 am.The crowd surge surprised even the police at times. “Every Chaturthi, a major portion of the force withdraws by 11.30 pm or midnight, but we got orders from Lalbazar to stay put till 1 am. Even then, as soon as we withdrew, some visitors tried to park as close to the big pandals as possible. We had to redeploy forces in areas like Rashbehari Avenue, Haridevpur and CR Avenue to chase away those vehicles,” said a senior officer.The rain also affected police plans on Thursday, with several areas in south, central and north Kolkata reporting traffic slowdowns. “The situation was no different from the past two days — pandal-hoppers, last-minute shoppers and office-goers returning home all converged on roads in the evening as soon as the rain eased,” said a senior officer.For organisers, the turnout was encouraging but the rain added a challenge. “We had one eye on the sky and another on the crowd,” said Pijush Haldar, secretary of Ajeya Sanghati. “There was some waterlogging, and we had to use sand to ensure smooth movement for the visitors.” “We have an open pandal, so waterlogging is an issue. We are sweeping away the water and using sand,” said Sandipan Bandhopadhyay of Behala Natun Dal, also president of the Forum for Durgotsab.Ajay Ghosh of Kumartuli Park said a sizable crowd got stranded inside the pandal during the showers. “As others tried to come in, we ensured they could use our fairground and the stage to shield themselves from the rain,” he said.The Met office said a trough is currently running from an upper-air cyclonic circulation over south coastal Tamil Nadu to the northwest Bay of Bengal off the Odisha coast, across the southwest and west-central Bay of Bengal. This system was causing moisture incursion and cloud formation, but it was not strong enough to bring heavy rain, said an official. “There is a chance of a similar type of scattered thunderstorm on Friday. There is also a possibility of light rain on Saturday, though the probability becomes lower. We can expect mostly dry days from Sunday,” said H R Biswas, head of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata.
