This year, Durga Puja for the people of the Sunderbans was a little different than usual. With the initiative of Swiggy’s ‘Bhog Elo Boney’ campaign, the delta region witnessed a floating pandal
All images by SwiggyWith regular cyclones and storms, the struggles of the people of the Sunderbans are all too real. To bring festive joy to the residents of the Rajat Jubilee region and islands like Satjelia, Swiggy hosted Durga Puja on a boat with all the rituals and traditions
According to Mayur Hola, VP of marketing, Swiggy, more than 5,000 people visited the pandal over the five days of Puja. Speaking to My Kolkata, he said, ‘We wanted to do something for the people in the region, especially the tiger widows. We started the ‘bhog’ delivery service in Kolkata in 2022 for the elderly. So, this time, we thought why not take the ‘bhog’ to the people of the Sunderbans? And to add to it, the pandal was one of a kind.’
The pandal and idol were made by employing local people to provide community employment. Hola said, ‘We employed local people and the ‘protima’ was made by a local artisan called Probhas Mondal from Bali island in the Sunderbans.’ The idol was made as ‘Bon Durga’
The Durga Puja pandal followed all the traditional rituals and people turned up in numbers to participate. Many people also offered ‘pushpanjali’ on the boat
‘Bhog’ was distributed on all days to visitors. The menu was a typical Puja spread comprising ‘khichuri’, ‘labra’ and ‘laddoo’. The ‘bhog’ was also cooked on the boat
The news of this pandal spread in the region and crowds gathered to witness the floating Pujo. ‘At one time, we had to take the boat a little away from the banks because it was getting too crowded,’ said Hola
This was Swiggy’s first-ever Durga Puja celebration in the Sunderbans, and the company is keen on continuing such initiatives in future. ‘It may be somewhere else next year, or can be Sunderbans again. We want to do something for the society and share the joy with remote communities’