A glittering main gate put up by Kokar Durga Puja Samiti in Ranchi on Friday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Oct. 11: Welcome to the world of owls and bats inviting you into their den, which leads to an idol of goddess Durga.

The theme of the entrance gate at R.R. Sporting Club, Ratu Road, is based on a horror serial. But you can forget all fears and enjoy the lighting, which depicts spine-chilling creatures.

The beautiful pandals with breathtaking idols add to the fun of pandal-hopping.

This year puja organisers have invested a good amount of money for the special lighting arrangements and the meticulously prepared puja pandals.

“Our lighting arrangement has cost us more than Rs 3 to 4 lakh. We had to first prepare small lamps. Diagrams are drawn for the artists, which are later traced to prepare bamboo frames,” said Babulal Sarkar, one of the artistes working for R.R. Sporting Club.

Artists have travelled all the way from Titagarh (Kolkata) to Ranchi to decorate pandals with lights .

“Seven gates have been erected, including the one at the main entrance. Various new themes have been used this year and none of them are repetitions of the previous years’ work, said Sarkar.

“We have based one of the gates on the theme of the football World Cup depicting Ronaldo in full action ,” he added.

Elaborating on the designs that are on display this year, Sarkar said: “Designs varying from zodiac signs to the Rajdhani Express mishap and a complete display of various TV channels have been prepared this year.”

The Kokar Durga Puja Samiti has set up lighting decorations based on the Phantom, Spiderman and other fictional characters to attract a large number of visitors to its pandal .

Beautifully designed gates have been prepared with electronic copper rollers, controlling colourful and flashy lights, which flicker at definite time intervals.

“We have been doing this business for the last 13 years and have been using innovative ideas each year,” said another worker engaged in the decoration of the club’s puja pandal.

This year, the workers have have used 22,000 small bulbs in all the seven gates, which have been prepared with great care.

On the other hand, the Youth Club of Upper Bazar has put up a display depicting landscapes with figures of coconut trees, mountains and birds flashing brightly in the darkness.

The minute attention to detail and the realistic depiction of action have made these artistic creations a visual treat.