Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Sept. 17: The weather god finally smiled as the skies donned a clear look and residents celebrated Ganesh Puja and Vishwakarma Puja with much fanfare.

In Bhubaneswar, the first half of the day saw people rushing to malls and stores to do their last minute shopping. Schools and colleges were decorated beautifully. With both Ganesh and Vishwakarma Puja falling on the same day, the demands for priests today soared. Some schools and committees started the puja as late as 4pm owing to shortage of priests.

Many unique Ganesh idols have earned appreciation from visitors. With many self-styled spiritual leaders coming under the scanner, they happened to be a favourite subject for this year's Puja.

An idol at the CBI Square has portrayed Lord Ganesh in Shiv's avatar holding a baba having similarity with Sarathi by his hair. Similarly, on the city's outskirts, Sura baba has become a subject of ridicule at a pandal.

Two other pujas - the tallest idol at Saheed Nagar that is 30-feet high and another pandal near Ram Mandir Square constructed in the shape of a camel - has earned much praise.

In Cuttack, one of the Nuapada pandals is a major crowd puller with its 60ft gigantic pandal showcasing Odisha's rich temple architecture constructed by the Dibya Jyoti Club.

It took nearly 16 artists to build the pandal, which is a replica of Puri temple. It took almost seven days to complete the structure. Besides, a 15ft Ganesh idol was also constructed to showcase the popular suna besa of Lord Jagannath in which the lord gives darshan to the devotees in Gajanan besa.

"Our idea was to promote the rich tradition of the state. The architecture and sculptures of Konark temple have also influenced the design of the pandal," said Alok Sarangi, a member of the club.

Various other pandals in the form of Charminar, Mayapur Iskcon temple of Calcutta have also come up here at Nuapada.

Panchayati Club on Cantonment Road has built a pandal based on Nabakalebar using daru (sacred neem) that were earlier used for the construction of the three sibling deities of Puri temple - Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra.

Jatni, Talcher and Dhenkanal, too, celebrated Ganesh Puja in a big way.

Vishwakarma Puja was celebrated in all engineering colleges, factories, auto stands, bus stands as well as electricity, public health, railway departments, construction companies and printing press across the state.

With Nuakhai, west Odisha's biggest festival scheduled on Friday, the residents have made all the preparations to soak in the festive mood. "Preparations are over for the worship of Goddess Samaleswari and festivities of Nuakhai," said the priest of the Samaleswari temple in Sambalpur.